Born: Sep­tem­ber 12, 1886, Kan­sas Ci­ty, Mis­sou­ri.

Died: January 1/18, 1981, Bar­ring­ton, Rhode Is­land.

Of Swedish an­ces­try, Ry­den worked as a jour­nal­ist and for the Kansas City Railway, then entered Au­gus­ta­na Coll­ege in 1907, grad­u­at­ing in 1910. He worked for a year as an ed­it­or for the Mo­line, Ill­i­nois, Dis­patch, then at­tend­ed Au­gus­ta­na The­o­lo­gic­al Sem­in­a­ry. Up­on or­din­a­tion, he pas­tored at Grace Lu­ther­an Church, James­town, New York; and Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, St. Paul, Min­ne­so­ta. Be­gin­ning in 1934, he ed­it­ed The Lu­ther­an Com­pan­ion for some 37 years. In ad­di­tion, he served as Pre­si­dent of the Amer­i­can Lu­ther­an Con­fer­ence (1938-42), and helped pro­duce var­i­ous Lu­ther­an hymn­als. His works in­clude:

• The Sto­ry of Our Hymns, 1935
• Stories of Our Hymns (Rock Is­land, Il­li­nois: Au­gus­ta­na Book Con­cern, 1930)
• The Sto­ry of Our Hymns, 1935
• The Sto­ry of Christ­ian Hymn­o­dy (Fort­ress Press: 1959)
• Captain Bright: A Story of Miss­ion­a­ry Her­o­ism and Ad­ven­ture in the Him­a­la­ya Coun­try of Sik­kim (trans­lat­or) (Il­li­nois: Au­gus­ta­na Book Con­cern, 1961)
• “Lutheran Hymn­books Since the Re­for­ma­tion,” in the Lu­ther­an En­cy­clo­pe­dia, 1964

Sources

Hymns

1. Beyond the Ev­er­last­ing Hills
2. Eternal God, Be­fore Your Throne
3. How Blessed Is This Place, O Lord (1924)
4. O Lord, Now Let Your Ser­vant
5. Twilight Sha­dows Round Me Fall, The
6. With Sol­emn Joy We Come

Translations

1. Arise, My Soul, Arise!
2. By Thy Cross, O Christ, and Pass­ion
3. Day By Day Thy Mercies, Lord, Attend Me (1928)
4. I Lift My Eyes unto Hea­ven
5. Jesus, Hear My Hum­ble Plead­ing
6. Lord, as a Pil­grim on Earth
7. There Are Treasures for Children in Heaven
8. Thine Own, O Lov­ing Sav­ior
9. Thy Holy Wings, Dear Sav­ior
10. When Shall My Pil­grim­age, Je­sus, My Sav­ior, Be End­ed?
11. Your Kingdom Come, O Father