Joachim Neander

1650-1680. German hymnwriter. Born at Bremen, he was converted there through a Pietist preacher and in 1671 became a tutor at Frankfurt. There he was influenced by P.J. Spener.* When appointed in 1674 to the headship of the Düsseldorf Lateinschule, a Reformed grammar school, he organized unofficial gatherings for instruction and preaching. This led to his suspension. In 1679 he returned to Bremen as a preacher, and the renewed opposition to his preaching was cut short by his premature death. Accomplished in literature, music, and theology, he was the first important poet of the German Reformed Church. He wrote some sixty hymns with tunes in a volume published in 1680. Although many are still sung in Germany, only two have become well known in Britain: “All my hope on God is founded” (R.S. Bridges*) and “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” (C. Winkworth*).