Philip Frazier

The Reverend Dr. Francis Philip Frazier (1892–1964) was a distinguished full-blooded Santee Sioux (Dakota) leader, minister, and translator who served as a vital cultural and spiritual bridge between Native American communities and mainstream American Protestantism. Born in a teepee on the Santee Indian Reservation in northern Nebraska, Frazier belonged to a remarkable lineage of Christian trailblazers. His grandfather was Artemas Ehnamani, a traditional Dakota warrior who embraced Christianity while imprisoned in Davenport, Iowa, following the catastrophic U.S.–Dakota War of 1862. Upon his release, Ehnamani was ordained and became the lifelong pastor of Pilgrim Presbyterian Church in Nebraska—the largest Dakota congregation of its era. Raised in this environment of deep indigenous pastoral leadership, Frazier was uniquely equipped to navigate both the traditions of his people and the rigors of Western academia.

Frazier's educational journey was expansive and highly prestigious. He began his schooling at the Santee Indian School and Yankton College Academy in South Dakota before traveling east to attend the Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts. In 1916, he matriculated at Dartmouth College, but his studies were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. Frazier volunteered for the United States Army, serving on the front lines in France and Germany. Upon returning to civilian life, he transferred to Oberlin College, completing his undergraduate degree in 1922, and subsequently earned a Bachelor of Divinity from the Chicago Theological Seminary in 1925. Decades later, in recognition of his lifetime of exceptional cross-cultural ministry and leadership, Dartmouth College awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Divinity during their 1964 commencement exercises.

Ordained as a Congregational minister in 1926, Frazier dedicated nearly forty years to active missionary and pastoral work. Alongside his wife, Susie, he ministered dynamically among the Kickapoo, Osage, and Sioux nations across the American West and Midwest. Frazier's ministry focused heavily on empowering Native congregations, preserving indigenous dignity, and contextualizing the gospel within Native frameworks. At the culmination of his storied career, he served as the supervisor of the Sioux Indian Mission on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, guiding dozens of local churches through complex eras of social transition.

In the annals of hymnology, Frazier is universally celebrated for providing the global English-speaking church with its most prominent and enduring Native American hymn text: "Many and Great, O God, Are Thy Works" (originally known in Dakota as "Wakantanka taku nitawa"). The original text was written in 1842 by Joseph Renville, a fur trader of mixed French and Dakota parentage, to be sung by early Dakota converts fleeing persecution. In 1929, Frazier elegantly paraphrased Renville’s text into English, beautifully preserving the vast, cosmic imagery characteristic of Dakota spirituality. Set to the traditional, hauntingly beautiful Native American melody LACQUIPARLE (named after the Lac qui Parle mission in Minnesota), the hymn celebrates the Almighty as the "Maker of earth and sky" whose "fingers spread the mountains and plains."

Frazier's brilliant paraphrase transformed a localized regional song into a global anthem of creation, ecological stewardship, and profound divine awe. Adopted into more than fifty major contemporary hymnals across nearly every major denomination, "Many and Great" remains a foundational text for World Communion Sunday, Thanksgiving, and services focusing on creation care. Frazier passed away on September 28, 1964, in Yankton, South Dakota, and was buried in the Congregational Cemetery on the Santee Reservation. His permanent legacy is that of a decorated veteran, a brilliant scholar, and a faithful pastor who ensured that the unique, poetic voice of his ancestors would forever echo in the corporate worship of the universal church