Introduction

Biography

Ernest was the son of Swed­ish im­mi­grants Au­gust Ry­den and Em­ma So­phia Pe­ter­son.

He worked as a jour­nal­ist and for the Kan­sas Ci­ty Rail­way, then en­tered Au­gus­ta­na Col­lege, Rock Is­land, Il­li­nois, 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 37 years. In ad­di­tion, he served as pre­si­dent of the Am­eri­can Lu­ther­an Con­fer­ence (1938–42), and helped pro­duce va­ri­ous Lu­ther­an hym­nals.

Works

• 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