doxology [Gr.
doxa=glory] formulaic ascription of praise to God, encountered in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic tradition. The best-known doxologies of the Christian church are
Gloria in excelsis, or the greater doxology;
Gloria Patri, or the lesser doxology; and the closing stanza of Thomas Ken's morning and evening hymns, beginning, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow," sung to the tune
Old Hundredth from the Genevan Psalter (see
hymn).
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