Peace Like a River

Topic: Pedagogy
"Peace like a River" first appeared in print in a 1963 Assembly of God songbook [1] with a note its origins were unknown. [2] The editor, Eddy Anderson, was born into a Swedish Pentecostal family in Rhode Island in 1914. He served pastorates in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and New England. In the 1950s he was active in Youth for Christ and had his own radio programs. [3] He could have heard the song anywhere in his travels.

Carl Daw noted the song shared an opening line with a nineteen-century hymn, [4] and originally had a pentatonic melody. [5] Those details, and the fact it had an AAAB line-repetition format, suggested it developed in Pentecostal camp meetings like those sponsored by the generally white Assembly of God where older songs were milled into simpler forms.

An arrangement was copyrighted by Mosie Lister in 1970 [6] for the Church of the Nazarene’s publishing house. [7] He was raised in a rail town [8] on Georgia’s Atlantic coastal plain. [9] After World War II, he sang baritone in southern gospel quartets, [10] but turned to song writing rather than touring. [11] He remained close to members of the Statesmen and other professional quartets, and, like Anderson, could have heard the song from anyone in that musical world.

The song most likely entered the repertoires of summer residential camps when Campus Crusade for Christ included a copy of Lister’s arrangement as a "spiritual" in its Pass It On songbook in 1972. [12] A friend told me he sang "Peace" at a Texas Presbyterian camp in 1973 when he was a counselor in college.

In 1975, the Southern Baptist Convention published an arrangement by William J. Reynolds. [13] It gained more exposure when an arrangement by Dale Scott appeared in a Singspiration songbook in 1979. [14]

During the 1980s, hymnals and songsters that included "Peace" identified it as traditional, meaning public domain. [15] It wasn’t until the Presbyterians included it in a hymn book in 1990 that it was described as an "African-American spiritual." [16] The Baptists followed suit in 1991, although they preferred the term "Negro." [17] Both probably were much more comfortable singing a song from Black tradition than they were from Pentecostal.

Jean Anne Shafferman identified the arrangement described in the post for 5 August 2018 as "a general anthem that combines two beloved traditional spirituals. It may be appropriate for peace observances, baptisms, and funerals." There were a great many other versions of her arrangement available on YouTube.

End Notes
1. "I’ve Got Peace like a River." Melody Choruses. Compiled by Edwin P. Anderson. Springfield, Missouri: Gospel Publishing House, 1963. Cited by Carl P. Daw, Junior. Glory to God. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2016. 591.

2. Wordcat entry for Melody Choruses.
3. Obituary for Edwin Eddy Anderson. [Springfield, Missouri] News-Leader. 31 March 2010.
4. Daw. 591.
5. Daw. 592.

6. "I’ve Got Peace Like a River." Pass It On. San Bernardino, California: Campus Crusade for Christ International, 1972. 124.

7. Wikipedia. "Nazarene Publishing House." The specific publisher within the group was Lillianas.

8. Wikipedia. "Cochran, Georgia."

9. "Native American History of Bleckley County, Georgia." Access Genealogy website. Last updated 1 July 2012.

10. "Melody Masters Quartet." David Bruce Murray’s Southern Gospel History website. Last updated 30 April 2018.

11. James R. Goff, Junior. Close Harmony. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002. 170.

12. Campus Crusade.

13. Baptist Hymnal. Nashville: [Southern Baptist] Convention Press, 1975. 203. Cited by Daw, 591, and by Hymnary website entry for "I’ve Got Peace Like a River."

14. Praise! Our Songs and Hymns. Edited by Norman Johnson. Grand Rapids: Singspiration Music, 1979. 345. Cited by Hymnary.

15. Hymnary.

16. Presbyterian Hymnal. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1990. 368. Cited by Hymnary.

17. Baptist Hymnal. Nashville: [Southern Baptist] Convention Press, 1991. 418. Cited by Hymnary.