Podcast Episode 47
Isaac Watts
with Dr. Daniel Johnson & host Nick Walters
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A hymn writer who believed theology should be sung as well as preached stands at the center of this episode’s Deep Dive.
Episode 47 of This Week in Christian History features an extended conversation focused on Isaac Watts (1674–1748) and the way his hymns deliberately reflected, taught, and reinforced his theology. Hosted by Nick Walters, founder of the Center for Christian History, this episode examines Watts not simply as a literary innovator, but as a pastor-theologian whose understanding of God, Christ, Scripture, and worship shaped the songs that would transform English-speaking Protestant devotion.
The Deep Dive explores how Watts’s hymnody emerged from the Nonconformist tradition in England and why his theological convictions mattered so deeply for congregational worship. As a Dissenter outside the Church of England, Watts ministered in a religious world marked by legal restriction, institutional exclusion, and theological independence. His hymns were written for ordinary believers gathered in worship, not for courtly performance or ecclesiastical prestige. They were intended to instruct the mind, stir the affections, and give congregations language to sing explicitly about Christ’s incarnation, atoning work, resurrection, and reign.
Nick is joined in this Deep Dive by Dr. Daniel Johnson, Programme Leader for Theology & Worship Studies at the London School of Theology, whose scholarship focuses on English Dissent and the evangelical hymn tradition, including the theology of Isaac Watts. Drawing on his academic research, Dr. Johnson helps explain why Watts believed Christian worship should move beyond the exclusive use of metrical psalms and how Watts’s hymns functioned as theological formation set to music. The conversation highlights Watts’s conviction that hymns should do real doctrinal work—shaping belief, not merely expressing emotion—and shows how his songs served as a kind of sung catechism for Nonconformist congregations.
As with every episode of *This Week in Christian History*, the program also includes two historical highlights from the same week, placing the Deep Dive within the broader sweep of Christian history.
Historical Highlight #1 looks at the Edict of Saint-Germain (1562), issued during the French Wars of Religion. This edict granted limited toleration to French Protestants and represents an early, contested attempt by a European state to manage religious pluralism within a confessional society.
Historical Highlight #2 turns to the launch of *The Old Fashioned Revival Hour*, the influential mid-twentieth-century radio program associated with revivalist Charles E. Fuller. Broadcasting across the United States and beyond, the program became one of the most prominent examples of evangelical use of mass media to promote revival preaching and gospel music.
Together, these elements reflect the ongoing mission of *This Week in Christian History*: to connect theology, worship, and historical context through a consistent weekly format that includes an interview with Nick Walters, a Deep Dive with a subject matter expert, and key moments from Christian history that occurred during the same week. New episodes are released regularly through the Center for Christian History.
Image citation: Portrait of Isaac Watts (1674–1748), English hymn writer and Nonconformist pastor. Public domain engraving, 18th century. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
