Carl Boberg

Carl Gustav Boberg (1859–1940) was a Swedish poet, preacher, and politician who remains best known for authoring the poem that became the Christian hymn “How Great Thou Art.” A lay minister in the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden, he also served as editor of the free-church magazine Sanningsvittnet from 1889 to 1916 and contributed to the compilation of the first two hymnals of the Swedish Covenant Church.

Boberg wrote the poem “O Store Gud” in 1885 after experiencing a thunderstorm near his home in Mönsterås, Sweden. The poem was later set to music and eventually evolved into “How Great Thou Art,” one of the most widely sung hymns in the world. His other hymn texts include “Jesus, Jesus, Name Most Precious,” “Marias Lovsång,” and “My Soul Now Magnifies the Lord.”

Alongside his church work, Boberg served as a member of the Swedish Parliament (Riksdag) from 1912 to 1931. He authored several volumes of poetry and was recognized with the Litteris et Artibus medal in 1916, was made a Knight of the Order of Vasa in 1917, and became a Knight of the Order of the Polar Star in 1923. He died in Kalmar, Sweden.