Benjamin Hall Kennedy

Benjamin Hall Kennedy (1804–1889) was an English clergyman, classical scholar, educator, translator, and hymn editor. Born near Birmingham on November 6, 1804, he was educated at Shrewsbury School and St John’s College, Cambridge. He distinguished himself in Greek and Latin, became a fellow of St John’s, and was ordained in the Church of England in 1829.

Kennedy served as headmaster of Shrewsbury School from 1836 to 1866. In 1867 he became Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge and a canon of Ely Cathedral, offices he retained until his death. He also served on the New Testament revision company from 1870 to 1880.

His publications included The Psalter in English Verse (1860) and the anthology Hymnologia Christiana (1863). In the latter he printed his English translation of Johann Christoph Schwedler’s German hymn “Wollt ihr wissen, was mein Preis?” as “Ask ye what great thing I know.” Later hymnals often shortened Kennedy’s six-stanza translation, but its Christ-centered confession became an enduring part of English Protestant hymnody. Kennedy died at Torquay on April 6, 1889.