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Hymnology (from Ancient Greek ὕμνος hymnos, "song of praise" and -λογία -logia, "study of") is the study of religious song, or the hymn, in its many aspects, with particular focus on choir and song. It may be more or less clearly distinguished from , the creation and practice of such song. Hymnologists, such as Erik Routley, may study the history and origins of hymns and of traditions of sung worship, the biographies of the women and men who have written hymns that have passed into choral or congregational use, the interrelationships between text and tune, the historical processes, both folk and redactional, that have changed hymn texts and over time, and the sociopolitical, theological and aesthetic arguments concerning various styles of sung worship.
Hymnology is not an "-ology" in the usual sense of an independent discipline that has a proper set of concepts and critical vocabulary that must first be learned before progress can be made.In philosophical terms, it is analogous to the situation described in Plato's dialogue Gorgias: is rhetoric an art ( techne) with a logos? Or, does it rely on having a knack derived from experience? Rather, it's two disciplines: one that studies the texts and follows the rules of literary scholarship, the other that is trained in music and follows the rules of musicology. The "-ology" just means that they might publish in the same journals, occasionally attend the same conferences, or be asked to serve on a hymnal committee. If they write about the interaction between music and text, this is purely by instinct: there is no "scholarly consensus" for an underlying set of principles about how the interaction can be optimized. Often, the term "hymnologist" simply refers to anyone who has enough standing within the faith community to be asked to serve on a hymnal committee.
Hymnology is sometimes more strictly construed, as in A Dictionary of Hymnology,John Julian, ed., (1902/1985), A Dictionary of Hymnology, Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel. edited by John D. Julian, which concerns itself very largely with the history, textual changes, and translations of hymns, and with the biographies of , and very little with the poetic metres of these hymns, or with the to which these are sung.
In his Anglican Hymnology, published in 1885, the Rev. James King surveyed 52 hymnals from the member churches of the Anglican Communion around the world, and found that 51 of them included these hymns, the so-called Great Four: Anglican hymnology: being an account of the 325 standard hymns of the highest merit according to the verdict of the whole Anglican Church (1885)
King also found the following six hymns in 49 of the 52 hymnals:
All of these hymns likewise appear in The Best Church Hymns, published by the Rev. Louis F. Benson in 1898. Benson's collection of 32 frequently published hymns from various churches was based upon a survey of 107 Protestant hymnals, including King's book, thus representing "the judgment of our common Protestantism." The History and Use of Hymns and Hymn-Tunes, by Rev. David Breed, Fleming H. Revell Company, 1903, 1934, p. 86
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