The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1046 page)

Christianity
The use of poetry, or metrical prose, in worship may be detected in the New Testament (e.g. Ephesians 5. 14, 19). A 3rd-cent. writer (perhaps
Hippolytus
) refers to ‘Psalms and odes such as from the beginning were written by believers, hymns to the Christ, the Word of God, calling him God’ (
Eusebius
,
History
5. 28. 5).
Latin hymns appear later than Greek. The most famous of early ones, the
Te
Deum, is written in rhythmical prose. Hymns were admitted into the Roman office in the 13th cent.
The
Reformation
affected greatly the development of hymns. Many were written by
Luther
(imitating the pattern of medieval secular music), by P.
Gerhardt
, and others. Since
Calvinism
resisted anything but the words of
scripture
in its services, the
Psalms
were converted into metrical versions.
The practice of hymn-singing was encouraged and developed by the
Methodists
, and soon spread among the Evangelical party of the Church of England.
The 19th cent. saw the establishment of hymn-singing in all parts of the Anglican church.
Hymns Ancient and Modern
(1861) was an eclectic collection that set the pattern for most modern hymnals. In virtually all parts of the Church there has developed a wide use of chorus-type hymns in a modern idiom.
Sikhism
Sikh worship consists mainly of
k
rtan
, singing the hymns comprising the
di Granth
. Gur
N
nak
is popularly represented singing his compositions to
Mard
n
's
accompaniment. See
A
APAD
;
CHAUPAD
;
CHHANT
;
R
G
;
R
G
;
ABAD