How Great Thou Art

Carl Boberg, a 26 year old Swedish minister, wrote a poem in 1885 which he called, “O Store Gud” – (O Mighty God.”) The words literally translated into English said:

When I consider/Which Thou has made by Thine almighty Word/And how the web of life Thou wisdom guideth/And all creation feedeth at Thy board/Then doth my soul burst forth in song of praise/Oh great God. Oh great God!

His poem was published and “forgotten” – or so he thought. Several years later, Carl was surprised to hear it being sung to the tune of an old Swedish melody; but the poem and hymn did not achieve widespread fame.

Hearing this hymn in Russia, English missionary, Stuart Hine, was so moved he modified and expanded the words and made his own arrangement of the Swedish melody. He later said his first three verses were inspired, line upon line, by Russia’s ragged Carpathian Mountains.

The first verse was composed when he was caught in a thunderstorm in a Carpathian villages, the second as he heard the birds sing near the Romanian border, and the third as he witnessed many of the Carpathian mountain dwellers coming to Christ. The final verse was written after Dr. Hine returned to Great Britain.

Sometime later, Dr. J. Edwin Orr heard “How Great Thou Art” being sung by Naga tribespeople in Assam, India, and decided to bring it back to America for use in his own meetings. When he introduced it at a conference in California, it came to the attention of music publisher, Tim Spencer, who contacted Mr. Hine and had the song copyrighted. It was published and recorded.

During the 1954 Billy Graham Crusade in Harringay Arena, George Beverly Shea was given a leaflet containing this hymn. He sang it to himself and shared it with other members of the Graham team. Though not used in London, it was introduced the following  year to audiences in Toronto.

In the New York Crusade of 1957, it was sung by Bev Shea 99 times, with the choir joining the majestic refrain:

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee,

How Great Thou Art. How Great Thou Art

 

Excerpt from "Then Sings My Soul". Volume by Robert J. Morgan. Copyright 2003