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Tue, 08/12/2025 - 17:19 — awsherrill
Hello. I recently discovered how to up my Hymnary.org game by getting a pro subscription, and am happily adding all my hymnals to “My Hymnals.” One that I can't find in the list, or add, is Hymns of the Spirit. It's a Church of God (Cleveland, TN) hymnal published in 1969. It really surprised me that it's not in the list, as it's not exactly ancient and is from a reasonably large denomination. Am I missing it somehow? Do I need to become an editing volunteer and add it myself? Thanks for any help!
Comments
Hymns of the Spirit
You are welcome to add “Hymns of the Spirit.” There is some training involved. The training includes reading through our wiki (hymnary.org/wiki), taking a self-graded quiz, and completing a training hymnal to practice on. I can also add it to a list of hymnals to add to the website.
Hymns of the Spirit
Thank you, Dianne. I have started reading through all the wiki material, as I think I may indeed want to go through the training. It's a little intimidating! Is there a lot of time pressure, e.g. “You have 24 hours to finish this hymnal or else!”? I am a disciplined person and happy to work steadily on something; I'm just wondering if there are a lot of stressful deadlines when I'm supposed to be retired.
Church of God (Cleveland, TN)
Just a note to mention that the database calls the denomination in question
“(Original) Church of God”
rather than specifying its headquarters' location. I hope you'll add this hymnal! The only book of theirs I am familiar with is “Church Hymnal”, it would be good to compare that to something more recent.
Church of God (Cleveland, TN)
Thanks, Haruo! That's helpful. I have that older “Church Hymnal” also (Church of God was my husband's family's denomination). I will be happy to add “Hymns of the Spirit” if I can get through and pass the training!
Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn.)
Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn) is the correct name. (Original) Church of God split from Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn)
Well, yes, but
It's complicated. I don't know which denomination published the hymnal this thread is centered on, but there are at least a dozen denominations in the United States called “Church of God”, at least two of which have “Original” prefixed. One is apparently actually “The (Original) Church of God”, another is “Original Church of God” (without “The” and without the parentheses). Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn.) may or may not really have been the original home of either one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_(Original)_Church_of_God see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_God_(Cleveland,_Tennessee)#Related_bodies … and this is all distinct from the Anderson, Indiana, outfit, which is less “Pentecostal” than the linked list's entries. Then there are the various Church of God in Christ groups, including the Mennonite ones. But Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn.) doesn't appear in the Hymnal list by denomination even though that's the place of publication of the “Church Hymnal” which the database says is “(Original) Church of God”…
By the way, Dianne, thank you for your paragraph on the origins and history of MAORI, too! The tune authority for it is confusing, but your paragraph, which appears in duplicate, comes as close to clarifying that situation as anything I've seen.
Church of God (Cleveland, TN)
Yes, I have always wondered what would happen if all the Church of God variants got together in a cage match. Bearing in mind that I have just started reading the wiki on becoming an editor and thus am nearly clueless, I'm wondering about the discrepancy in the Hymnal list by denomination you linked, Haruo, which says the Church Hymnal (1951) is from (Original) Church of God and what I get when I look up that same hymnal through “My Hymnals," which says it is from Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn). I have tried to attach a snip of what I'm seeing--not sure if that's working. What I can say, based on my knowledge of my husband's family, is that the Hymns of the Spirit (1969) and Church Hymnal (1951) are both from the denomination that definitely calls itself “Church of God [Cleveland, Tenn] and I have never heard them call themselves ”Original Church of God," for whatever that's worth. It looks like my attempt to screen shot isn't working--I've tried both GIF and JPEG format, not sure what the problem is.
Denominations
We don't use wikipedia for denomination names. We mostly use a combination of ARDA (Association of Religion Data) for names, classifications, and history and Library of Congress Name Authorities. DNAH used generic denomination names based on (I believe) the most recent split.
Yes, Dianne, you are right,
Yes, Dianne, you are right, and it should be revisited. Denominational work overall is something that should someday be addressed, so that we can trace denominations, but a project of that size makes me tired just to think about!
Kinda makes you wonder what
Kinda makes you wonder what the criteria are for which hymnals get added.