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The 1990s saw a marked increase in hymnal publication, an area of printing that had remained steady but slow through most of the twentieth century. The work of hymnal committees and marketing departments during this decade suggests a real optimism about church music and re-energized congregations for the new century, but the flurry of publishing activity was more likely fueled by complicated changes begun decades earlier. The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) had opened the door for new worship forms as they considered the needs of lay worshippers; counter-cultural movements of the same decade all but demanded new music for young Jesus-followers, creating the songs that would eventually find their place in both supplemental and primary hymnals. Worship wars that segmented congregations by worship style, technological advancements that offered viable alternatives to printed books, and deep ideological rifts within denominational groups meant that many denominational publishers had already printed their last major hymnal by the turn of the century, and others would print what was likely their last before two decades had passed.
This study arose from a survey of materials in the Fettke Collection of the Robert E. Hooper Archives at Beaman Library of Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee—in particular, three non-denominational hymnals edited by Tom Fettke, and work product for those hymnals. The author explores the 1990s rise in hymnal publishing activity—and the subsequent decline—through an analysis of these three hymnals. Without the same theological considerations (and pressures) that denominational publishers might have, non-denominational publishers are primarily concerned with producing a printed book based on perceived worship music preferences across a broad range of churches. In these non-denominational hymnals, changes in broader worship music trends and preferences are more clearly evident than in denominational hymnals where changes based on specific theological or doctrinal positions may also be reflected.