eHymns.org

Born: 1650, Bremen, Germany.

Died: May 31, 1680, Bremen, Germany, of tuberculosis.

Grandson of a musician and son of a teacher, Neander studied theology at Bremen University, 1666-1670. His family name was Neumann (“new man”), but, as was popular at the time, his grandfather (also a preacher, and also named Joachim!), changed it to a foreign equivalent, in this case Greek.

In 1671, Neander moved his studies to Heidelberg (locale of The Student Prince musical). In 1673, he moved to Frankfurt, where he met Pietistic scholars Philipp Jakob Spener (1635-1705) and Johann Schütz (1640-1690).

From 1674-1679, Neander was principal of the Reformed Lateinschule (grammar school) in Düsseldorf. During these years, he used to wander the secluded Düssel River valley, which was, until the 19th Century, a deep ravine between rock faces and forests, with numerous caves, grottos and waterfalls. Probably, Neander wrote and sang many of his poems there, but also held gatherings and services. In the early 19th Century, a large cave was named Neanderhöhle after him. In the mid-19th Century, the cement industry started to quarry the limestone, and the narrow ravine became a wide valley, which was now named the Neander Valley (in German, Neanderthal). The “Neanderthal Man” was found there in the summer of 1856, giving Joachim the distinction of being the only hymnist with a fossil hominid named after him!

In 1679, Neander moved to Bremen and worked as assistant preacher at St. Martini church. The next year he became seriously ill and died, presumably of the plague.

Sources

* Hustad, pp. 292-3
* Julian, pp. 417, 508, 525, 683, 790, 1057, 1143, 1544
* Stulken, pp. 267-8

Hymns

1. Auf, auf, mein Geist, erhebe dich zum Himmel
2. Der Tag ist hin, mein Jesu, bei mir bleibe
3. Grosser Prophete, mein Herze begehret
4. Heaven and Earth, and Sea and Air
5. Jehovah ist mein Licht und Gnadensonne
6. Meine Hoffnung stehet feste
* All My Hope Is Firmly Grounded
* All My Hope Is Fixed and Grounded
* All My Hope on God Is Founded
7. O allerhöchster Menschenhüter
8. Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
9. Unbegreiflich Gut, wahrer Gott alleine
10. Unser Herrscher, unser König
11. Wie fleucht dahin der Menschenzeit
12. Wo soll ich hin? wer helfet mir?
13. Wunderbarer König

Music

1. Arnsberg
2. Coblentz
3. Unser Herrscher

Source: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/n/e/a/neander_j.html

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Born: 1650, Bremen, Germany
Died: May 31, 1680, Bremen, Germany

Joachim Neander was the grandson of a musician and son of a teacher. He studied theology at Bremen University from 1666 to 1670. His family name was Neumann (“new man”), but, as was popular at the time, his grandfather (also a preacher, and also named Joachim!), changed it to a foreign equivalent, in this case Greek. In 1671, Neander moved his studies to Heidelberg (locale of The Student Prince musical). In 1673, he moved to Frankfurt, where he met Pietistic scholars Philipp Jakob Spener (1635-1705) and Johann Schütz (1640-1690).

From 1674 to 1679, Neander was principal of the Reformed Lateinschule (grammar school) in Düsseldorf. During these years, he used to wander the secluded Düssel River valley, which was, until the 19th Century, a deep ravine between rock faces and forests, with numerous caves, grottos and waterfalls. Probably, Neander wrote and sang many of his poems there, but also held gatherings and services. In the early 19th Century, a large cave was named Neanderhöhle after him. In the mid-19th Century, the cement industry started to quarry the limestone, and the narrow ravine became a wide valley, which was now named the Neander Valley (in German, Neanderthal). The “Neanderthal Man” was found there in the summer of 1856, giving Joachim the distinction of being the only hymnist with a fossil hominid named after him!

In 1679, Neander moved to Bremen and worked as assistant preacher at St. Martini church. The next year he became seriously ill and died, presumably of the plague.

Links to other Sites:
Joachim Neander (Cyber Hymnal) - http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/n/e/neander_j.htm
Joachim Neander (CCEL) - http://www.ccel.org/w/winkworth/singers/htm/neander.htm
German Hymn-writers of the 1600’s James Kiefer's Christian Biographies) - http://elvis.rowan.edu/~kilroy/JEK/10/24.html

Source: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Neander.html

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To these Lutheran hymnwriters, we may add a Calvinist, Joachim Neander, born in Bremen in 1650. After a rowdy life as an undergraduate, he underwent conversion and amendment. He became a schoolteacher, then undertook a life of solitary meditation. There is a cave named for him near Mettman-am-Rhein, which he perhaps used as his hermitage, until his death at the age of thirty. He is accounted the principal Calvinist poet in Germany, but only a few of his hymns are known in English. The best-known is "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation" (Lobe den Herren, den maechtigen Koenig der Ehren!), based on Psalms 150 and 103:1-6.

Neander was originally surnamed Neumann (New man). However, like many others of his time (such as Martin Luther's colleague Philip Schwartzerd, whose name means "black earth," and who changed it to "Melanchthon," which means the same thing in Greek), he adopted a Greek surname with the same meaning (NE- meaning "new" as in "neo-Marxist" or whatever, and ANDER meaning "man" as in "android, polyandry, andrology," and so on. In Greek, ANTHROPOS means "man (gender-inclusive)" while ANER, ANDR- means "man (gender-specific)". Thus, "anthropology" is the study of humans in general, while "andrology" is the medical study of the male body, just as "gynecology" is cencerned with the female body. The respective equivalents in Latin are HOMO, HOMIN- (gender-inclusive) and VIR (gender-specific). In English, "man" does double-duty for both. Some feminists are trying to substitute "person" for "man" in all gender-inclusive uses, but this is awkward, because the gender-inclusive meaning is the primary one for "man". I have thought of reviving "were" (pronounced "weer") as in "werewolf" and "weregeld" for the gender-specific meaning, but am not optimistic about the chances of success.). When Joachim Neander went to live in a cave by a river, the river came to be named for him as the Neander River, and the valley of that river was called the Neander Valley, or Neander Dale. The German word for "dale" is "thal" (the "th" is pronounced much like English "t"), and so the valley and general region is the Neanderthal. It is here that remains were first found of an early European population that have accordingly come to be called Neanderthal Man.

Source: http://elvis.rowan.edu/~kilroy/JEK/10/24.html