Best has done incredible job showing the importance of traditional hymns to society. The fact that many hymns in the hymnbook are "good, simple, and singable" (67) tunes is inescapably true. The best hymns have stood the test of time and continue to be used of God to speak truth about himself, even in this "the newer the better" American society.
While reading this "Traditional Hymn-based" section of the book, I realized the struggle I had with differentiating this view from the "Formal Liturgical" view. In fact, I tried to read Zahl's response to Best's essay in order to find differences, but I failed to. Does anyone have any answer that I am failing to see?
Good work! Go back to Best's reponse to Zahl and you might be able to find where their paths diverge. But I would agree with you that they both hold much in common.
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