What Song Is How Great Thou Art Based on

The Story You Don't Know backside How Smashing Thousand Art

• Contributing Author
• 2016 24 Feb

Have You E'er Heard of Carl Boberg?

When my children were younger, our family unit was in the addiction of having a daily worship time, and one thing nosotros accept always loved to do is to sing together. Each Sunday night nosotros would choose a hymn and look up the story behind it. These days our schedules are much crazier, with i of these 'children' in college and another serving in missions halfway around the world, but we all the same worship together equally we talk almost how God is working in our lives, and as we encourage one another and pray together.

I love the beauty of modern worship, just in a globe where a worship vocal from x years ago can be deemed every bit "one-time", it was refreshing for usa as a family to sing music that has been around for many years, and in some cases centuries. The stories of how these songs came to us are amazing and often exciting, have been a treasure for my family and I, and have been part of the spiritual foundation laid for them every bit they motion into the adult lives God has in shop.

For example, did y'all know that the vocal "I Know Whom I Have Believed" was written by a Union soldier during the Civil War, who was held every bit a prisoner of state of war and became a believer while praying for some other dying soldier?

Or that the prolific hymn writer Fanny Crosby (she wrote over over 8,000 hymns!) was blind from infancy however was able to memorize the first five books of the Bible, the 4 Gospels, the Proverbs, and most of the Psalms?

Which brings usa to Carl Boberg.

Carl Boberg had recently quit his work as a sailor and started working every bit a lay-minister in his native Sweden (he would later get on to be a newspaper editor and a member of Swedish Parliament). In 1885, he was inspired by the sound of church building bells ringing during a wild thunderstorm, and penned the poem "O Great God".

Although "O Great God" was published, Boberg's nine-verse verse form didn't really take hold of on, and it seemed destined to be all but forgotten. However, three years afterward someone out there liked information technology enough to lucifer the words with a traditional Swedish melody, and when Boberg institute out well-nigh information technology, he quickly published the poem once once again in his own newspaper in 1891, this time with the musical notation added.

Fast forward a few decades to the 1930's – Somehow this poem put to music had traveled across borders, and English missionary Stuart Hine heard the vocal (in Russian) while in Poland. Deeply moved by the song, he translated it into English language, tweaked the musical arrangement, some of the wording, and took it home with him to England.

In English, the song was now chosen "How Great Thou Art".

On to the 1940's – Evangelist Dr. Edwin Orr heard this new version of the song beingness sung by native tribal people in Assam, India, and beingness securely inspired past it he brought the vocal dorsum to the United States. We are still unsure how the vocal ever got to India to starting time with.

In 1954 the song institute its way into the easily of George Beverly Shea, who sang information technology almost 100 times during Baton Graham'south 1957 New York crusade. In 1959 it became the theme song for Billy Graham'due south weekly radio broadcast, bringing "How Slap-up Thou Fine art" into the national consciousness.

In 1978 the performing rights organization ASCAP named the song as "The All-Time Outstanding Gospel Vocal" in America. It has consistently been listed every bit one of the greatest hymns always written, usually falling at #2 (right backside Amazing Grace).

How astonishing that this song, recorded over i,800 times in the last 50 years, had its origins equally a poem in a small town in Sweden, written past a sailor turned lay-government minister, and somehow wound its mode around the globe.

Carl Boberg would never know the influence of his verse form.

He died in 1940 – over a decade before "How Great One thousand Fine art" became famous at the Billy Graham cause in New York City. Like Carl Boberg, we too may never know which of our words or actions will influence non simply the people around u.s.a., but maybe people living in the next century. But we can bet in some way, large or small, they will do but that.

Such are the stories of hymns.

In our increasingly myopic world, songs like these and the stories behind them are an inspiration. The lives of those who penned them, how they penned them, and the reasons why help to build a bond of legacy with those who have gone earlier us, and those to come up behind us. Introduced to a new generation, these songs cease to exist "onetime and boring", simply become all of a sudden relevant and filled with life; meaningful expressions of worship written by real people that we tin relate to, understand, and appreciate.

Every bit a writer and musician,Jason Soroski strives to communicate in a fashion that is insightful, meaningful, relevant, and mindful of the small things that we may otherwise overlook in our everyday lives. He effectively taps into his experiences every bit a worship pastor, classroom teacher, husband, and homeschooling father of 5 to relate poignant stories from real-life experiences. Jason holds an M.Ed. from Missouri Baptist University, has been featured in various impress and web publications, and currently resides in Houston, TX. Read more than from Jason at his web logThe Way I See It.

Publication engagement: February 24, 2016

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Source: https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/the-story-you-don-t-know-behind-how-great-thou-art.html

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