A doxology (Ancient Greek: δοξολογίαdoxologia, from δόξα, doxa 'glory' and -λογία, -logia 'saying')[1][2][3] is a short hymn of praises to God in various forms of Christian worship, often added to the end of canticles, psalms, and hymns. The tradition derives from a similar practice in the Jewishsynagogue,[4] where some version of the Kaddish serves to terminate each section of the service.
Trinitarian doxology
Among Christian traditions a doxology is typically an expression of praise sung to the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is common in high hymns for the final stanza to take the form of a doxology. Doxologies occur in the Eucharistic prayers, the Liturgy of the Hours, hymns, and various Catholic devotions such as novenas and the Rosary.
Gloria in excelsis Deo
The Gloria in excelsis Deo, also called the Greater Doxology, is a hymn beginning with the words that the angels sang when the birth of Christ was announced to shepherds in Luke 2:14. Other verses were added very early,[citation needed] forming a doxology.
As it was in the beginning, and now, and always, and into the ages of ages. Amen.
"In saecula saeculorum", here rendered "ages of ages", is the calque of what was probably a Semiticidiom, via Koine Greek, meaning "forever." It is also rendered "world without end" in English, an expression also used in James I's Authorised Version of the Bible in Ephesians 3:21 and Isaiah 45:17. Similarly, "et semper" is often rendered "and ever shall be", thus giving the more metrical English version,
... As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
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 most commonly encountered Orthodox English version:
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, both now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen
The modern Anglican version found in Common Worship is slightly different, and is rooted in the aforementioned translations found in the Authorised Version:
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Another doxology in widespread use in English, in some Protestant traditions commonly referred to simply as The Doxology or The Common Doxology,[6] begins "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow". The words are thus:
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.
These words were written in 1674 by Thomas Ken[7] as the final verse of two hymns, "Awake, my soul, and with the sun"[8] and "Glory to thee, my God, this night,"[9] intended for morning and evening worship at Winchester College. This final verse, separated from its proper hymns and sung to the tune "Old 100th", "Duke Street", "Lasst uns erfreuen", "The Eighth Tune" by Thomas Tallis, among others, frequently marks the dedication of alms or offerings at Sunday worship. The popular Hawaiian version Hoʻonani i ka Makua mau was translated by Hiram Bingham I and is published in hymnals.[10] Many Mennonite congregations sing a longer and more embellished setting of this text known as "Dedication Anthem" by Samuel Stanley.[11] In Mennonite circles, this doxology is commonly known as "606" for its hymn number in The Mennonite Hymnal [1969], and colloquially known as the "Mennonite National Anthem." The traditional version of the Doxology is recited in most congregations of the Methodist Churches, such as the Free Methodist Church and Global Methodist Church. Students at Goshen College stand and sing the doxology when 6:06 remains in a soccer game – as long as Goshen is winning the game.[12]
The Presbyterian Church (USA) accepted this version of the Doxology in 2014 to accompany the Glory to God, the Presbyterian Hymnal. This version was written by the Rev. Neil Weatherhogg, pastor of both the First Presbyterian Church of Kerrville, Texas, and the Harvey Browne Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Kentucky. This version was published by Rev. Weatherhogg in 1990. This hymn maintains Gender neutrality as it does not refer to God in gender specific terminology. It goes:
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise God, all creatures here below;
Praise God above ye heavenly host;
Praise Triune God, whom we adore
Other versions of this doxology exist as well, with various lyrics, including in the United Methodist Hymnal (#621), (preserving the text change of thy creatures as opposed to the original these creature[13] ) Be Present at Our Table, Lord," which is often sung as grace before meals using the tune "Old 100th;" hymn by John Cennick; tune from the Genevan Psalter, 1551; attributed to Louis Bourgeois:
Be present at our table, Lord;
be here and everywhere adored;
thy creatures bless, and grant that we
may feast in paradise with thee.
Eucharistic doxology
The Eucharistic Doxology in a stained glass window of St. James' in Glenbeigh
Per ipsum, et cum ipso, et in ipso, est tibi Deo Patri omnipotenti in unitate Spiritus Sancti, omnis honor et gloria per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen. (1. 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. and 2. Through him, and with him, and in him, O God, almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, forever and ever. Amen.)
By whom and with whom, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, all honour and glory be unto thee, O Father almighty, world without end. Amen.
Lord's Prayer doxology
Another familiar doxology is the one often added at the end of the Lord's Prayer: "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever, Amen." This is found in manuscripts representative of the Byzantine text of Matthew 6:13, but not in the manuscripts considered by Catholics to be the most reliable. According to Scrivener's "Supplement to the Authorized English version of New Testament", it is omitted by eight out of 500 or so manuscripts. Some scholars do not consider it part of the original text of Matthew, and modern translations do not include it, mentioning it only in footnotes. Since 1970, the doxology, in the form "For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and for ever", is used in the Roman Rite of the Mass, after the Embolism. The Catholic Encyclopedia (1914) claims that this doxology "appears in the Greek textus receptus and has been adopted in the later editions of the Book of Common Prayer, [and] is undoubtedly an interpolation." In fact, the Lord's Prayer doxology is often left away by Catholics, such as in the Liturgy of the Hours, or when, which is quite often outside Mass, a Hail Mary follows immediately (e. g. in the Rosary where the Gloria Patri serves as doxology).
the first three petitions to our Father: the glorification of his name, the coming of his reign, and the power of his saving will. But these prayers are now proclaimed as adoration and thanksgiving, as in the liturgy of heaven. The ruler of this world has mendaciously attributed to himself the three titles of kingship, power, and glory. Christ, the Lord, restores them to his Father and our Father, until he hands over the kingdom to him when the mystery of salvation will be brought to its completion and God will be all in all.[14]
Other doxologies
In the Epistle of Jude, the last two verses (24 and 25) are considered to be a doxology and are used by many Protestant Christians, especially in public worship settings:
"Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen." (KJV)
At Matins, Orthodox worship specifies a Great Doxology for feast days and a Small Doxology for ordinary days. Both include the Gospel doxology of the angels at Christ's birth (Luke 2:14: "Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will"). The lines of this doxology are the opening lines of the prayer Gloria in Excelsis recited during the Roman Catholic Mass.
Pentecostal
A popular doxology in African-American Pentecostal and Baptist churches is "Praise Him, Praise Him", written in the 1980s by famed African American Gospel singer and minister Reverend Milton Biggham.[15]
Praise him, praise him, praise him, praise him! Jesus, blessed Savior, he's worthy to be praised.
From the rising of the sun until the going down of the same, he's worthy, Jesus is worthy,
he's worthy to be praised.
Glory! Glory! In all things give him glory.
Jesus, blessed Savior, he's worthy to be praised.
For God is our rock, hope of salvation; a strong deliverer, in him I will always trust.
Praise him, praise him, praise him, praise him! Jesus, blessed Savior, he's worthy to be praised.
From the rising of the sun until the going down of the same, he's worthy, Jesus is worthy, he's worthy to be praised.
Praise him, praise him, praise him, praise him! Jesus, blessed Savior, he's worthy to be praised.
Iglesia ni Cristo
In the Iglesia ni Cristo, the Doxology is sung before the Benediction and Concluding Rites during worship services. It reads:
let songs of hope and faith arise; (Or, alternatively, let faith and hope with love arise)
let peace, goodwill on earth be sung (Or let beauty, truth and good be sung)
through every land, by every tongue." (Or in every land, in every tongue.)
While many congregations who use a doxology use these words and sing them to the tune of Old 100th, there are nine different lyrics that congregations may choose to use, along with three tunes (Old 100th, Tallis' Canon, and Von Himmel Hoch) listed in the Unitarian Universalist hymnal Singing the Living Tradition.
These doxologies appear in Unitarian Universalist services as short songs of communal praise and connection, placed in the service much as Trinitarian doxologies are placed in a Protestant Christian service.
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, but 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.[16]
^Becchio, Bruno; Schadé, Johannes P. (2006). Encyclopedia of World Religions. Foreign Media Group. ISBN978-1-60136-000-7. The lesser doxology, or Gloria Patri, used in most Christian traditions at the close of the psalmody.
