For two centuries this hymn was credited to Luise Henriette (1627-67), wife of the Great Elector of Brandenburg, since the Berlin hymnal of 1653 in which it appeared was dedicated to her and called it one of "your own hymns." In 1977 Siegfried Fornaçon showed why she was unlikely to have written it: her written German was poor, and such dedications usually named hymns a patron favored or sponsored. He proposed Otto von Schwerin (1616-79), the court official who managed her affairs, and the LSB companion calls the hymn "probably" his. The electress was Reformed in a largely Lutheran land, and she commissioned that 1653 hymnal so both confessions could sing from one book. Johann Crüger, cantor of St. Nicholas in Berlin, edited its music and wrote the tune, which also carries "Jesus Lives! The Victory's Won" (LSB 490). Catherine Winkworth's translation (1863) kept the original meter. The hymn rests on Job 19:25-27 ("I know that my Redeemer lives") and 1 Corinthians 15, and it asks at the graveside: "Shall I fear, or could the Head rise and leave His members dead?"
Sung at Our Saviour
2026