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Exclusive psalmody is the practice of singing only the biblical Psalms in congregational singing as worship. Today it is practised by several Protestant, especially Reformed denominations. Hymns besides the Psalms have always been composed by Christians, but psalms were preferred by the early church and used almost exclusively until the end of the fourth century.〔 During the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther and many other reformers, including those associated with the Reformed tradition, used hymns as well as psalms, but John Calvin preferred the Psalms and they were the only music allowed for worship in Geneva. This became the norm for the next 200 years of Reformed worship. Hymnody became acceptable again for the Reformed in the middle of the nineteenth century, though several denominations, notably the Reformed Presbyterians, continue the practice of exclusive psalmody. ==History== The singing of psalms was included in the synagogue service at the time of Jesus. Early Christians appropriated this tradition, as well as many other elements of synagogue worship. The whole congregation may have sung, or there may have been a cantor who would sing each verse with the congregation responding by singing "Hallelujah." The Psalms of David formed the core of liturgical music for the early church, to which other songs from the Old and New Testaments (canticles) were added.〔 In addition, early Christians wrote original compositions for singing in worship alongside biblical texts.〔 Soon after the New Testament period, psalmody took a preferred position in the worship of the church. There was some hymn-writing in Eastern churches, but in the West psalms and canticles were used almost exclusively until the time of Ambrose of Milan at the end of the fourth century. Even then, the psalms were never completely replaced by original hymns.〔 During the Protestant Reformation, new church music was written in order to revive the practice of congregational singing, which had been replaced by the singing of monastic choirs in Latin.〔 Martin Luther and leaders of the Reformed wing of the Reformation in Strasbourg, Constance, and elsewhere wrote music for psalm texts as well as original hymns, but John Calvin in Geneva used biblical psalms almost exclusively in the ''Genevan Psalter'', though it contained some gospel canticles and catechetical songs. This psalter was to become a prototype for Reformed worship, but Calvin did not have any objection to the use of original hymns in other churches, and he did not appeal to scripture in his preface to the psalter justifying his preference for the Psalms.〔 Once the ''Genevan Psalter'' was translated into German in 1573, exclusive psalmody became the dominant mode of Reformed congregational singing for 200 years following John Calvin everywhere but in Hungary. Anglicans had no theological objection to hymns, but they failed to nurture a tradition of English-language hymnody. Works like the 1562 English ''Sternhold and Hopkins Psalter'' were very popular among the Reformed. Literal translations of the Psalms began to be preferred by the Reformed over the looser translations of the ''Genevan'' and ''Sternhold and Hopkins'' psalters in the latter part of the sixteenth century.〔 Some of the most influential psalters of the seventeenth century were the ''Scottish Psalter'' of 1635 and the ''Bay Psalm Book'' of 1640, which was the first book printed in America.〔 Seventeenth-century Reformed theologians did not reach a consensus on the propriety of hymns in worship, and several argued that they were permissible, including John Ball and Edward Leigh. Thomas Ford also seems to have favored an inclusive rather than exclusive psalmody, while clearly preferring biblical psalms. Benjamin Keach, a Particular Baptist, introduced hymn-singing in his congregation in 1673,〔 leading to a debate with Isaac Marlow, who opposed congregational singing altogether.〔 By the end of the seventeenth century, hymn-singing was on its way to being acceptable among English Baptists.〔 Isaac Watts, an early eighteenth-century English Congregationalist minister, translated psalms much more freely than his predecessors. Some complained that his psalms were not translations at all, but paraphrases. Watts also wrote many hymns, many of which imitated the psalms. The rise of pietism in the eighteenth century led to an even greater dominance of hymns,〔 and many of the Reformed reintroduced hymns in the early eighteenth century.〔 Hymnody became acceptable for Presbyterians and Anglicans around the middle of the nineteenth century, though the Reformed Presbyterians continue to insist on exclusive a capella psalmody.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「exclusive psalmody」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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