The classical schooling movement has become a source of retrieval, revival even, of so many sources of knowledge and human flourishing abandoned by modernity. The classical Christian school can also renew the rich Christian heritage and vitality of hymn singing. To that end, Preston Atwood’s just published hymnal, Cantate Domino: A Liturgical Songbook for Classical Christian Schools, shows how hymnody is of great educational benefit.
In church history, two simple actions constantly emerge: systematic teaching of theology, and imaginative engagement through singing hymns.
Consider the depths of theology involved in processing the dual nature of Christ: fully God, and fully man, united in his sacrificial death. A course in systematic theology might spend three months and several thousand pages explicating the notions of a “sacred head” “weighed down” by thorns, abuse, and scorn, drawing the contrast with a…
