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Norwegian Immigrants Respond to the Common School: A Case Study of American Values and the Lutheran Tradition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

James S. Hamre
James S. Hamre
Affiliation:
professor of religion and philosophy in Waldorf College, Forest City, Iowa.
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Extract

In his book, A Christian America: Protestant Hopes and Historical Realities, Robert T. Handy stresses “the important role that the idea of civilization has played in the evangelical Protestant denominations that together made up the dominant religious subculture of nineteeth-century America.” Handy contends that the English-speaking evangelical Protestant denominations—he includes the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Disciples of Christ, United Brethren, and the evangelical wing in the Protestant Episcopal Church—thought of themselves as making up the “religious mainstream of the nation” and were motivated by the vision of a Christian America. They saw it as their task to work for the creation of a nation based on Christian principles, and they sought to utilize a number of institutions, voluntary organizations, and techniques to achieve that goal.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 50 , Issue 3 , September 1981 , pp. 302 - 315
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1981

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References

1. Handy, Robert T., A Christian America: Protestant Hopes and Historical Realities (New York, 1971), pp. vii–viii.Google Scholar

2. Ibid., pp. 101–105.

3. Helpful discussions of the common school debate among Norwegian immigrants are included in Blegen, Theodore C., Norwegian Migration to America, 2 vols. (Northfield, Minn., 1931, 1940), 2; 241–276;Google Scholar and Larson, Laurence M., The Changing West and Other Essays (Northfield, Minn., 1937), pp. 116–146.Google Scholar

4. Works containing useful statistical information on Norwegian immigrants in America include Qualey, Carlton C., Norwegian Settlement in the United States (Northinleld, Minn., 1938);Google Scholar and Norlie, O. M., History of the Norwegian People in America (Minneapolis, 1925).Google Scholar

5. For discussions of religious developments in Norway, see Molland, Einar, Church Life in Norway, 1800–1940, trans. Kaasa, Harris (Minneapolis, 1957);Google ScholarAarflot, Andreas, Norsk Kirkehistorie, 2 vols. (Oslo, 1967);Google Scholar and Welle, Ivar, Norges Kirkehistorie, Historie, Kirkens 3 (Oslo, 1948).Google Scholar

6. For a thorough discussion of these religious developments, see Nelson, E. Clifford and Fevold, Eugene L., The Lutheran Church among Norwegian-Americans, 2 vols. (Minneapolis, 1960).Google Scholar

7. Blegen, , Norwegian Migration to America, 2: 244–247.Google Scholar

8. Gerhard, Belgum, “The Old Norwegian Synod in America, 1853–1890” (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1957)Google Scholar is a thorough study of the Norwegian Synod.

9. See Kirkelig Maanedstidende, 09 1858, pp. 134–140.Google Scholar

10. Ibid.

11. Ibid.

12. Ibid., October 1859, pp. 156–157; Blegen, , Norwegian Migration to America, 2: 252–253.Google Scholar

13. Blegen, , Norwegian Migration to America, 2: 254.Google Scholar

14. Bergh, J. A., Den norsk lutherske kirkes historie i Amerika (Minneapolis, 1914), p. 80;Google Scholar quoted in Nelson, and Fevold, , The Lutheran Church among Norwegian-Americans, 1; 155.Google Scholar See also Norlie, O. M., Norsk lutherskeprester i Amerika, 1843–1915 (Minneapolis, 1915), p. 98.Google Scholar

15. Preus, H. A., Syvforedrag over de kirkelige forholde blandt de norske i Amerika (Christiania, 1867).Google Scholar

16. Ibid., p. 33.

17. Ibid, pp. 34–35.

18. Ibid, p. 34.

19. Skandinaven, 11 05 1870;Google ScholarHvistendahl, Chr., comp., Beretning om et møde til fremmelse af folke-oplysning blandt Skandinauerne i Amerika, afholdt Madisons norsk-lutherske kirke den 5te marts 1869 (Decorah, Iowa, 1869).Google Scholar

20. Ibid., pp. 5–7.

21. Muus, B. J., “Skole og god skole,” Faedrelanrdet og emigranten, 10 03 1870.Google Scholar See also Blegen, , Norwegian Migration to America, 2: 264–266.Google Scholar

22. Skandinaven, 3 11 1869.Google Scholar

23. Ibid., 13 April 1870.

24. Ibid., 1 September 1874. This motif also appeared in other articles and statements.

25. Ibid., 17 October 1876. See also Hustvedt, Lloyd, Rasmu. Bjørn Anderson: Pioneer Scholar (Northfield, Minn., 1966).Google Scholar

26. Skandinaven, 6 05 1873.Google Scholar

27. Ibid., 8 June 1870.

28. Ibid., 29 May 1872.

29. Ibid., 30 March 1870.

30. Ibid.

31. Blegen, , Norwegian Migration to America, 2; 270–271.Google Scholar Blegen's article deals only briefly with the contents of Sverdrup's essay.

32. See Evjen, John O., “What is Lutheranism?” in Ferm, Vergilius, ed., What is Lutheranisrn? A Symposium in Interpretation (New York, 1930), p. 9.Google Scholar

33. Assessments of Sverdrup's role among the Norwegian immigrants can be found in Nelson and Fevold, The Lutheran Church among Norwegian-Americans, and in Fevold, Eugene L., The Lutheran Free Church (Minneapolis, 1969).Google Scholar A helpful biography is Helland, Andreas, Georg Suerdrup: The Man and His Message (Minneapolis, 1947).Google Scholar Sverdrup's writings were collected, edited, and published in six volumes after his death by Andreas Helland under the title Professor Georg Sverdrups Samlede Skrifter i Udvalg, 6 vols. (Minneapolis, 1909–1912).Google Scholar Selections from his writings have been translated into English by Helland, Melvin A. in The Heritage of Faith (Minneapolis, 1969).Google ScholarHamre, James S., “Georg Sverdrup's Concept of the Role and Calling of Norwegian-American Lutherans: An Annotated Translation of Selected Writings” (Ph.D. diss., University of Iowa, 1967),Google Scholar also provides translations of some of his writings.

34. The essay, entitled “Commonskolen,” was published initially in Kuartalskrift for den norsk lutherske kirke i Amerika. It has been included in Helland, , Sverdrups Samlede Skrifter, 1: 358–384.Google Scholar

35. Ibid., pp. 360–364.

36. Ibid., p. 365.

37. Ibid., pp. 365–377. After quoting extensively from Luther's writings Sverdrup says, “I must admit that I began this investigation of Luther's stand on the school with the idea that he desired civic schools built on religious foundations, that it was his desire that the church have control of all school affairs. But this investigation has taught me that Luther wanted civic schools for civic instruction and religious schools for religious instruction” (Ibid., p. 376). He felt too that in one sense Luther sought to put into practice these principles by urging that one day a week be used for religious instruction with the other days devoted to subjects useful in daily life. In effect there would be a separation of religious instruction from the other subjects. The fact that both took place within the same school did not violate the principle.

38. Ibid., pp. 380–381.

39. Ibid., p. 383.

40. Beretning om 8de aarsmøde afholdt af Konferentsen for den norsk-dansk evang. luth. krke i Amerika (Minneapolis, 1877), pp. 86–119.Google Scholar

41. Blegen, , Norwegian Migration to America, 2: 274.Google Scholar

42. Lindberg, Duane R., “Men of the Cloth and the Social-Cultural Fabric of the Norwegian Ethnic Community in North Dakota” (Ph.D. diss., University of Minnesota, 1975), pp. 134–143.Google Scholar

43. Nelsen, Frank C., “The School Controversy among Norwegian Immigrants,” in Norwegian-American Studies, 28 vols. to date (Northfield, Minn., 1926—), 26: 206–219,Google Scholar states that the school struggle was a quarrel between the clergy and the laity. Tavuchis, Nicholas, Pastors and Immigrants: The Role of a Religious Elite in the Absorption of Norwegian Immigrants (The Hague, Netherlands, 1963),CrossRefGoogle Scholar brings a sociological focus to the topic. He utilizes S. N. Eisenstadt's hypotheses about the role of elites in the absorption process and argues that the pastors in the Norwegian Synod functioned as a religious elite opposing assimilation while their followers were in favor of it. His study is based largely on secondary sources.

44. The dissertation by Duane R. Lindberg (see n. 42) maintains that cultural and social differences were decisive in determining the stances of participants.

45. Two examples are Westerhoff, John H. III, McGuffey and His Readers: Piety, Morality, and Education in Nineteenth-Century America (Nashville, 1978);Google Scholar and Lynn, Robert Wood, “Civil Catechetics in Mid-Victorian America: Some Notes About American Civil Religion, Past and Present,” Religious Education 68, no. 1 (1973): 5–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

46. Michaelsen, Robert, Piety in the Public School: Trends and Issues in the Relationship between Religion and the Public School in the United States (New York, 1970), p. 118.Google Scholar

47. The articles by Rasmus Sørensen in Emigranten in 1858 provide one example. Sørensen, a Danish immigrant who converted to the Episcopal church, was answered in the same paper by A. C. Preus, a pastor in the Norwegian Synod. An English translation of this exchange is provided in Paulson, Arthur C. and Bjork, Kenneth, trans. and eds., “A School and Language Controversy in 1858: A Documentary Study,” in Norwegian-American Studies and Records, 20 vols. (Northfield, Minn., 1926-1959), 10: 76–106.Google Scholar

48. Michaelsen, , Piety in the Public School, pp. 1–2.Google Scholar

49. Mead, Sidney E., The Lively Experiment: The Shaping of Christianity in America (New York, 1963), p. 67.Google Scholar