By Bonnie Withers

If you have had even a passing connection with protestant hymns, you know the beloved “Nearer, My God, To Thee.” Some of you will be able to start humming it. This hymn holds a sacred place in Christian hymnbooks, popular culture (Titanic – see below), and even an irreverent reference in a college drinking song about the sinking of the Titanic. (I’ll be happy to sing it for you.) Yes, it is in our gray hymnal (#87), not surprisingly since the composer was a Unitarian.  Sarah Flower Adams was born in 1805 in Essex, England, to a successful Unitarian family. Her mother died when she was only five, leaving her care, with her sister, Eliza, to her father who moved the family to London in 1820. Here, they moved in the circles of the radical Unitarian minister, William Johnson Fox (see “Moments”, June 24, 2025.)

When their father died, Sarah and Eliza moved into the Fox household, where they wrote music and poems and engaged in deep discussions about the movement toward Humanist thinking among Unitarians. Sarah discussed her religious doubts with Fox and with her good friend, Robert Browning, among others. It was an attempt to sort out her doubts about the nature of her faith that led her to write “Nearer, My God, To Thee” for a hymnal that Reverend Fox was creating, Hymns and Anthems, 1841. Her sister, Eliza, wrote a tune for the words. Several other tunes have been used in ensuing years with the most common being the one in our hymnal, named “Bethany” (not the one written by Eliza).

Once the little songbook reached America, this hymn was embraced by Christian congregations and the story of its origins as an expression of religious doubt was lost. 

Sarah Flower Adams married in 1834 and had no children. She hoped to be an actress, but her failing health stopped a promising career and sent her to her writing. She met many prominent celebrities of her time, including Charles Dickens, Harriet Martineau, and William Wordsworth and was considered a progressive thinker and worker. She died of tuberculosis at the age of only 43. 

P.S. So, did the band play “Nearer My God To Thee” as the Titanic was sinking? Some say they heard it, others who survived disagreed. If you want to know a lot more about the cultural history of this simple hymn, Wikipedia will be glad to oblige.