Johann Christoph Schwedler

Johann Christoph Schwedler (1672–1730) was a Lutheran pastor and hymn writer in Silesia. Born at Krobsdorf near Löwenberg on December 21, 1672, he studied at the Gymnasium in Zittau and entered the University of Leipzig in 1695, receiving the Master of Philosophy degree in 1697. In 1698 he became assistant minister at Niederwiese near Greiffenberg; he was appointed pastor there in 1701 and remained in that congregation until his death on January 12, 1730.

Schwedler wrote within the Lutheran devotional tradition, repeatedly emphasizing the grace of God in Christ and the believer’s confident response. His large collection Die Lieder Mose und des Lammes, published in 1720, arranged hundreds of spiritual songs and included many of his own compositions. His hymn “Wollt ihr wissen, was mein Preis?” is not securely dated to a particular year of composition and is associated with posthumous publication in the Hirschberger Gesangbuch of 1741.

The concentrated Christ-centered confession of that hymn later attracted English translators. Benjamin Hall Kennedy’s 1863 rendering, beginning “Ask ye what great thing I know,” became the form most widely represented in English-language hymnals.