How Great Thou Art (hymn) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

"How Great Thou Art" is a Christian hymn

Hymn

A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...

based on a Swedish poem written by Carl Gustav Boberg

Carl Boberg

Carl Gustav Boberg was a Swedish poet, writer, and elected official, best known for writing the Swedish language poem of "O Store Gud" from which the English language hymn "How Great Thou Art" is derived....

(1859–1940) in Sweden in 1885. The melody is a Swedish folk song. It was translated into English by British missionary Stuart K. Hine, who also added two original verses of his own composition. It was popularized by George Beverly Shea

George Beverly Shea

George Beverly "Bev" Shea is a Grammy Award-winning Canadian-born American gospel singer and hymn composer. Shea has often been described as "America's beloved Gospel singer" and is considered "the first international singing 'star' of the gospel world," as a consequence of his solos at Billy...

and Cliff Barrows

Cliff Barrows

Clifford Burton Barrows is the longtime music and program director for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. He has been a part of the Graham organization since 1949...

during the Billy Graham

Billy Graham

William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian evangelist. As of April 25, 2010, when he met with Barack Obama, Graham has spent personal time with twelve United States Presidents dating back to Harry S. Truman, and is number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for...

crusades. It was voted the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

's favourite hymn by BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

's Songs of Praise. "How Great Thou Art" was ranked second (after "Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace

"Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn with words written by the English poet and clergyman John Newton , published in 1779. With a message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of the sins people commit and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God,...

") on a list of the favorite hymns of all time in a survey by Today's Christian magazine in 2001.

Inspiration

The inspiration for the poem came when Boberg was walking home from church near Kronobäck, Sweden, and listening to church bells. A sudden awe-inspiring storm gripped Boberg’s attention, and then just as suddenly as it had made its violent entrance, it subsided to a peaceful calm which Boberg observed over Mönsterås

Mönsterås

Mönsterås is a locality and the seat of Mönsterås Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 4,744 inhabitants in 2005.Mönsterås is associated with the Swedish poet Carl Boberg, particularly his 1885 writing of the lyrics for the eminent hymn "O Store Gud" .- References :...

Bay. According to J. Irving Erickson:

Carl Boberg and some friends were returning home to Mönsterås from Kronobäck, where they had participated in an afternoon service. Nature was at its peak that radiant afternoon. Presently a thundercloud appeared on the horizon, and soon sharp lightning flashed across the sky. Strong winds swept over the meadows and billowing fields of grain. The thunder pealed in loud claps. Then rain came in cool fresh showers. In a little while the storm was over, and a rainbow appeared.

When Boberg arrived home, he opened the window and saw the bay of Mönsterås like a mirror before him… From the woods on the other side of the bay, he heard the song of a thrush
Thrush (bird)
The thrushes, family Turdidae, are a group of passerine birds that occur worldwide.-Characteristics:Thrushes are plump, soft-plumaged, small to medium-sized birds, inhabiting wooded areas, and often feed on the ground or eat small fruit. The smallest thrush may be the Forest Rock-thrush, at and...

…the church bells were tolling in the quiet evening. It was this series of sights, sounds, and experiences that inspired the writing of the song.

According to Boberg's great-nephew, Bud Boberg, "My dad's story of its origin was that it was a paraphrase of Psalm 8 and was used in the 'underground church' in Sweden in the late 1800s when the Baptists and Mission Friends were persecuted." The author, Carl Boberg himself gave the following information about the inspiration behind his poem:

"It was that time of year when everything seemed to be in its richest colouring; the birds were singing in trees and everywhere. It was very warm; a thunderstorm appeared on the horizon and soon thunder and lightning. We had to hurry to shelter. But the storm was soon over and the clear sky appeared.

"When I came home I opened my window toward the sea. There evidently had been a funeral and the bells were playing the tune of 'When eternity's clock calling my saved soul to its Sabbath rest.' That evening, I wrote the song, 'O Store Gud.'"

Publication and music

Boberg first published "O Store Gud" in the Mönsterås Tidningen (Mönsterås News) on 13 March 1886 .

The poem became matched to an old Swedish folk tune. and sung in public for the first known occasion in a church in the Swedish province of Värmland

Värmland

' is a historical province or landskap in the west of middle Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland and Närke. It is also bounded by Norway in the west. Latin name versions are Vermelandia and Wermelandia. Although the province's land originally was Götaland, the...

in 1888. Eight verses appeared with the music in the 1890 Sions Harpan.

In 1890 Boberg became the editor of Sanningsvittnet (The Witness for the Truth). The words and music were published for the first time in the 16 April 1891 edition of Sanningsvittnet. Instrumentation for both piano and guitar was provided by Adolph Edgren (born 1858; died 1921 in Washington D.C.), a music teacher and organist, who later migrated to the United States.

Boberg later sold the rights to the Svenska Missionsförbundet (Mission Covenant Church of Sweden

Mission Covenant Church of Sweden

The Mission Covenant Church of Sweden , founded in 1878, is a Swedish Reformed free church. It is the second-largest Christian denomination in the country, after the national church, the Church of Sweden...

). In 1891 all nine verses were published in the 1891 Covenant songbook, Sanningsvittnet. These versions were all in 3/4 time. In 1894 the Svenska Missionsförbundet sångbok published "O Store Gud" in 4/4 time

Time signature

The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....

as it has been sung ever since).

German translation (1907)

The song was first translated from Swedish to German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

by a wealthy Baltic German

Baltic German

The Baltic Germans were mostly ethnically German inhabitants of the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, which today form the countries of Estonia and Latvia. The Baltic German population never made up more than 10% of the total. They formed the social, commercial, political and cultural élite in...

Baptist

Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...

nobleman, Manfred von Glehn (born 1867 in Jelgimaggi

Jälgimäe

Jälgimäe is a village in Saku Parish, Harju County in northern Estonia....

, Estonia; died 1924 in Brazil), who had heard the hymn in Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

, where there was a Swedish speaking minority

Estonian Swedes

The Estonian Swedes, Estonia-Swedes, or Coastal Swedes are a Swedish-speaking linguistic minority traditionally residing in the coastal areas and islands of what is now western and northern Estonia...

. It was first published in Blankenburger Lieder. The song became popular in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, where "Wie groß bist Du" is the common title (the first line is "Du großer Gott").

Russian translation (1912)

Eventually, the German version traveled to Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

where a Russian

Russian language

Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

version entitled "Velikiy Bog" (Великий Бог - Great God) was produced in 1912 by Ivan S. Prokhanov (1869–1935), the "Martin Luther of Russia", and "the most prolific Protestant hymn writer and translator in all of Russia" at that time. in a Russian-language Protestant hymnbook published in St. Petersburg (later Leningrad

Leningrad

Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...

), Kymvali (Cymbals). An enlarged edition of this hymnbook entitled "Songs of a Christian", including "Velikiy Bog" was released in 1927.

E. Gustav Johnson (1925)

The first literal English translation of O store Gud was by E. Gustav Johnson (1893–1974), then a professor of North Park College, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

. His translation of verses 1, 2, and 7-9 was published in the United States in the Covenant Hymnal as "O Mighty God" in 1925.

The first three Covenant hymnals in English used Johnson's translation, with The Covenant Hymnal (1973) including all nine verses of Boberg’s original poem. There was a desire to replace Johnson's version with the more popular version of British missionary Stuart K. Hine's “How Great Thou Art”. Wiberg explains:

Given the popularity of Stuart Hine’s translation of How Great Thou Art in the late 60s and early 70s, the Hymnal Commission struggled with whether to go with the more popular version or retain E. Gust’s translation. However, economics settled the issue inasmuch as we were unable to pay the exorbitant price requested by the publishing house that owned the copyright despite the fact that the original belonged to the Covenant. One of the ironies of musicmaking and profiteering!.

The version that appeared in the 1973 edition of The Covenant Hymnbook was:

O mighty God, when I behold the wonder

Of nature’s beauty, wrought by words of thine,

And how thou leadest all from realms up yonder,

Sustaining earthly life with love benign,

Refrain:

With rapture filled, my soul thy name would laud,

O mighty God! O mighty God! (repeat)

When I behold the heavens in their vastness,

Where golden ships in azure issue forth,

Where sun and moon keep watch upon the fastness

Of changing seasons and of time on earth.

When crushed by guilt of sin before thee kneeling,

I plead for mercy and for grace and peace,

I feel thy balm and, all my bruises healing,

My soul is filled, my heart is set at ease.

And when at last the mists of time have vanished

And I in truth my faith confirmed shall see,

Upon the shores where earthly ills are banished

I’ll enter Lord, to dwell in peace with thee.

In 1996 Johnson's translation was replaced in The Covenant Hymnal—A Worshipbook because "E Gustav Johnson’s version which, while closer to the original, uses a more archaic language." However, according to Glen V. Wiberg:

While there was sympathy on the commission for retaining this older version, a compromise led to preserving it in printed form on the opposite page of How Great Thou Art, hymn 8. The new version with a fresher language and some striking metaphors seems uneven and incomplete.

Stuart K. Hine (1949 version)

British Methodist missionary Stuart Wesley Keene Hine (born 25 July 1899 in Hammersmith Grove, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England; died 14 March 1989) Hine was dedicated to Jesus Christ in the Salvation Army

Salvation Army

The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....

by his parents. Hine was led to Christ by Madame Annie Ryall on 22 February 1914, and was baptized shortly thereafter. Hine was influenced greatly by the teachings of British Baptist

Baptist

evangelist

Evangelism

Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Haddon Spurgeon was a large British Particular Baptist preacher who remains highly influential among Christians of different denominations, among whom he is still known as the "Prince of Preachers"...

.

Hine first heard the Russian translation of the German version of the song while on an evangelistic mission to the Carpathian Mountains

Carpathian Mountains

The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe...

in Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

, near the Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

border, in 1931. Upon hearing it, Hine was inspired to create his English paraphrase known as “How Great Thou Art". According to Michael Ireland, "Hine and his wife, Edith, learned the Russian translation, and started using it in their evangelistic services. Hine also started re-writing some of the verses --- and writing new verses (all in Russian) --- as events inspired him."

Verse 3

One of the verses Hine added was the current third verse:

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,

Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;

That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,

He bled and died to take away my sin.

Michael Ireland explains the origin of this original verse written by Hine:

It was typical of the Hines to inquire as to the existence of any Christians in the villages they visited. In one case, they found out that the only Christians that their host knew about were a man named Dmitri and his wife Lyudmila. Dmitri's wife knew how to read -- evidently a fairly rare thing at that time and in that place. She taught herself how to read because a Russian soldier had left a Bible behind several years earlier, and she started slowly learning by reading that Bible. When the Hines arrived in the village and approached Dmitri's house, they heard a strange and wonderful sound: Dmitri's wife was reading from the gospel of John about the crucifixion of Christ to a houseful of guests, and those visitors were in the very act of repenting. In Ukraine (as I know first hand!), this act of repenting is done very much out loud. So the Hines heard people calling out to God, saying how unbelievable it was that Christ would die for their own sins, and praising Him for His love and mercy. They just couldn't barge in and disrupt this obvious work of the Holy Spirit, so they stayed outside and listened. Stuart wrote down the phrases he heard the Repenters use, and (even though this was all in Russian), it became the third verse that we know today: "And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in."

The Hines had to leave Ukraine during the Holodomor

Holodomor

The Holodomor was a man-made famine in the Ukrainian SSR between 1932 and 1933. During the famine, which is also known as the "terror-famine in Ukraine" and "famine-genocide in Ukraine", millions of Ukrainians died of starvation in a peacetime catastrophe unprecedented in the history of...

or Famine Genocide perpetrated on Ukraine by Stalin during the winter of 1932-1933, and they also left Eastern Europe at the outbreak of World War II in 1939, returning to England, where they settled in Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

. Hine continued his evangelistic ministry in England working among the displaced Polish refugee community.

Verse 4

The fourth verse was another innovation of Stuart Hine, which was added after World War II. His concern for the exiled Polish community in England, who were anxious to return home, provided part of the inspiration for Hine's final verse. Hine and David Griffiths

David Griffiths

David J. Griffiths is a U.S. physicist and educator. He has worked at Reed College since 1978, where he is currently the Howard Vollum Professor of Science. He is easily confused with the late physicist David J. Griffiths of Oregon State University.Griffiths is a graduate of The Putney School...

visited a camp in Sussex, England, in 1948 where displaced Russians were being held, but where only two were professing Christians. The testimony of one of these refugees and his anticipation of the second coming of Christ inspired Hine to write the fourth stanza of his English version of the hymn. According to Ireland:

One man to whom they were ministering told them an amazing story: he had been separated from his wife at the very end of the war, and had not seen her since. At the time they were separated, his wife was a Christian, but he was not, but he had since been converted. His deep desire was to find his wife so they could at last share their faith together. But he told the Hines that he did not think he would ever see his wife on earth again. Instead he was longing for the day when they would meet in heaven, and could share in the Life Eternal there. These words again inspired Hine, and they became the basis for his fourth and final verse to 'How Great Thou Art': "When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation to take me home, what joy shall fill my heart. Then we shall bow in humble adoration and there proclaim, My God How Great Thou Art!"

Optional verses by Hine

In Hine's book, Not You, but God: A Testimony to God's Faithfulness, Hine presents two additional, optional verses that he copyrighted in 1953 as a translation of the Russian version, that are generally omitted from hymnals published in the United States:

O when I see ungrateful man defiling

This bounteous earth, God's gifts so good and great;

In foolish pride, God's holy Name reviling,

And yet, in grace, His wrath and judgment wait.

When burdens press, and seem beyond endurance,

Bowed down with grief, to Him I lift my face;

And then in love He brings me sweet assurance:

'My child! for thee sufficient is my grace'.

Subsequent history

In 1948 Hine finished composing the final verse. Hine finalized his English translation in 1949, and published the final four verse version in his own Russian gospel

Gospel

A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...

magazine Grace and Peace that same year. As Grace and Peace was circulated among refugees in fifteen countries around the world, including North and South America, Hine's version of O store Gud (How Great Thou Art) became popular in each country that it reached. British missionaries began to spread the song around the world to former British colonies in Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

and India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

in approximately its current English version.

According to Hine, James Caldwell, a missionary from Central Africa, introduced Hine's version to the United States when he sang it at a convention in Stony Brook, New York

Stony Brook, New York

Stony Brook is a hamlet located in the Town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New York, which is on the North Shore of Long Island...

, on Long Island

Long Island

Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

in 1951.

Hine published hymns and evangelical literature in various languages, including Eastern Melodies & Hymns of other Lands (1956)
and The Story of "How Great Thou art": How it came to be written ... With complete album of hymns of other lands ... Russian melodies, Eastern melodies,etc (1958). Hine died on 14 March 1989. His memorial service was held at the Gospel Hall on Martello Road, Walton-on-Naze, Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, England, on 23 March 1989.

Manna Music version (1955)

A program note from a Gustavus Adolphus College

Gustavus Adolphus College

Gustavus Adolphus College is a private liberal arts college affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America located in St. Peter, Minnesota, United States. A coeducational, four-year, residential institution, it was founded in 1862 by Swedish Americans. To this day the school is firmly...

, Minnesota, concert tells listeners that Dr. J. Edwin Orr

J. Edwin Orr

James Edwin Orr was a Baptist minister, lecturer and author.At the time of his death, J. Edwin Orr was professor emeritus of the history of awakenings at Fuller Theological Seminary's School of World Missions. He had been born in the North of Ireland of American-British parentage. He had a Ph....

(born 15 January 1912; died April 1987) of Fuller Theological Seminary

Fuller Theological Seminary

Fuller Theological Seminary is an accredited Christian educational institute with its main campus in Pasadena, California and several satellite campuses in the western United States...

in Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

discovered the song being sung in a small village near Deolali

Deolali

Deolali is a small hill station and a census town in Nashik district, Maharashtra. It has several army establishments including the School of Artillery of Indian Army and nearby Airforce station...

, India

India

by a choir of the Naga

Naga people

The term Naga people refers to a conglomeration of several tribes inhabiting the North Eastern part of India and north-western Burma. The tribes have similar cultures and traditions, and form the majority ethnic group in the Indian state of Nagaland...

tribe from Assam

Assam

Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...

near Burma. The tribsemen had arranged the harmony themselves, and a Mennonite

Mennonite

The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...

missionary had transcribed it.

Orr was so impressed with the song that he introduced it at the Forest Home Christian Conference Center in the San Bernardino

San Bernardino

San Bernardino, California is a large city in the Inland Empire Metropolitan Area of Southern California.San Bernardino may also refer to:-Landforms:*San Bernardino , a torrent that flows through the Italian province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola...

Mountains of southern California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

founded in 1938 by Henrietta Mears

Henrietta Mears

Henrietta Cornelia Mears was a Christian educator and author who had a significant impact on evangelical Christianity in the 20th century....

(born 23 October 1890; died 19 March 1963) in the summer of 1954. Mears' publishing company, Gospel Light Press published Hine's version of the song first it in 1954. However, according to Manna Music's website,

Dr. Orr’s theme for the week of the conference was “Think not what great things you can do for God, but think first of whatever you can do for a great God.” And so he introduced the song at the start of the conference and it was sung each day. Attending the Forest Home college-age conference were Hal Spencer and his sister, Loretta, son and daughter of Tim Spencer who was a songwriter and publisher of Christian music. Hal and Loretta borrowed the song sheet from Dr. Orr and brought it home and gave it to their father.

Their father was Vernon "Tim' Spencer (born 13 July 1908; died 26 April 1974), a converted cowboy, and former member of The Sons of the Pioneers, who had founded the newly established Manna Music of Burbank

Burbank, California

Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

in 1955. Spencer negotiated with Hine for the purchase of the song.

The Manna Music editors changed "works" and "mighty" in Hine's original translation to "worlds" and "rolling" respectively. Manna Music decided to make the song available free of charge. According to Manna Music, "Presently it is considered, and has been for several years, to be the most popular Gospel song in the world."

The first major American recording of "How Great Thou Art" was by Bill Carle in a 1958 Sacred Records album of the same name (LP 9018). He reprised the song on his "Who Hath Measured the Waters In the Hollow of His Hand" album (Sacred Records LP 9041) later that year.

Billy Graham Evangelistic Crusades

The Manna Music version of the song was popularized as the “signature song” of the 1950s Billy Graham

Billy Graham

Crusades. It was popularized by George Beverly Shea

George Beverly Shea

and Cliff Barrows

Cliff Barrows

Clifford Burton Barrows is the longtime music and program director for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. He has been a part of the Graham organization since 1949...

during Billy Graham

Billy Graham

crusades. According to Ireland:

As the story goes, when the Billy Graham team went to London in 1954 for the Harringay
Harringay
Harringay is a residential area of North London, part of the London Borough of Haringey, United Kingdom. It is centred on the section of Green Lanes running between the northern boundary of Finsbury Park up to the southern boundary of Duckett's Common, not far from Turnpike Lane.-Location:The...

Crusade, they were given a pamphlet containing Hine's work. "At first they ignored it, but fortunately not for long," said [Bud] Boberg. They worked closely with Hine to prepare the song for use in their campaigns. They sang it in the 1955 Toronto campaign, but it didn't really catch on until they took it to the Madison Square Garden in 1957. According to Cliff Barrows
Cliff Barrows
Clifford Burton Barrows is the longtime music and program director for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. He has been a part of the Graham organization since 1949...

(Dr. Graham's longtime associate), they sang it one hundred times during that campaign because the people wouldn't let them stop."

The pamphlet had been given to Shea by his friend George Gray, who worked with the Pikering and Inglis publishing firm, on Oxford Street in London in 1954. Barrows, who also had been given a copy, had Paul Mickelson (died 21 October 2001) arrange the song for use in the 1955 Toronto Crusade. George Beverly Shea

George Beverly Shea

's recording of the beloved hymn ranks number 204 on the top recordings of the 20th century according to the Recording Industry Association of America

Recording Industry Association of America

The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...

.

Evangelist Billy Graham indicated: “The reason I like 'How Great Thou Art' is because it glorifies God. It turns Christian’s eyes toward God, rather than upon themselves. I use it as often as possible because it is such a God-honoring song.”

Bayly translation (1957)

The hymn was translated in 1957 for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA is an inter-denominational, evangelical Christian, student-led ministry which for the past 70 years has been dedicated to establishing witnessing communities on U.S. college and university campuses...

by Joseph T. Bayly

Joseph T. Bayly

Joseph Tate Bayly was an American author and publishing executive.Born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, Bayly earned his BA at Wheaton College, Illinois, in 1940, and then entered Faith Theological Seminary to gain his BD in 1945. In 1944, Bayly married Mary Lou DeWalt, a classmate at Wheaton College...

(5 April 1920 – 16 July 1986), and set to the music of Josephine Carradine Dixon. According to Bud Boberg, the grandson of the younger brother of the original author of the poem:

"It's a quite literal translation from Boberg, but I suspect that he had the Hine work at hand because he uses the phrase 'how great Thou art.' Also, the music by Josephine Carradine Dixon is similar to Hine's. He added two verses of his own."

Erik Routley (1982)

Eminent British hymnologist Erik Routley

Erik Routley

Erik Routley was an English Congregational minister, composer and musicologist. He was educated at Lancing College and Magdalen and Mansfield Colleges in Oxford...

(born 31 October 1917; died 1982) so disliked both the hymn and its melody, he wrote a new text, “O Mighty God” and re-harmonized the Swedish tune in 1982. This was one of his last works before his death. His translation was included as hymn 466 in Rejoice in the Lord: A Hymn Companion to the Scriptures (1985).

"O Store Gud" became more popular in Sweden after the dissemination of "How Great Thou Art" in English. Swedish gospel singer

Gospel music

Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....

Per-Erik Hallin has credited Elvis Presley's rendition of "How Great Thou Art" as a major factor in the revival of "O Store Gud" in Sweden.

In English the first line is "O Lord, my God"; and the hymn may appear with that heading, especially in British hymnals, where first-line citation is the dominant practice. English-language hymnals prevailingly indicate the tune title as the Swedish first line, O STORE GUD.

New Century Hymnal (1995)

In 1995 the United Church of Christ

United Church of Christ

The United Church of Christ is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination primarily in the Reformed tradition but also historically influenced by Lutheranism. The Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches united in 1957 to form the UCC...

released the New Century Hymnal, which included an updated English language translation of Boberg's "O store Gud" entitled "O Mighty God, When I Survey in Wonder". According to the editors of the New Century Hymnal, "This translation and arrangement were created for The New Century Hymnal to restore the meaning and flavor of Boberg’s original hymn."

O mighty God, when I survey in wonder

The world that formed when once the word you said,

The strands of life all woven close together,

The whole creation at your table fed,

Refrain: (vss 1-3)

My soul cries out in songs of praise to you,

O mighty God! O mighty God! (repeat)

When your voice speaks in rolls of thunder pealing,

Your lightning power bursts in bright surprise;

When cooling rain, your gentle love revealing,

Reflects your promise, arcing through the skies.

The Bible tells the story of your blessing

So freely shed upon all human life;

Your constant mercy, every care addressing,

relieving burdened souls from sin and strife.

And when at last, the clouds of doubt dispersing,

You will reveal what we but dimly see;

With trumpet call, our great rebirth announcing,

we shall rejoin you for eternity.

Refrain: (verse 4)

Then we will sing your praise forever more,

O mighty God! O mighty God! (repeat)

Other translations

This hymn has been translated into many languages, including Chinese ("祢真偉大"), Japanese, Korean (주 하나님 지으신 모든세계), Indonesian ("Ajaib Tuhan" which means "Miraculous God"), Polish ("Gdy na ten świat"), Romanian ("O, Doamne Mare!" and "Spre Cel din slăvi", Spanish ("Cuán grande es Él"), Slovak ("Nebeský Bože, Tvorca všehomíra")no.628 in Evanjelický spevník (Lutheran book of praise),Vietnamese ("Lớn Bấy Duy Ngài"), and even two Esperanto

Esperanto

is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...

versions: "Ho granda Dio, kiam mi rigardas", which was translated by William John Downes in 1966; and "Sinjoro Dio, kiam mi miregas", translated by Leonard Ivor Gentle in 1985.

A Māori

Maori language

Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...

version, "Whakaaria mai", was originally sung at the Royal Command Performance in 1981 upon the occasion of the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. It was subsequently popularised by Maori entertainer Howard Morrison

Howard Morrison

Sir Howard Leslie Morrison, OBE, was a New Zealand entertainer. From 1964 until his death in 2009 he was one of New Zealand's leading television and concert performers.-Early life:...

, who released it as a single in 1982, where it spent six months in the New Zealand national charts, and five weeks in the number one position.

Notable performers

Among notable performers of "How Great Thou Art" are George Beverly Shea

George Beverly Shea

, Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

, Carrie Underwood

Carrie Underwood

Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...

, Charlie Daniels

Charlie Daniels

Charles Edward "Charlie" Daniels is an American musician known for his contributions to country and southern rock music. He is known primarily for his number one country hit "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", and multiple other songs he has performed and written. Daniels has been active as a singer...

the Blackwood Brothers Quartet, Tennessee Ernie Ford

Tennessee Ernie Ford

Ernest Jennings Ford , better known as Tennessee Ernie Ford, was an American recording artist and television host who enjoyed success in the country and Western, pop, and gospel musical genres...

(backed by The Jordanaires

The Jordanaires

The Jordanaires are an American vocal quartet, which formed as a gospel group in 1948. They are best known for providing vocal background for Elvis Presley, in live appearances and recordings from 1956 to 1972...

), Roy Rogers

Roy Rogers

Roy Rogers, born Leonard Franklin Slye , was an American singer and cowboy actor, one of the most heavily marketed and merchandised stars of his era, as well as being the namesake of the Roy Rogers Restaurants franchised chain...

, and Connie Smith

Connie Smith

Connie Smith is an American country music artist. She began her career in 1963 after winning a local talent contest near Columbus, Ohio, which attracted the attention of country songwriter Bill Anderson...

, whose "inspiring four-minute rendition of "How Great Thou Art," ... originally appeared on the otherwise secular album Back in Baby's Arms in 1969". A rendition by The Statler Brothers, from their album Holy Bible New Testament, peaked at number 39 on the Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

charts in 1976.

There have been over seventeen hundred documented recordings of "How Great Thou Art". It has been used on major television programs, in major motion pictures, and has been named as the favorite Gospel song of at least three United States’ presidents.
This hymn was the title track of Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley

's second gospel LP "How Great Thou Art"(RCA LSP/LPM 3758), which was released in March 1967. The song won Presley a Grammy Award for "Best Sacred Performance"

Grammy Award for Best Inspirational Performance

The Grammy Award for Best Inspirational Performance was awarded from 1962 to 1986. During this time the award had several minor name changes:*From 1962 to 1963 the award was known as Best Gospel or Other Religious Recording...

in 1967, and another Grammy in 1974 for "Best Inspirational Performance (Non-Classical)

Grammy Award for Best Inspirational Performance

" for his live performance album "Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis" (RCA CPL 1 0606; Released: June 1974) recorded on 20 March 1974 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

.

On 4 April 2011, Carrie Underwood

Carrie Underwood

Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...

performed this song on ACM Presents: Girls Night Out show. Carrie sang together with Vince Gill and earned a standing oviation. It was televised on CBS on 22 April 2011, and shortly after the show had ended, Carrie's version of How Great Thou Art single reached #1 spot in iTunes Top Gospel Song and Top 40 in iTunes All-Genre Songs. In Billboard Christian Digital songs chart, it debuted at #2 position and #35 in Country Digital Songs chart. As of August 2011, it sold 236,000 digital copies in the USA.

Commonly Used English Lyrics

Verse 1:

O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made.

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Refrain:

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee;

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee:

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

Verse 2:

When through the woods and forest glades I wander

And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;

When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur

And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze:

(Repeat Refrain.)

Verse 3:

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,

Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;

That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,

He bled and died to take away my sin:

(Repeat Refrain.)

Verse 4:

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation

And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!

Then I shall bow in humble adoration,

And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!

(Repeat Refrain.)

Other Verses

Boberg's entire poem appears (with archaic Swedish spellings) at http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1118653. Presented below are two of those verses which appear (more or less loosely) translated in British hymnbooks, followed in each case by the English.

När tryckt av synd och skuld jag faller neder,

Vid Herrens fot och ber om nåd och frid.

Och han min själ på rätta vägen leder,

Och frälsar mig från all min synd och strid.

When burdens press, and seem beyond endurance,

Bowed down with grief, to Him I lift my face;

And then in love He brings me sweet assurance:

'My child! for thee sufficient is my grace'.

När jag hör dårar i sin dårskaps dimma

Förneka Gud och håna hvad han sagt,

Men ser likväl, att de hans hjälp förnimma

Och uppehållas af hans nåd och makt.

O when I see ungrateful man defiling

This bounteous earth, God's gifts so good and great;

In foolish pride, God's holy Name reviling,

And yet, in grace, His wrath and judgment wait.

Swedish hymnals frequently include the following verse:

När jag hör åskans röst och stormar brusa

Och blixtens klingor springa fram ur skyn,

När regnets kalla, friska skurar susa

Och löftets båge glänser för min syn----

That verse----with thunder, storms, lightning (which springs out of the sky like sparks from the sharp rasping blade of a saw), cold rain, showers, wind, and the rainbow of promise----is impressive for its use of concrete expressions but presses hard on sentimental references to climatic phenomena, bears significant redundance with other statements in the poem, and rarely if ever finds a translated home in post-modern English hymnody, which is less prone than 19-century Swedish to dwell on the stark freshness of nature. Nonetheless it may be the verse which most concretely describes Boberg's plodding damp walk home from church in 1885.

External links

Recordings:

Other:

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Inspiration

Publication and music

German translation (1907)

Russian translation (1912)

E. Gustav Johnson (1925)

Stuart K. Hine (1949 version)

Verse 3

Verse 4

Optional verses by Hine

Subsequent history

Manna Music version (1955)

Billy Graham Evangelistic Crusades

Bayly translation (1957)

Erik Routley (1982)

New Century Hymnal (1995)

Other translations

Notable performers

Commonly Used English Lyrics

Other Verses

Further reading

External links