Whenever sacred text has been created, one of the first things historians ask is, “who wrote this?” The author is then deemed as either credible or unreliable in comparison to their past thoughts, actions, and judgements. Though, on rare occasion, the authorship of a text may be unknown. In the case of the sacred song Might I in Thy Sight Appear, the authorship has not been traced, leaving it to be described as ‘Anonymous’.
In my opinion, I don’t care who wrote a particular sacred song, as long as it was truly God-breathed through that individual. I can see curious individuals might gain a deeper understanding of the song in knowing its history, but to me, the words speak loud enough. In fact, many of my favorite quotes have unknown authors. I don’t know if they would have been my favorite quotes had the author not been labeled “anonymous’. I think there is an aspect of fascination that draws my attention to anonymous authors – and I like the fact that the particular author didn’t write the song or quote to be recognized or become famous, and the whole thing is more mysterious to me this way. - Was the author going through hard times when they wrote this song? What were they like? Were they well known or were they like me? This is what I like about the idea of authors of sacred song being labeled ‘anonymous’. In my opinion, the uncertainty and unknowing is a large part of what makes Sacred sacred.
Taberer, Alfred A. Wesley's Sacred Song
The Musical Times > Vol. 107, No. 1477 (Mar., 1966), p. 222
Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org
Drew Harrell
Monday, December 10, 2007
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