Introduction

Biography

Vajda was the son of a Lu­ther­an pas­tor of Slo­vak des­cent.

He re­ceived mu­sic­al train­ing in child­hood, and be­gan trans­lat­ing class­ic­al Slo­vak po­et­ry at age eigh­teen. How­ev­er, he did not write his first hymn un­til age 49. He went on to write 200 orig­in­al and trans­lat­ed hymns, which ap­peared world­wide in more than 65 hym­nals.

He pub­lished two col­lect­ions of hymn texts, nu­mer­ous books, trans­la­tions and ar­ti­cles, and served on hym­nal com­mis­sions for Hym­nal Sup­ple­ment (1969) and the Lu­ther­an Book of Wor­ship (1978).

He was a Fel­low of the Hymn Soc­ie­ty in the Unit­ed States and Ca­na­da, and re­ci­pi­ent of hon­or­ary doc­tor­ates re­cog­niz­ing hymnic con­tri­bu­tions.

After 18 years in a most­ly bil­ing­ual min­is­try, he was called to ed­it This Day Ma­ga­zine, then be­came a book ed­it­or and de­vel­op­er at Con­cor­dia Pub­lish­ing House un­til re­tir­ing in 1986.