Henri Abraham César Malan

Henri Abraham César Malan (1787–1864) was a Genevan Reformed minister, evangelist, hymn writer, and composer closely associated with the Protestant Réveil. Born in Geneva on July 7, 1787, he studied at the Collège de Genève and the Geneva Academy and was ordained in 1810. During the 1810s he embraced the evangelical theology of the Réveil, emphasizing salvation by grace and personal faith in Christ. Conflict with the established National Church of Geneva followed, and he eventually carried on an independent preaching ministry centered on the Chapelle du Témoignage.

Malan wrote a large number of French hymns and frequently supplied melodies for his own texts. His collections, including Chants de Sion, contributed to a renewal of congregational song in French-speaking Protestantism. He also traveled widely as an evangelist in Europe.

The melody later known as HENDON is generally dated to about 1827. Lowell Mason encountered Malan’s music and introduced an adapted and harmonized form in Carmina Sacra in 1841, where Mason gave the tune the name HENDON. The melody later became strongly associated with Benjamin Hall Kennedy’s translation “Ask Ye What Great Thing I Know.” Malan died at Vandoeuvres near Geneva on May 18, 1864.