And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen. (Psalm 72:19)
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11).
Baylus Benjamin “B.B.” McKinney wrote the words and music to Glorious Is Thy Name. The hymn is 8s.7s. meter with an irregular refrain. It is a paean of praise to the glorious name of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. This represents one of the two genres in which McKinney usually wrote – prayer and praise.
In his younger days, McKinney led music in revivals with well-known Southern Baptist evangelist A. P. “Pink” Durham. Durham persuaded McKinney to attend Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. His secular, musical, and religious education included: Mount Lebanon Academy at Mount Lebanon, Bienville Parish, Louisiana; Louisiana College in Pineville, Louisiana; Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas; the Siegel-Myers Correspondence School of Music, Chicago, Illinois; and the Bush Conservatory of Music in Chicago, Illinois.
B. B. McKinney was known and is remembered for his songwriting, music evangelism, and editorial work. He served as music editor for the Baptist Sunday School Board and edited The Broadman Hymnal, which first appeared in 1940. The Broadman Hymnal was extremely popular in Southern Baptist churches, and even used by other Baptist churches in the South. Its availability in shape notes helped its reception in many places. Though the SBC replaced it with The Baptist Hymnal in 1956, it is still used in a few churches.
B. B. McKinney wrote the words and music for about 180 songs, as well as writing music for other songs. Some were written under pseudonyms, including (and possibly only) Martha Annis, Otto Nellen, and Gene Routh.
The song can be found as No. 57 in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Shape Note Edition, No. 211 (Knoxville, TN: Melody Publications, 2020).
We thy love and grace proclaim;
Thou art mighty, thou art holy,
Glorious is thy matchless name!
Refrain:
Glorious (Glorious is thy name, O Lord),
Glorious (Glorious is thy name, O Lord),
Glorious is thy name, O Lord! (X 2)
2. Great Redeemer, Lord and Master,
Light of all eternal days;
Let the saints of ev’ry nation
Sing thy just and endless praise!
3. From the throne of heaven’s glory
To the cross of sin and shame,
Thou didst come to die a ransom,
Guilty sinners to reclaim!
4. Come, O come, immortal Saviour,
Come and take thy royal throne;
Come, and reign, and reign forever,
Be the kingdom all thine own!
B. B. McKinney was born July 22, 1886 in Webster Parish, Louisiana, the son of James Calvin McKinney and Martha Annis Heflin. He married Leila Irene Routh in 1918, and they had two sons, Baylus Benjamin McKinney, Jr. and Eugene Calvin McKinney. Leila was a sister of the Baptist preacher E. C. Routh.
McKinney was music editor at the Robert H. Coleman Company, 1918-1935. He taught at Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, 1919-1932. In 1935, he became music editor for the Baptist Sunday School Board in Nashville, Tennessee. He was the founding director (1941-1952) of the Church Music Department of the Baptist Sunday School Board. The Handbook to The Baptist Hymnal (p. 406) called him “the archetypal ‘Mr. Southern Baptist Church Music.’”
According to William J. Reynolds, McKinney died September 7, 1952 in a car wreck at Bryson City, North Carolina. He was returning to Nashville from a church music conference in Ridgecrest, North Carolina. McKinney and his wife are buried at the Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Nashville (Davidson County), Tennessee.
Some sources for McKinney include:
- Handbook to The Baptist Hymnal, Jere V. Adams
- Hymns of Our Faith, William J. Reynolds
- I Will Sing the Wondrous Story, David W. Music and Paul A. Richardson
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