How Great Thou Art (HOP 23)

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

Although “O Great God” was published, Boberg’s nine-verse poem didn’t really catch on, and seemed destined to be all but forgotten. However, three years later someone out there liked it enough to match the words with a traditional Swedish melody. When Boberg found out about it, he quickly published the poem once again in his own newspaper in 1891, this time with musical notation added. 

Fast forward a few decades to the 1930’s, somehow this poem put to music had travelled across borders. English missionary Stuart Hine heard the song (in Russian) while in Poland. Deeply moved by the song, he translated it into English, tweaked the musical arrangement, some of the wording, and took it home with him to England. In English, the song was now called “How Great Thou Art”. 

On to the 1940’s, evangelist Edwin Orr heard this new version of the song being sung by native tribal people in Assam, India. Being deeply inspired by it, he brought the song back to the United States. We are still unsure how the song ever got to India to start with. 

In 1954 the song found its way into the hands of George Beverly Shea, who sang it nearly 100 times during Billy Graham’s 1957 New York crusade. In 1959 it became the theme song for Billy Graham’s weekly radio broadcast, propelling “How Great Thou Art” to be the well known hymn it is today. 

Carl Boberg never got to know the influence of his poem. He died in 1940 – over a decade before “How Great Thou Art” became popular. Like Boberg, we also may never know which of our words or actions will influence not only the people around us, but possibly people living in the next century. But we can bet in some way, large or small, they will do just that. Such are the stories of hymns. 

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Adapted from https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/the-story-you-don-t-know-behind-how-great-thou-art.html. Accessed 23 Oct 2019.