Pastor and hymnologist Monroe Bell to explore the history and meaning of hymns during a series of events at SU

Tuesday, January 7, 2003, By News Staff

Pastor and hymnologist Monroe Bell to explore the history and meaning of hymns during a series of events at SUJanuary 07, 2003Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

The history and meaning of hymns (with special emphasis on the hymns of the Social Gospel movement) will be presented during a series of events featuring the Rev. Monroe Bell on Jan. 15-19 in Syracuse University’s Hendricks Chapel. Bell will present an evening workshop, an afternoon symposium, and preach at three worship services during his visit to SU, which is sponsored by the University’s Interdenominational Protestant Campus Ministries (IPCM).

Featured events include the following:

  • A workshop, “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing: History and Meaning in Hymns in the ‘Free Church’ Tradition,” Jan. 16 at 7 p.m. The workshop will focus on the denominations represented by IPCM: The United Methodist Church, The Presbyterian Church (USA), The United Church of Christ and The American Baptist Churches.
  • A symposium, “Hymns of the Social Gospel: Texts with Non-Violence, Anti-Racist and Economic Justice Themes” Jan. 17 from 1-4 p.m.

Bell will also preach at the following worship services:

  • The IPCM weekly Catacomb worship service on Jan. 15 from 9:15 to 10 p.m. This service of worship will be based on the hymns of Isaac Watts;
  • The IPCM Sunday morning worship on Jan. 19 at 11 a.m. The sermon from the piano will be based on selected hymns of the social gospel.
  • Episcopal Worship on Jan. 19 at 4 p.m. The sermon from the keyboard will be based on the hymns of Charles Wesley.

A noted hymnologist and church musician, Bell has been the director of choral activities at MacPhail College and Stevens College and an instructor of religion at Hamline University. During his career, he has been a pastor or minister of music at several churches in the United Methodist and Episcopal denominations, and served as executive director of the Minnesota Council of Churches. He also served three years as pastor of the only English language church in El Salvador.

Bell was ordained as a deacon in 1954 and an elder in 1957 in the Methodist Church (now United Methodist). Bell is the son of an American Baptist and later Methodist pastor and grandson of a Primitive Methodist pastor whose career took him from England to the United States. Bell holds a bachelor’s degree from Hamline University (1953), a bachelor’s degree in sacred theology from Boston University (1956) and a master’s degree in fine arts from the University of Minnesota (1965).

Interdenominational Protestant Campus Ministries (IPCM) is a resident ministry at Hendricks Chapel sponsored by branches of the Presbyterian Church (USA),the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ and the American Baptist Churches. IPCM is a Christian community that invites others into a transforming relationship with Christ and is committed to humanizing the wider community. The IPCM community at Hendricks Chapel is led by the Rev. Kate Bell, who is also the daughter of Monroe Bell.