“The First Hymn,” showcasing Chris Tomlin’s and Ben Fielding’s contemporary rendering of the oldest known Christian hymn, enjoys a wide release in U.S. theaters March 24 and 26.
The hymn with the earliest evidence of the Trinity in praise was originally crafted circa 200, but reimagined in 2025 based on 35 words and lyrics archeologists discovered in 1918 on a tattered papyrus in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt.
The papyrus remained sealed in a climate-controlled vault at Oxford University for over 100 years until Wheaton College professor, historian and writer John Dickson hailed its worth.
“I’m thinking, why has no one brought this back to life? You know, this is a song from before there were denominations,” said Dickson, Wheaton’s Jean Kvamme Distinguished Professor of Biblical Studies and Public Christianity. “And it’s thoroughly Orthodox Christian theology.”
Dickson translated the original Greek to English and called on Chris Tomlin, whom Time Magazine has hailed as “potentially the most often sung artist in the world,” and Ben Fielding of Australia, who wrote praise favorites “What a Beautiful Name” and “Mighty to Save.”
The First Hymn documentary comes to U.S. theaters nearly a year after it was released to live audiences at Biola University and the Museum of the Bible, and on the streaming platform Wonder.
Documentary makers invite churches to join the movement, offering resources including a guide for small groups to watch the documentary together, a pastor’s packet to guide church engagement, worship resources to introduce the song, teaching and sermon tools, promotional resources and a shareable trailer.
“The First Hymn is a precious gift from early believers, some who literally gave their life for the gospel,” Tomlin said in a press release. “And now, 2,000 years down the road, we can stand in that long line of faithful believers and sing with them.”
The documentary features insight from a team of seven historians, including Maria Monteiro, a lecturer in church music at Baylor University; Charles H. Cosgrove, considered the world expert on the first hymn papyrus and emeritus professor of early Christian literature at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary; Esau McCaulley, the Jonathan Blanchard Associate Professor of New Testament and Public Theology at Wheaton; and Stephanie Boonstra, collections manager at The Egypt Exploration Society and managing editor of the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology.
Fielding has called The First Hymn one of the most rewarding and intriguing projects he has ever encountered.
“I had no idea that such a significant discovery lay quietly in England, fairly certain that most modern-day Christians would, like me, have no awareness of its existence,” Fielding said. “Now we were being tasked with bringing it back to life, that the Church today might be able to sing with (the) very same words our brothers and sisters in Christ were singing 1,800 years ago.”
Tickets for the Fathom Entertainment release are available here.
— Diana Chandler is Baptist Press’ senior writer.