Christopher Wordsworth
1807–1885 · England · Classical
Bishop of Lincoln, scholar, and nephew of the poet William Wordsworth; author of The Holy Year, a hymnal for the whole Church Year.
Life
Christopher Wordsworth was born in London in 1807, the youngest son of Christopher Wordsworth, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and nephew of the poet William Wordsworth. Educated at Winchester and Trinity College, he was both a fine athlete and a prize-winning classical scholar, became fellow and tutor of Trinity in 1830, and took holy orders. He travelled in Greece and wrote on its topography, became Public Orator at Cambridge and in 1836 Headmaster of Harrow (until 1844). He was then Canon of Westminster, Vicar of Stanford in the Vale, and Archdeacon of Westminster, and from 1869 until his death in 1885 Bishop of Lincoln.
As a Hymn Writer
Wordsworth wrote hymns to teach. His collection The Holy Year (1862) supplied hymns for every Sunday and festival, each drawn closely from the day's Scriptures, and his texts are marked by careful doctrine and biblical typology rather than personal emotion. In Lutheran books his hymns serve the Church Year well: festival hymns that set out what the day confesses, often ending in a Trinitarian doxology.
In The Lutheran Hymnal and Lutheran Service Book (7)
- O Day of Rest and Gladness
- Songs of Thankfulness and Praise
- See, the Conqueror Mounts in Triumph
- Arm These Thy Soldiers, Mighty Lord
- O Lord of Heaven and Earth and Sea
- Hark! The Sound of Holy Voices
- Thou Who the Night in Prayer Didst Spend
Sources: Wikipedia, 'Christopher Wordsworth'.