Joachim Neander

Joachim Neander (1650–1680) was a German Reformed teacher, preacher, hymn writer, and composer whose brief career became highly influential in Protestant hymnody. Born in Bremen, he studied at the city's Gymnasium illustre and came under the influence of the Reformed preacher Theodor Undereyck. Neander later worked in Heidelberg and Frankfurt, where he encountered currents of devotional renewal associated with figures such as Philipp Jakob Spener.

In 1674 Neander became rector of the Reformed Latin school in Düsseldorf. His devotional meetings and disagreements with local church authorities led to conflict, but the Düsseldorf years were also important for his hymn writing. In 1679 he returned to Bremen as an assistant preacher at St. Martin's Church. He died there on May 31, 1680, at about thirty years of age.

Neander's major hymn collection, commonly cited as A und Ω, Glaub- und Liebesübung, appeared in 1680. It brought together texts and melodies that helped establish him as one of the first major hymn writers of the German Reformed tradition. His best-known text is the German hymn later translated as "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty." He also supplied melodies, including UNSER HERRSCHER, which originally appeared with his German hymn "Unser Herrscher, unser König." That tune was later reused with many other texts, including Charles Parkin's twentieth-century "See the Morning Sun Ascending."