Be Thou My Song

Be Thou My Song by Kerri L. Tom offers a great service to the church in highlighting some of the English language's greatest poets and poems of Christian devotion. Dr. Tom, uses her extensive experience teaching English literature to make these poems from the 17th century come alive in a way that makes them accessible to readers young and old as she brings them to life with fascinating theological and linguistic observations all centered on Christ and him crucified. Pastors, teachers, and poetry buffs alike will find this book helpful in all their endeavors.

Pastor Bror Erickson
Trinity Lutheran Church
Fort Morgan, Colorado

Be Thou My Song encourages us to enrich the poverty of our own prayer and devotional life by engaging with the poetic treasury of the past. Dr. Tom is a well-seasoned and wonderful guide who carefully navigates us through the unfamiliar terrain of the old English in order to open us up to new vistas of contemplation. I heartily recommend her work both for personal and group study.

Rev. Dr. Jonathan B. Ruehs
Associate Professor of Theology
Concordia University, Irvine

Dr. Tom's Be Thou My Soul is a feast for the mind, heart, and soul. Readers are invited to ponder and savor eleven timeless Christian poems that transcend mere words, soaring as heartfelt prayers of gratitude, supplication, and praise to our loving Savior. Dr. Tom's insightful commentary is a guiding companion, leading readers to a profound appreciation and personal connection to these exemplars of Christian poetry.

Jennifer Cosgrove, PhD
Professor of Psychology
Concordia University, Irvine

In Be Thou My Song, Tom offers a beautiful reading of eleven seventeenth-century religious lyrics. Her biographical introductions as well as pedagogical approach prove both erudite and accessible, but that's not what makes this little book shine. It's the individual readings, literary analysis that transcends the critical to offer a spiritual, joyful, even delicate understanding of how these poems spoke to the God the author addressed and the audience, then and now, inspired by them.

Dr. Marina Favila
Professor Emerita, English
James Madison University

In Be Thou My Song, Kerri Tom introduces the reader to several wonderful poems. These poems are thoughtfully chosen and beautifully explained. For those who struggle to appreciate poetry, Kerri provides a really helpful toolbox of sorts, instruments that the reader can apply when approaching the beautiful, yet often challenging, art of poetry. For those of us who love poetry, Kerri's work provides a great introduction to some new poems drawn from a very important poetic era.

Dr. John J. Norton
Professor of English
Concordia University, Irvine

The poems that Dr. Tom curates here bring us into private lives of prayer and praise. As she capably guides the reader through these seventeenth-century poems, we experience afresh our hardships, failures, and fears as humans and God's love, healing, and hope for us. Capturing our physical, emotional, and spiritual turmoil in vivid verse, these Christian poets point us to God's grace and the life of faith.

Scott Ashmon, Ph.D., M.Div.
Senior Vice President, Provost
Concordia University, Irvine