Hosanna in Excelsis
Hosanna in Excelsis by David and Barbara Leeman is a nicely bound book of Christmas carols with individual short histories of their composition and contemplations of the message of the carols themselves. There are many familiar carols, O Holy Night, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, Away In A Manger…etc. And some new ones. The summarized biographies of the authors and composers were quite interesting too. Sometimes the information was quite tantalizing, leaving you wanting to know more about the author, and for others it was more disappointing to hear the background, though in some cases discouraging. "O Holy Night" has been a favorite carol of my family, but the background behind it was anything but inspiring ," Written by a man with little belief in the Christmas story, put to music by a nonbelieving Jewish musician, and translated by a liberal theologian….". We of course, still really like the song, I suppose it just goes to show that you can have head knowl