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Click on the image to download a beautifully illustrated PDF of “Away in a Manger.”
The Story Behind "Away in a Manger"
American hymn writer James R. Murray first published “Away in a Manger” in the book Dainty Songs for Little Lads and Lasses in 1887. He titled the hymn “Luther’s Cradle Hymn” with this description: “Composed by Martin Luther for his children, and still sung by German mothers to their little ones.” While this sounds lovely, research has disproven this origin.
Twentieth-century hymnologist Fred Gealy notes that the confusion about the origins of “Away in a Manger” was due to its original title, “Luther’s Cradle Hymn.” The 400th anniversary of German theologian Martin Luther was in 1883. It is believed that it was at about this time when “Away in a Manger” was actually written—in America, not Germany.
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