Scripture references

You are here

Home » Forums » Hymnary Editor Room
Thu, 08/13/2015 - 13:55 — cfenner

I would like to propose some enhancements to the Scripture reference fields used for instances. In the 'Text Relation' field, there are three options: Not specified/Quoted/Related. There really ought to be an option for either "Versified" or "Metrical", which would be most useful for metrical psalms and some other passages like the Lord's Prayer. In the 'Stanza' field, there needs to be an option for "Title" and perhaps also "Subtitle." Really, a better name for that field would be 'Location.' In some hymnals, the scripture reference is given at the bottom as part of the text attribution, so maybe an "Attribution" option would be appropriate too.


Comments

Mon, 08/17/2015 - 09:58 — dianneshapiro

Thanks for the suggestion. We agree that adding "Versified" or "Metrical" to the options would be useful and we will be adding it in the future. As for including the Title or Subtitle to the stanza field, we need to think about whether someone who is looking for a hymn related to a scripture passage would be happy if the only relation was with the title of the hymn. If the scripture is given as part of the text attribution it probably falls in the category as quoted in the hymn, versified, or related, so we do not see a need to add an "Attribution" option.

Sat, 08/22/2015 - 20:41 — cfenner

As far as titles go, I would point to something like the metrical psalms I just entered for the works of Anne Steele (see PSCD_v2), where the title is the name of the Psalm. Your remark about whether a user might be satisfied with this as the 'only relation' is very odd, since it is not merely the 'only relation,' it is the most essential relation. In the pre-existing authority records for those metrical psalms, I found that almost none of the authorities had any indication of the scripture reference—the basis for the text—so I changed the titles on the authorities to the Psalm reference.

I am a little baffled that this is seen as a minor issue. Surely there are other psalters in our database where the title is the main scripture reference, clearly indicating that what follows is a metrical rendition of scripture. In those cases, the 'Text Relation' would be "Metrical" and the location of the reference is quite prominently in the title. Another way to look at it would be to point out that the relationship to the scripture reference is in ALL the stanzas, not just one selected from a drop-down menu.

Subtitles, on the other hand, we all know can be somewhat sketchy, added in some hymnals editorially, but if it's part of the instance—and we all agree that we record details exactly as they appear in the instance, right?—then the 'Text Relation' would be "Quoted" and the location would be "Subtitle," regardless of how appropriate that reference may be. These are issues of accuracy in our data.

Mon, 08/24/2015 - 11:35 — dianneshapiro

The Text Relation option for scripture passages was added at the request of Faith Alive and the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship specifically for the "Lift Up Your Hearts" hymnal (LUYH2013). The information in this hymnal is displayed differently than the other hymnals on our site. Faith Alive or CICW staff add and maintain the extra information.

For now, this is the only place on the Hymnary site where the relationship between the scripture passage and the hymn text is displayed. However, we could use this information in the future to refine searches for scripture passages.

You may specify a relation, but it is not necessary. We will be adding a Metrical option. For now "Related" is a good choice. Since the scripture applies to the whole psalm the stanza field can be left blank.

Forums: 
Hymnary Editor Room