Fred Pratt Green

Fred Pratt Green (1903–2000) was a British Methodist minister, poet, playwright, editor, and one of the most influential English-language hymn writers of the later twentieth century. Born at Roby near Liverpool on September 2, 1903, he entered Didsbury Theological College in 1925 and was ordained to the Methodist ministry in 1928. He served circuits and appointments in different parts of England, including work as a circuit minister and district chairman, while also writing poetry and drama.

Green's major hymn-writing period began comparatively late. In 1967 he joined the working party preparing a supplement to the Methodist Hymn Book, and that work helped stimulate the burst of hymn writing for which he became internationally known. From the late 1960s through the 1980s he produced roughly three hundred hymns and Christian songs. His texts characteristically join biblical and theological language with contemporary concerns such as social responsibility, Christian unity, work, healing, justice, creation, and the relationship between worship and daily life.

Representative hymns include “When in Our Music God Is Glorified,” “For the Fruits of This Creation,” “The Church of Christ in Every Age,” and “O Christ, the Healer.” The Pratt Green Trust, founded from royalties from his hymns, supports hymnody and church music, and Durham University preserves a major Pratt Green hymnology collection. Emory University awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1982, and he was appointed MBE in 1995 for services to hymn writing. He died in Norwich on October 22, 2000.