Doxology

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A doxology (from the Greek doxa, glory + logos, word or speaking) is a short hymn of praise to God in various Christian worship services, often added to the end of canticles, psalms, and hymns. The tradition derives from a similar practice in the Jewish synagogue.^[1]

Contents 1 Trinitarian doxology 1.1 Gloria Patri 1.2 "Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow" 2 Other doxologies 3 Derivations 4 References 5 Links

[edit] Trinitarian doxology

[edit] Gloria Patri

Main article: Glory Be to the Father

By far the most common doxology (and often simply called "the doxology"), used by Catholics, Orthodox, and many Protestants including Reformed Baptists, Lutherans, Anglicans, and Methodists, is the Gloria Patri, so named for its first two words in Latin and addressed to the Trinity:

Gloria Patri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto. Sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculórum. Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, always, to the age of ages. Amen.

"Age of ages" is a Latin idiom meaning forever that is commonly translated "World without end" which is an archaic English idiom equivalent to the modern "forever and ever." It is present in the King James Bible (cf. Eph. 3:21; Isa. 45:17). The common Liturgy of the Hours doxology, as approved by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, uses a different translation of the same Latin:

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

The modern Anglican version (found in Common Worship) is slightly different:

Glory to the Father and to the Son

and to the Holy Spirit;

as it was in the beginning is now

and shall be for ever. Amen.

The most commonly encountered Orthodox English version:

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, both now, ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen

A variant of this found in the Roman Catholic liturgy is:

Through him, with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit; all glory and honor is yours, almighty Father, forever and ever. Amen.

In Greek this doxology runs:

Δόξα Πατρὶ καὶ Υἱῷ καὶ Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, καὶ νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

This doxology, as well as praising God, has been regarded as a short declaration of faith in the co-equality of the three Persons of the Holy Trinity.

[edit] "Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow"

Another doxology in widespread use in English, and also commonly referred to simply as "The Doxology", is:

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye Heavenly Host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

This is usually sung to the tune Old 100th, but also to Duke Street by John Hatton and The Eighth Tune by Thomas Tallis.

[edit] Other doxologies

Doxologies do not all refer to a co-equal Trinity, and some do not refer to the Trinity at all. An early variation on the Gloria Patri ("Glory be to the Father, with the Son, through the Holy Spirit") was originally used by the Orthodox along with the more familiar wording, but this came to be used exclusively by the Arians and others who denied the divinity of the Son and Holy Spirit.

While also not specifically Trinitarian, another doxology sung to the tune of Old 100th is the familiar table prayer:

Be present at our table, Lord

Be here and everywhere adored

These mercies bless and grant that we

May strengthened for Thy service be (or, alternatively, May feast in Paradise with Thee)

Amen

Yet another familiar doxology is the phrase at the end of the traditional Lord's Prayer as recorded in Matthew 6:13 (not found in some ancient manuscripts; a possible allusion to 1 Chronicles 29:11-12): "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever, Amen."

At Matins, Orthodox worship specifies a Great Doxology for feast days and a Small Doxology for ordinary days. (Both include the Gospel doxology Gloria in Excelsis of the angel's (Luke 2:14): Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill among men.) A substantial portion of this doxology comprises the prayer Gloria in excelsis of the Roman Catholic mass.

In Unitarian Universalism, "the Doxology" refers to Curtis W. Reese's adaptation of "From all that dwell below the skies", an 18th-century hymn by Isaac Watts:

From all that dwell below the skies

let faith and hope with love arise;

let beauty, truth, and good be sung

through every land, by every tongue.

Sung to the tune of Old 100th, it occupies a place in a Unitarian service that would be filled by a Christian doxology in a Christian service.

[edit] Derivations

Because some Christian worship services include a doxology, and these hymns therefore were familiar and well-practiced among church choirs, the English word sockdolager arose, a deformation of doxology, which came to mean a "show-stopper", a production number. The Oxford English Dictionary considers it a "fanciful" coinage, and refers to an 1893 speculation reported in the Chicago Tribune as to the origin of the word as one of its early attestations:

A writer in the March Atlantic gives this as the origin of the slang word "socdollager," which was current some time ago. "Socdollager" was the uneducated man's transposition of "doxologer, which was the familiar New England rendering of "doxology." This was the Puritan term for the verse ascription used at the conclusion of every hymn, like the "Gloria," at the end of a chanted psalm. On doctrinal grounds it was proper for the whole congregation to join in the singing, so that it became a triumphant winding up of the whole act of worship. Thus is happened that "socdollager" became the term for anything which left nothing else to follow; a decisive, overwhelming finish, to which no reply was possible.^[2]

[edit] References

1. ^ Doxology - Catholic Encyclopedia article
2. ^ 19 March 1893, Chicago Daily Tribune, pg. 36

[edit] Links

Hymns of the Spirit Three Contains numerous "doxologies" to the tune OLD HUNDREDTH used in the Unitarian, Universalist and liberal Christian traditions, in English, Spanish and French.