Publisher of The Trumpet explores the life, theology, and poetry of a foundational hymnist.
Will Fitzgerald—compiler of the serialized four-shape tunebooklet The Trumpet, writer at entish.org, and speaker at the recent “Revising The Sacred Harp” Symposium launching the 2025 Edition—has recently published a five-part series exploring the life, work, and theology of Isaac Watts. These thoughtful essays, posted to his Vital Sparks newsletter, trace the reach of Watts’ hymns from 18th-century English Dissent into modern-day American sacred song traditions—including our own.
Shape-note singers know Watts primarily through his robust presence in The Sacred Harp and related tunebooks, where his metrical psalms and hymns are given bold and sometimes wild musical settings. But Fitzgerald’s essays peel back the layers of these familiar texts, offering new insight into their theological contexts and poetic construction. Whether you’re a longtime admirer or someone who’s only just noticed Watts’ name in the fine print, this series is worth your time.
The Series:
1. Watts in Space? The communion hymns of Isaac Watts
This post explores Isaac Watts’s communion hymns from Hymns and Spiritual Songs, highlighting their presence in shape-note songbooks like The Sacred Harp and The Christian Harmony, and playfully claims a connection to the Voyager Golden Record through a hymn’s influence on Blind Willie Johnson’s recording.
2. A Short Biography of Isaac Watts
A brief but illuminating overview of Watts’ life: his education, ministry, health struggles, and the cultural tensions of Dissenting Protestantism in 18th-century England.
3. Vital Sparks: Isaac Watts and the Envious Jews (Revised)
A critical examination of Watts’s hymn text in STAFFORD, particularly the line ‘in spite of env’ous Jews,’ exploring its historical context, Watts’s successionist theology, and the ethical challenges of singing it.
4. Isaac Watts and the Trinity
Addressing rumors of Watts’s Unitarianism, this post defends his orthodox Trinitarian beliefs, drawing on his writings and the ‘Solemn Address’ to highlight his scriptural focus and nuanced theological inquiry.
5. Isaac Watts as Poet
The final post centers on Watts’ poetic technique, showing how his meters, phrasing, and rhetorical patterns contribute to the lasting power of his hymns.
(BONUS WATTS) A Glorious Sight Appears
This post, examines Isaac Watts’s hymn based on Revelation 21:1-4 from Hymns and Spiritual Songs, featured in The Sacred Harp as 155 NORTHFIELD, 299 NEW JERUSALEM, and 409 PROMISED DAY. It highlights Watts’s christocentric view, focusing on the New Jerusalem’s descent and God’s healing presence, using accessible, emotional poetry for worship.
Fitzgerald’s writing brings Watts to life—not just as a theological figure or historical curiosity, but as a working poet whose words continue to shape how we sing, think, and pray. With his unique background in the shape-note world and a critical eye toward both tradition and innovation, Will offers something rare: a sympathetic yet unflinching engagement with the legacy of a man whose texts still ring out in square halls across America.
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