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Songwriters living in ancient Egypt would never have expected the words and melodies they sang would feature on Australian music charts 1,800 years later.
But one Australian academic's obsession with a fragment of a document found in an old Egyptian rubbish heap has helped to share an ancient song with the world.
The document known as Papyrus P. Oxy. XV 1786 (P. Oxy 1786) was found amongst thousands of other fragments of documents in the 19th and 20th centuries — a contract to rig a wrestling match, a corn contract, a Roman arrest warrant for a Christian and the front page of Mark's Gospel from the Bible — in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt.
P. Oxy 1786 is the oldest known Christian song with musical notations on the manuscript.
The moment Professor John Dickson saw it he knew it needed to be shared with the world.
Dr Dickson said."I'm looking down the microscope at that particular item and literally, in a rush of blood to the head, I thought 'why has no one brought this back to life and given it back to the world?'"
Dr Dickson said there were about 60 examples of ancient Greek music from 400BC to 300AD, but…
Anyone who has grown up in or around the church is likely familiar with “hymn stories”—the stories that surround the composition of some of our favorite songs of worship.
How many times have you heard the life of Horatio Spafford recounted before singing “It Is Well with My Soul”? How often has the slave-trading past of John Newton been told to give rich reality to the sweet strains of “Amazing Grace” (which is just over 250 years old!)?
The same can be said for number of other famous hymn writers throughout Christian history. We love to tell hymn stories because they remind us that every hymn is a prayer and that every prayer begins from the real faith of a real man or woman seeking God.
For the same reason, there has been a resurgence of interest in seeking God through various spiritual practices, especially in recent decades.
Popular books like Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline and James K. A. Smith’s You Are What You Love have challenged believers to consider the role of disciplined, habit-forming practices in spiritual growth and development. As a young Christian myself, I have watched…