Paul Gerhardt

12 March 1607—27 May 1676

PAUL GERHARDT, the people’s poet, and, next to Luther, the most popular hymnist of Germany, was trained in the school of affliction. Living and serving God in troublous times, he drank deeply of the cup of bitterness. The light of his holy life shone all the brighter by reason of the sur­rounding darkness. He was born (1606) in the humble village of Gräfenhai­nichen, in Electoral Saxony; his father, Christian Ger­hardt, was burgomaster of the town. Trained for the ministry during the calamitous period of the Thirty Years’ War, he found no opportunity for settlement until its close. For a while he taught in the family of Andreas Bertholdt, Chancery Advocate, Berlin, Prussia. His leisure he employed in writing hymns, and [courting] Anna Maria Bertholdt, one of his pupils, and daugh­ter of the Advocate. About the close of 1651, being then in his forty-fifth year, he obtained the humble pastorate of Mit­tenwalde, and was ordained at Berlin, November 18, 1651. He obtained also the hand of his faithful Anna Maria, February 11, 1655. Several of his best hymns were now written, and found their way into [Johann Crüger’s Praxis Pietatis Melica, starting with the 2nd ed. of 1647] and other collections in Brandenburg and Saxony, yielding him no small popularity. His preferment soon followed.

In the summer of 1657, he was called to the third Diaconate of the great church of St. Nicholas, Berlin. Crowds flocked to hear him preach, and his hymns were sung with enthusiasm, as Luther’s had been. His appearance was quite prepossessing. He was of middle height, of firm and resolute bearing, cheerful, yet of a quiet mood. He preached persuasively and lov­ingly, and was esteemed the model pastor, and the most popular preacher of the town. An edict was issued by the Elector, Frederick William, September 16, 1664, requiring the clergy to subscribe to an act for the virtual introduction of the Reformed faith, as professed by the Elector, on penalty of ejectment from their respective livings; an act not unlike the “Act of Conformity” enforced by Charles II of England only two years before. Gerhardt and most of the clergy were Lu­therans. . . . He was [allowed] to continue at his post until February 6, 1666, when he was called upon to subscribe, and refusing, was ejected. Great interest was made in his behalf by the citizens, and the negotiations were prolonged nearly a year. Finally, February 4, 1667, he resigned his charge, and his ministry in Berlin, greatly to the grief of the citizens, came to a close.

[One of his most beloved hymns, “Befiehl du deine Wege,”] according to tradition, was written by Gerhardt to comfort his anxious wife [but he wrote it before they were married]. They had lost their first child at Mittenwalde, and their cir­cumstances while there were very much [destitute]. Dur­ing his residence at Berlin, also, death invaded his house­hold again and again. One son alone of all his children was left to him. And now, March 5, 1668, his dearly ­beloved wife, after a painful decline, was taken from him, and he was left almost desolate. In October of the same year, he was appointed Arch­deacon of Lübben, in Saxony, and with his only surviving child, Paul Friedrich, he removed thither in June 1669. Here he remained, unmolested in the faithful performance of the duties of his honorable and responsible position, for seven years, laying down his work with his life, [May 27,] 1676, after a ministry of twenty-five years, and in the seventieth year of his age.

The first complete edition of his hymns was published by J. E. Ebeling, in Berlin (1666–1667) in ten folio parts. Schultze says “that there is no song bearing his name that had not been printed in 1667.” Wackernagel says,­ “Where is the Evangelical congregation that does not know Paul Gerhardt? In what churches are not his holy songs heard? What the pious Catherine Zell of Strasburg, says of beautiful spiritual songs in her hymn-book is true of him: ‘The journeyman mechanic at his work, the servant-maid washing her dishes, the ploughman and vine-dresser in the fields, the mother by her weeping infant in the cradle, sing them.’ High and low, poor and rich alike, find them equally consoling, equally edifying; in all stations, among young and old, there are examples to be found where some song of Gerhardt, at particular periods in the history of the inner life, was engraven forever on the soul, and subsequently became the centre point of the dearest reminiscences. . . . The songs of no other poet, either before or since, have ever produced so mighty an effect, or obtained so speedy and so wide a circulation.”

by Edwin Hatfield
The Poets of the Church (1884)

Featured Hymns:

Befiehl du deine Wege
O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden

Collections of Hymns:

See the list of collections compiled by Johann Crüger.

Editions:

Johann Georg Ebeling, Pauli Gerhardi Geistliche Andachten (Berlin, 1666–1667):

Vol. 1 (Nos. 1-12): Images
Vol. 2 (Nos. 13-24): Images
Vol. 3 (Nos. 25-36): Images
Vol. 4 (Nos. 37-48): Images
Vol. 5 (Nos. 49-60): Images
Vol. 6 (Nos. 61-72): Images
Vol. 7 (Nos. 73-84): Images
Vol. 8 (Nos. 85-96): Images
Vol. 9 (Nos. 97-108): Images
Vol. 10 (Nos. 109-120): Images

Johann Heinrich Feustking, Pauli Gerhardi Geistreiche Hauß- und Kirchenlieder (1707): Images [1717]

Mearns (1892): “In the ed. of J.H. Feustking, Zerbst, 1707, a few st. were intercalated (from MSS in the possession of Gerhardt’s surviving son), but no new hymns were added.”

C.P.E. Wackernagel, Paulus Gerhardts Geistliche Lieder (1843): HathiTrust

J.F. Bachmann, Paulus Gerhardts Geistliche Lieder (1866): HathiTrust

John Kelly, Paul Gerhardt’s Spiritual Songs [translated, with Biographical Sketch] (1867): PDF

Eberhard von Cranach-Sichart, Paul Gerhardt, Dichtungen und Schriften (Munich, 1957): WorldCat

Albert Fischer, “Paulus Gerhardt,” Das deutsche evangelische Kirchenlied des 17 Jahrhunderts, vol. 3 (Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1964), pp. 295–449.

Related Resources:

Catherine Winkworth, Christian Singers of Germany (1869), pp. 202–214: Archive.org

James Mearns, “Paulus Gerhardt,” A Dictionary of Hymnology, ed. John Julian (London: J. Murray, 1892), pp. 409–412: HathiTrust

Philip Schaff, “German Hymnody: iii. Third Period,” A Dictionary of Hymnology, ed. John Julian (London: J. Murray, 1892), p. 416: HathiTrust

Theodore Brown Hewitt, Paul Gerhardt as a Hymn Writer and His Influence on English Hymnody (New Haven: Yale, 1918; 2nd ed., 1976): Archive.org

Waldtraut-Ingeborg Sauer-Geppert, “Paul Gerhardt,” Neue Deutsche Biographie, vol. 6 (1964): online

Geran F. Dodson, “Paul Gerhardt: The man, his hymns, and his theology,” The Hymn, vol. 18, no. 3 (July 1967), pp. 82–89: HathiTrust

Heinz Hoffmann, Paul Gerhardt: Dichter, Theologe, Seelsorger, 1607–1676 (Berlin: Evangelische Verlagssanstalt, 1978): WorldCat

Debra L. Hess, “The Hymns of Paul Gerhardt,” The Hymn, vol. 45, no. 3 (July 1994), pp. 19–22: HathiTrust

Christian Bunners, Paul Gerhardt: Weg–Werk–Wirkung (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2007): Amazon

Martin Petzold, “Paul-Gerhardt-Lieder im Werk Bachs,” Musik und Kirche, vol. 77, no. 1 (Jan.–Feb., 2007), pp. 13–19.

Word & World, vol. 27, nos. 1–4 (2007)

Paul Westermeyer, “Paul Gerhardt: Who he was and why we care,” no. 1, pp. 69–72: website
Frederick J. Gaiser, “Translating Paul Gerhardt’s hymns,” no. 1, pp. 73–78: website
Frederick J. Gaiser, “‘I Sing to You and Praise You’ (Psalm 30): Paul Gerhardt and the Psalms,” no. 2, pp. 195–205: website
Frederick J. Gaiser, “‘I Come with Thanks Most Grateful’: Paul Gerhardt and Psalm 111 on Studying God’s Works,” no. 3, pp. 325–330: website
Frederick J. Gaiser, “‘Go Forth, My Heart, and Take Delight’: Paul Gerhardt’s ‘Summer Song,’” no. 3, pp. 331–337: website
Frederick J. Gaiser, “‘All Who Seek a Christmas Treasure’: Paul Gerhardt’s Christmas Lullaby,” no. 4, pp. 421–425: website

Lutheran Theological Review, vol. 20 (2007–2008): PDF

Peter C. Erb, “From Paul Gerhardt to Johann Scheffler (Angelus Silesius): Poetry and Polemic in the Baroque Era,” pp. 11–25.
Joseph Herl, “What’s So Special about Paul Gerhardt?” pp. 26–36.
Gerald Krispin, “Paul Gerhardt’s Confession of Christ in Song,” pp. 67–112.

Matthias Prenzler, The Singing Heart: An Analysis of the Morning and Evening Songs of Paul Gerhardt as Exercises in Evangelical Piety, Thesis (University of Divinity, 2014): website

Gerald S. Krispin, “Paul Gerhardt (1607–76): A theologian sifted in Satan’s sieve,” Lives and Writings of the Great Fathers of the Lutheran Church, ed. Timothy Schmeling (St. Louis: Concordia, 2016), pp. 229–242: Amazon

Matthias Prenzler, “The singing heart: Understanding Paul Gerhardt’s morning and evening songs as sung devotional meditations,” The Hymn, vol. 69, no. 1 (Winter 2018), pp. 17–22.

Gerald S. Krispin, “Paul Gerhardt,” Lutheran Service Book Companion, vol. 2 (St. Louis: Concordia, 2019), pp. 345–347.

J.R. Watson, “Paul Gerhardt,” Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology: http://www.hymnology.co.uk/p/paul-gerhardt

Paul Gerhardt, Hymnary.org: https://hymnary.org/person/Gerhardt_Paul