Puchta, Christian Rudolph Heinrich

Puchta, Christian Rudolph Heinrich, a Lutheran minister, was born Aug. 19, 1808, at Cadolzburg, in Middle Franconia. After having received his preparatory education, he entered the university in 1826, and studied at Erlangen and Berlin. In 1832 he was appointed vicar at Munich, in 1837 he went to Erlangen as private teacher, and in 1839 he was appointed professor of philosophy and religion at the newly founded lyceum in Speyer. Being mentally and physically broken down by too much work, he retired from his professorship until 1842, when he took charge of the small congregation at Eyb, not far from Anspach. Here he wrote his Morgen- und Abendandachten (Erlangen, 1843). For ten years he labored at Eyb, in the meantime restoring his broken health. In 1852 he was called as second pastor of St. James's to Augsburg, advanced in 1856 to the position of the first pastor, and died Sept. 12, 1858. Puchtawas one of the most excellent of modern hymnists, hishymnns being full of depth and richness of thought. Besides his Morgen- und Abendandachten, he also published Der Hausaltar (Frankfort-on-the- Main, 1857); Handbuch der praktischen Katechese (Stuttgart, 1854), 1st pt. His hymns are found in Knapp's Liederschatz and in some of our modern hymn-books. See Knapp, Biography of Puchta, printed in the preface to Puchta's hymns (Stuttgart, 1860), p. 4-23; Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, 1858, No. 268; Koch, Geschichte des deutschen Kirchenliedes, 7:277 sq.; Zuchold, Bibliotheca Theologica, ii, 1021; Hauck, Theol. Jahresbericht, 1865, p. 404 sq. (B. P.)