Singing is a very important human activity, argues Charles Moseley. It is about bonding, about a sense of shared community, as we see in modern football crowds or in the marching songs of armies. Singing together can cement an ideology: words matter. Skilled songwriters can pack of lot of doctrine or spiritual insight into a well-constructed hymn – those of Charles Wesley, Aquinas' great hymns for Corpus Christi, or Prudentius' for the Nativity.

A Joyful Noise is an enlightening and informative introduction to some of the greatest hymn writers of the Christian tradition including; Charles Wesley, Aquinas, Prudentius, Christopher Wordsworth, Mrs Cecil Frances Alexander and Robert Bridges.