Karl Johann Philipp Spitta

Karl Johann Philipp Spitta was a German Lutheran pastor and devotional poet born in Hanover in 1801. Serious illness interrupted his early schooling, and he was initially apprenticed to a watchmaker before returning to academic study. He entered the University of Göttingen in 1821, completed theological studies in 1824, and then worked as a private tutor near Lüneburg. He was ordained in 1828 and subsequently served in pastoral and chaplaincy posts, including ministry connected with the garrison and prison at Hameln. Later appointments included Wechold, Wittingen, Peine, and, shortly before his death, Burgdorf.

Spitta became an important voice in nineteenth-century German Protestant devotional hymnody. His first collection, Psalter und Harfe, appeared at Pirna in 1833 and was repeatedly enlarged and reprinted. O selig Haus, wo man dich aufgenommen appeared there under a heading drawn from Luke 19:9. Significantly, the hymn predates Spitta's 1837 marriage, so it should not simply be described as a portrait of his own married household.

His other hymns include O komm, du Geist der Wahrheit and Wie wird uns sein. Spitta's family also became notable in German intellectual life: his son Friedrich became a theologian, while another son, Philipp Spitta, became the influential biographer of Johann Sebastian Bach.