In at least three specific ways, the classic hymns display evangelicalism at its best: First, a Christ-centered picture of redemption is the scarlet thread running through these hymns. This picture of redemption insists upon the death of Christ on the cross as the only ultimate source of human salvation. What makes the hymns evangelicalism at its best is that in them the boundary of offense is restricted narrowly to the scandal of the Cross. Second, the classic evangelical hymns were used for an unusually broad, unexpectedly gracious, ecumenicity. Third, the social vision that constitutes a prominent subtheme in these hymns evokes a remarkably winsome vision of altruistic Christian charity.
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