Singing is a very important human activity, argues Charles Moseley. It is about bonding, about a sense of shared community, as we see in modern football crowds or in the marching songs of armies. Singing together can cement an ideology: words matter. Skilled songwriters can pack of lot of doctrine or spiritual insight into a well-constructed hymn - those of Charles Wesley, Aquinas' great hymns for Corpus Christi, or Prudentius' for the Nativity.A Joyful Noise is an enlightening and informative introduction to some of the greatest hymn writers of the Christian tradition including; Charles Wesley, Aquinas, Prudentius, Christopher Wordsworth, Mrs Cecil Frances Alexander and Robert Bridges.
