Fred Pratt Green

The Reverend Fred Pratt Green (September 2, 1903 – October 22, 2000) CBE was a British Methodist minister.

Born in Roby, Merseyside, England, he began his ministry in the Filey circuit. His lasting contribution to Methodism and the church at large is the large number of hymns he wrote.

His hymns reflect Pratt Green's rejection of fundamentalism and show his concern with social issues. They include many that were written to supply obvious liturgical needs of the modern church, speaking to topics or appropriate for events for which there were few traditional hymns available.

As well as writing his own hymns, Green produced translations, notably translating one of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's late poems as the hymn, "By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered".

Green's hymns (over 300) appear in hymn books of various denominations, but most notably in Hymns and Psalms, the hymn book of the Methodist Church of Great Britain, and the United Methodist Hymnal used in the United States.

In looking for his hymns in hymnal indexes, one must bear in mind that some hymn books alphabetize him under G, some under P.

Green also wrote poetry and his poem "The Old Couple" was included by Philip Larkin in 'The Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century English Verse' (1973).

List of hymns (partial)

* A Carol for Easter Eve
* A Carol for Mothering Sunday
* An upper room did our Lord prepare
* Christ is the world's light
* For the Fruit of All Creation
* God in his love for us lent us this planet
* God is here! As we his people meet to offer praise and prayer
* It is God who holds the nations in the hollow of his hand
* Let Us Praise Creation's Lord
* Long ago prophets knew Christ would come, born a Jew
* Lord Let Us Listen When You Speak
* Lord we have come at your own invitation
* Now Praise the Hidden Love of God
* The church of Christ, in every age
* There is a Love
* This joyful Eastertide
* You Dear Lord Resplendent Within Our Darkness
* Yours Be the Glory

Publications

* The Hymns of Fred Pratt Green, Braley The Expository Times.2003; 114: 409-412 [http://ext.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/114/12/409]

*The Old Couple. Poems. Stockport, Peterloo Poets, 1976
*The Last Lap. A Sequence of Verse on the Theme of Old Age. London, Stainer & Bell Ltd and Carol Stream, Hope Publishing Company, 1991.

ources

* [http://www.pitts.emory.edu/Archives/text/mss166.html Pitts Theology Library]

External links

* [http://www.stainer.co.uk/green.html Stainer and Bell biography]
* [http://www.prattgreentrust.org.uk/Fred%20Pratt%20Green_pgt.htm Pratt Green trust]