Attention Pastors & Church Musicians
Hymnsearch: Indexes for The Presbyterian Hymnal

Hymnsearch is back—in a third, improved edition—a hardcover, 8.5x11 in., 434-page book!

In case you missed it, Hymnsearch is a book of indexes intended principally to aid all who lead in worship and who use The Presbyterian Hymnal of 1990, or its ecumenical counterpart: Hymns, Psalms, and Spiritual Songs.

The centerpiece of the book is the SCRIPTURE INDEX, in which hymns are suggested for every passage in The Revised Common Lectionary of 1992, excepting the deuterocanonical ones, as well as for a very large number of passages not included in the lectionary.

A second major resource is the INDEX OF TOPICS AND CATEGORIES, an expanded version of that kind of index found in most hymnals.

A third, much shorter help provided is the LITURGICAL INDEX, in which the sequence of rubrics approximates the order followed in The Service for the Lord’s Day.

A fourth, and new, feature of this edition is the REVERSE INDEX (from hymn to Scripture).

Still shorter indexes are provided for Alternate Arrangements of Hymns, Canons/Rounds, Descants, Biblical People and Places, and Hymns in Languages other than English.

In this third edition, errors found in the second edition (of 2004) were corrected, and a number of helpful additions and changes were made.

Sample pages may be seen here (requires free Adobe Reader available here), including a printable version of this page.

What they said about the first edition:

“For those who use The Presbyterian Hymnal of 1990 or its ecumenical version, Hymns, Psalms and Spiritual Songs, this unique book will be invaluable” (The Presbyterian Outlook).

“. . . I found the scriptural and topical indexes to be wonderful resources. . . . a valuable addition to any worship planner’s bookshelf” (The Hymn: A Journal of Congregational Song).

“This book . . .will be of great help in selecting hymns for worship appropriate to scriptures or topics” (The American Organist).

“Many times I have yearned for a fuller index to The Presbyterian Hymnal, so that I could mine the riches of our hymnal in sermon preparation. That yearning has been met in Hymnsearch” (Reformed Liturgy and Music).



For your copies of Hymnsearch, send a check made to William S. Smith, in the amount of $32.00 for each copy, plus $4.00 for shipping and handling, etc. to:
    Hymnsearch
    1826 Ridgeover Place
    Jackson, MS 39211-6501

Hymnsearch was compiled and copyrighted by William S. Smith, Th. D.
(601) 366-5994,


Other titles by William Smith:
Joyful Noise -- A Guide to Music in the Church for Pastors and Musicians
Lauderdale County, Mississippi: Four Families