The Necessary, Relevant, & Practical Digital Media for the Development and Dissemination of a Worship Compendium in the 21st Century: A Hymnal Rebuild from the Cloud Down

Abstract

The advent of digital technology, both for storing and displaying information, provides Christians at worship with new tools for facilitating worship, in both formal and informal settings. By taking a broad historical look at Christianity’s hymnals and discerning their chief purposes, as well as highlighting the migration of most reference resources from print to screen, this paper explains how technology, when used wisely, can accomplish the work of the hymnal as well as or better than a codex-based product. A plan is then offered, suggesting how a digitally based worship compendium might be designed.