.) Theological Guidelines According to "The Making of The New Century Hymnal" by James Crawford and Daniel Johnson, the hymnal committee was guided by the following theological guidelines: "The 1995 hymnal of the United Church of Christ enables praise of the One, Sovereign, Triune God, who in infinite mystery is always more than doctrine can describe and whose being calls forth awe, worship, love, faith, and service (Isa. 6:1-8)." "We affirm that people of all ages, tongues, races, abilities, and genders are created in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26, 5:1-2; United Church of Christ Statement of Faith)." "We testify to God's call to stewardship of the earth; we are not entitled to hoard, waste or destroy what God has made, but we are called to glorify God with the earth's resources." "We rejoice in providing a rich variety of metaphors for singing of God and inclusive words for singing of people—words that all people can sing." Inclusive Language and The New Century Hymnal The New Century Hymnal is perhaps most famous both in and outside the United Church of Christ for its approach to using "inclusive language". Arthur Clyde, hymnal editor, writes "The New Century Hymnal is not the first hymnal to deal with the issue of inclusive language. It does, however, represent the most even and consistent approach to language of any hymnal yet published. Rather than choosing to present only new hymns in inclusive language, those responsible for the language of this hymnal took the General Synod request for an inclusive hymnal quite literally. Thus hymns of other ages are presented in ways that seek to maintain the theology and beauty of the original but without some of the biases of the time in which they were written." Clyde identifies a number of approaches and concerns implemented in considering hymn text language, which include: Translation: Some hymns that were written in languages other than English were retranslated to avoid the linguistic biases of the older translation. Archaic Language: Avoiding "thee", "thine", "thou", "ebenezer", "betide", etc. since such language is no longer commonplace in English and is losing its intelligibility to new generations. Gender of God: Seeking to reduce the solely-masculine use of language for God, and/or balancing masculine images with feminine and non-gendered images (A few Trinitarian references to God "The Father" were retained). The United Church of Christ describes the New Century Hymnal as