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The Scottish Free Church and its Relation to Nineteenth-Century Swedish and Swedish-American Lutheranism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Emmet E. Eklund
Emmet E. Eklund
Affiliation:
Mr.Eklund is professor emeritus of religion in Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington.
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Extract

Some years ago James Hasting Nichols wrote, “A significant impetus to the awakening in Geneva and France came from Scotland… In Scotland the Evangelical revival may be dated from the 1700's.” But the influence of the Scottish Free Church went beyond the bounds identified by Nichols. At least one other country, namely, Sweden, was stimulated by this religious force from the British Isles.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 51 , Issue 4 , December 1982 , pp. 405 - 418
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1982

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References

1. Nichols, James Hastings, History of Christianity, 1650–1950 (New York, 1956), p. 139.Google Scholar

2. Olson, Oscar N., The Augustana Lutheran Church in America: Pioneer Period, 1846 to 1860 (Rock Island, Ill., 1950), pp. 20–21.Google Scholar

3. Gustaffson, Berndt, Svensk Kyrkohistoria, Händbocker i Teologi series, 5th ed. (Stockholm, 1973), pp. 216–217.Google Scholar

4. Rodén, Nils, “Skotska frikyrkans influtande på svenskt fromhetsliv vid mitten av 1800 talet,” Kyrkohistorisk årsskrift (1956): 139.Google Scholar

5. Ibid., p. 140.

6. Burleigh, J. H. S., A Church History of Scotland (London, 1960), p. 121.Google Scholar

7. Mather, Cotton, Magnalia, 1:362.Google Scholar Quoted in Hudson, Winthrop, Religion in America, 3d ed. (New York, 1981), p. 37.Google Scholar

8. Burleigh, p. 121.

9. Ibid., p. 361.

10. Scott, Franklin D., Sweden: The Nation's History (Minneapolis, 1977), p. 177.Google Scholar

11. Rodén, p. 154.

12. Ibid., p. 148.

13. Ibid., p. 170.

14. Ibid., p. 165.

15. Lumsden, James, Sweden… (London, 1855).Google Scholar

16. Rodén, p. 122.

17. Rodén, p. 132. See also Arden, G. Everett, Augustana Heritage: History of the Augustana Lutheran Church (Rock Island, Ill., 1963), pp. 10–11.Google Scholar

18. In contemporary Sweden, members of the parish have a part in selecting their pastor. Still, ecclesiastical approval by the episcopacy is necessary.

19. Nichols, James Hastings, Democracy and the Churches (Philadelphia, 1951), pp. 108–109.Google Scholar Professor Nichols referred here to the state of affairs in the Church of Scotland from 1865 to 1914. The first of these dates was 22 years after the Disruption. Following 1843, important measures of liberalization were taken in the affairs of the church.

20. Ibid., p. 109. Nichols went on to say that in Scandinavia democratic tendencies were shown in the early history of the temperance and labor movements, thus shaping the democratic development of sate and society under the influence of the church. Nichols contrasted this situation with that in Germany, where, for the most part, divergent religious expressions such as Pietism were shackled.

21. Anshelm, Carl, Peter Fjellstedt: Hans Verksamhet för Kyrklig Väckelse och Inner Mission, 3 vols. (Stockholm, 1957), 3:44.Google Scholar

22. Stephenson, George M.The Religious Aspects of Swedish Immigration (Minneapolis, 1932), p. 44.Google Scholar

23. Roén, p. 164.

24. Ibid., pp. 152–153.

25. Ibid., pp. 160–161.

26. There is a copy of this work in the Augustana Lutheran Church Archives, Denkmann Library, Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois.

27. Stephenson, p. 20.

28. Fjellstedt, Peter, “Om den Svenska Kyrkan,” Bibelännen 5 (07 1852): 105.Google Scholar

29. Lawson, Evald B., Two Primary Sources for Study of the Life of Jonas Swensson, Augustana Historical Society Publication 17 (Rock Island, Ill., 1957), p. 29.Google Scholar

30. Ander, O. Fritiof, T. N. Hasselquist: The Career and Influence of a Swedish-American Clergyman, Journalist, and Educator (Rock Island, Ill., 1931), p. 8.Google Scholar

31. “Dr. T. N. Hasselquist,” Korsbaneret: Kristlig Kalendar för 1892, 69 vols. (Rock Island, Ill., n.d.), 13:79–80.Google Scholar Although the article is unsigned, its contents show that the writer was intimately acquainted with Hasselquist. A possible author was Erland Carlsson, a close ally and friend of Hasseiquist. More likely, the author was Eric Norelius, who wrote a full-length biography entitled T. N. Hasseiquist: Lefnadsteckning (Rock Island, Ill., n.d.).Google Scholar Though often at odds with Hasselquist over policy, Norelius respected and may even have admired him. Norelius's editorship of the work in which the article “Dr. T. N. Hasseiquist” appeared supports the supposition that Norelius was the author.

32. Ibid., p. 80.

33. Ander, pp. 10–11.

34. Westin, Gunnar, Emigranterna och Kyrkan: Breu Fnån over Till Svenskar i Amerika (Stockholm, 1932), p. 134.Google Scholar

35. Fjellstedt, Peter, “Hwilka sammankomster äro förbjudna?” Lunds Missions-Tidning 4 (03 1851):43–44.Google Scholar

36. Olsson, Karl A., By One Spirit (Chicago, 1962), p. 175.Google Scholar

37. Söderström, Hugo, Confession and Cooperation: The Policy of the Augustana Synod in Confessional Matters and the Synod's Relations with Other Churches up to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century, Bibliotheca Historico-Ecclesiastica Lundensis 4 (Lund, 1973), p. 21.Google Scholar

38. Stephenson, p. 20.

39. Arden, p. 196. At that time, “synod” was employed instead of “church.” Decades later, it was acknowledged that “synod” is more appropriate as a designation of an ecclesiastical body in meeting. In 1948, the name was changed to “Augustana Lutheran Church”.