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Paul Gerhardt

1607–1676 · Germany · Reformation

Author

Lutheran pastor in Berlin and Lübben, widely regarded as Germany's greatest hymn writer after Luther.

Life

Paul Gerhardt was born in 1607 at Gräfenhainichen, between Halle and Wittenberg, and was orphaned by 1621. He studied at the Fürstenschule in Grimma, staying on when plague struck in 1626, and from 1628 at the University of Wittenberg, where teachers such as Paul Röber showed him the use of hymns in preaching and pastoral care. The Thirty Years' War delayed his ordination; in Berlin he worked as a tutor, and there Johann Crüger, cantor of St. Nicholas, began printing his hymns in the Praxis pietatis melica. In 1651 he became pastor at Mittenwalde and in 1657 deacon at St. Nicholas, Berlin. When he refused to sign the Elector's edict restricting Lutheran polemics against the Reformed, he was removed from office (1666). His wife and several of their children died during these years. From 1669 he served as archdeacon at Lübben, where he died in 1676.

As a Hymn Writer

Gerhardt's hymns, first spread by Crüger and collected by Johann Georg Ebeling (1666–67), stand at the point where orthodox Lutheran doctrine and personal devotion meet. They are confessional in content and intimate in voice: the 'I' who sings is always a forgiven sinner standing on Christ's merit. Their themes are the incarnation and the 'joyful exchange' at the manger, the Passion, God's fatherly care in creation and in the cross, and trust in suffering. Written in the shadow of war, plague and bereavement, they consistently refuse despair, and their comfort rests on God's promises rather than on circumstances. Bach used his stanzas extensively in the Passions and the Christmas Oratorio.

In The Lutheran Hymnal and Lutheran Service Book (19)

  • TLH 25 I Will Sing My Maker's Praises
  • TLH 58 O Lord, How Shall I Meet Thee
  • TLH 77 All My Heart This Night Rejoices
  • TLH 81 O Jesus Christ, Thy Manger Is
  • TLH 90 Come, Your Heart and Voices Raising
  • TLH 108 We Sing, Immanuel, Thy Praise
  • TLH 122 Now Let Us Come Before Him
  • TLH 142 A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth
  • TLH 171 Upon the Cross Extended
  • TLH 172 O Sacred Head, Now Wounded
  • TLH 192 Awake, My Heart, with Gladness
  • TLH 349 Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Me
  • TLH 520 Commit Whatever Grieves Thee
  • TLH 523 Why Should Cross and Trial Grieve Me?
  • TLH 528 If God Himself Be for Me
  • TLH 535 Rejoice, My Heart, Be Glad and Sing
  • TLH 554 Now Rest Beneath Night's Shadow
  • TLH 569 O Lord, I Sing with Lips and Heart
  • TLH 581 All Ye Who on This Earth Do Dwell

Sources: Wikipedia, 'Paul Gerhardt'.

Hymn Texts (30)