the baptist pietist clarion, june 2007

7/28/2019 The Baptist Pietist Clarion, June 2007

1/20

The Baptist PietistCLARIONVol. 6, No. 1 In essentials unity in non-essentials liberty in everything charity June2007

Published by theCommitted Pastors and Lay Leaders dediCated to Preserving Pietism, evangeLism, and CiviLity in the BgC

Edited byg. WiLLiamCarLson, Proessor o History and Political Science at Bethel University; ronsaari, Senior Pastor at Central Baptist Church

Contents

1 Understanding the Pietist Tradition:Origins and Major Belies | Chris

Armstrong

History o Swedish Pietism: A

Signicant Infuence on the EarlyLeaders o the Baptist General

Conerence | Virgil Olson2 Inside this issue o the Baptist Pietist

Clarion | G. William Carlson

3 Baptist Pietist Marks: The Baptist

General Conerence as a PietisticCommunity o Believers |

Virgil Olson

5 Pietism and Bethels Commitmentto Spiritual Formation |

Carl H. Lundquist

6 A Bethel Seminarian Explores the

Values o Swedish Baptist Pietism |David Wetzel

7 Former and Current Bethel

Proessors Write New Books |G. William Carlson

11 Pietism and the Lsare Movement |Adol Olson

12 Signes Pietistic Poetry: The Swedish

Immigrant Experience in PortArthur, Canada | G. William Carlson

14 The Letter Started On. | Signe

Olson Peterson

20 Understanding Pietism: A StartingBibliography | G. William Carlson

continued on p. 15

continued on p. 8

For more inormation

about theCommittedPastors& LayLeaders

dediCatedtoPreservingPietism, evangeLism,

andCiviLityintheBgC, contact:

ronsaari

Senior Pastor at Central Baptist Church420 N Roy Street, St. Paul, MN55104

Phone: 651-646-2751 Fax: 651-646-0372

emaiL: [email protected] [email protected]

HistoricalOriginsoPietismDr. Ch r i s Ar m-

strong, Proessor

o Church History,

Bethel Seminary |

presented at a Semi-

nar Session, Annual

Meeting o the Bap-

tist General Coner-

ence, St. Paul Minnesota, June 28, 2007.I. IntroductIon

The man rom whom I irst learned

about Pietism, evangelical scholar Richard

Lovelace, dened the original German Pietist

movement like this: A biblical and theologi-

cal reaction against the loss o spirituality

and practical relevance in Lutheran cones-

sional orthodoxy. However, Pietism has

been called a number o less complimentary

things. Some o these have to do with the

tendencies o the movements ringe ele-

ments. Oten the criticismsmany o them

unairare derived rom the movements

more orthodox opponents.

The stereotype that todays scholars o

Pietism must oten ght is that the Pietists

were over-emotional Christians who were

anti-intellectual, inward-oriented, and soheavenly minded, they were no earthly good

That is, they supposedly had no interest in

changing the present lietheir religion was

o the opiate o the masses type.

Much o this characterization, however

is just historically wrong. For example, ar

rom being anti-intellectual, Pietist ounding

gure Philipp Jakob Spener, along with most

o the Pietists that ollowed him, wanted both

HistoryoSwedishBaptistPietism:ASignicantInfuenceonEarlyLeaders

otheBaptistGeneralConerenceVirgil A. olson, Th.D.

Proessor Emeritus o

Church History and

Global Missions, Bethel

Seminary | Presented

at a Seminar Session,

Annual Meeting o theBaptist General Coner-

ence, St. Paul Minnesota June 28, 2006.

I a person is going to describe a religious

movement, or, as in this case, a denomina-

tion, the Baptist General Conerence, it is

important to be acquainted with the his-

torical background. To catch the color and

atmosphere o the Baptist General Coner-

ence, one must become acquainted with the

saga o the Swedish immigrant movement o

the nineteenth century.

This history needs to be remembered, bu

not necessarily revered. The Swedish Baptis

immigrants, arriving in the mid-nineteenth

century, carried with them a strong spiritua

lie-style, a literate Biblical understanding

and an independent spirit to survive in thenew nation, which was rapidly expanding in

the large middle section o North America

These immigrants were well versed in

the Bible. The Swedish elementary schools

taught Bible history and the State Church

which was Lutheran, taught all citizens

Luthers Catechism. They could argue and

debate predestination, the doctrines o law

and grace, as taught by Luther, and those

who were religious separatists, including


2/20~ 2 ~

In essentials

UNITY

In non-essentials

LIBERTY

In everything

CHARITY

g. WilliAm CArlson,Proessor o History

and Political Science| This is the seventh

issue o the Baptist Pietist Clarion. Earlier

issues ocused on the theological vision

o John Alexis Edgren, history o Bethel

College and Seminary, Baptist Pietist

spirituality as expressed in thelie and witness o Carl H.

Lundquist, Baptists commit-

ments to religious liberty,

the separation o church

and state (exploring the

contributions o Dr. Wal-

red H. Peterson and Dr.

C. Emanuel Carlson), and

Baptists living as orgiven and

orgiving people o aith. One o the rea-

sons or the Baptist Pietist Clarion is to

publish materials o the proceedings o

the Baptist General Conerence History

Center and relevant presentations on our

heritage and values.

1. theprImarymIssIonofthIsIssue

of the BaptIst pIetIst clarIon Is

to explore In depth the pIetIst

tradItIonandItsInfluenceonthe

BaptIst General conference. The

two eatured articles by Dr. Chris Arm-

strong and Dr. Virgil Olson were originally

presented at a symposium at the AnnualMeeting o the Baptist General Coner-

ence at Bethel University on June 28, 2006.

Armstrong develops an analysis o the

historical origins o Pietism and Olson

explores Pietisms infuence on the early

history o the Swedish Baptist churches

in the United States. Olson suggests, in a

second essay, some o core principles o

Pietism that should remain important or

todays Christians.

PreviousissuesotheBaptist PietistClarioncanbeoundat:http://cas.

bethel.edu/dept/history/Baptist_Pietist_

Clarion

2. It Is a joy to Be part of a com-

munItyoffaIththathasBeensIG-

nIfIcantlyInfluencedBya swedIsh

BaptIst pIetIstherItaGe. There is a

need or Christians to combine a trained

mind with a burning heart. This has al-

lowed or an inclusiveness in doctrine as

well as in practice. (ie. Arminianism/Calvin-

ism) Writing about Bethel Seminary, Virgil

Olson concluded that i the Puritan mold

has shaped the school in its Biblio-cen-

trism, then the Pietist orm has emphasized

Christo-centrism.

The Baptist General Conerencehas avoided many o Americas

religious wars over theology

and practice. Our Statement

o Faith is an expression o a

pietistic commitment, expe-

riential Christianity. For me,

the discussion o our Pietist

heritage remains important as the

Baptist General Conerence moves

rom an ethnic, preeminently Scandinavian

set o institutions to a more inclusive and

diverse evangelical community o believers.

This is an exciting new development.

My essay on Signes immigration experi-

ence is an expression o my joy at the inclusion

o new immigrant churches in the Baptist

General Conerence. However, I do not wish

to lose the positive contributions o Pietism

to twenty-rst century Christian theology and

practice. Four issues remain important:

1. We are an immigrant people. The com-

mitments to religious liberty are rooted

in our history as a persecutedpeople. It is the prime reason

or our continued involvement

in such organizations as Baptist

World Alliance and Baptist Joint

Committee.

2. We are a counter-culture

community o believers. They

challenged the lielessness o the

state churches who seemed con-

cerned only with correct belie,

proper religious practices andmaintenance o political power.

They established a heritage that

suggested the need or a more

experiential Christianity that is

concerned more with moral living

and born again revivalism.

3. We are committed to inten-

tional Christian spirituality. Our

origins lie in the development o

the Lsare movement. These are

small group Bible study and prayer groups

under the direction o lay leadership. It

remains necessary or all Christians, as

Dr. Carl Lundquist, ormer Bethel Univer-

sity President, stated, to develop renewal

groups that are committed to a devotional

rather than a systematic understanding oScriptures.

4. We are an educational and missional

Christian community. There is an intense

commitment to evangelism and social,

economic outreach. We are Christians

whose heart and mind are under the

Lordship o Christ.

3. the next Issue of the BaptIst

pIetIst clarIonwIllfocusonthe

relatIonshIp of pIetIsm and socIal

reformmovements. We will ocus

on the origins o such outreach programs

as Klingberg Childrens Home established

in 1903. Other early outreach ministries

will also be analyzed. In todays world we

will explore the outreach ministry o the

Childrens Center in Cebu established in

1979. It is currently under the leadership

o Paul and Marlys Healy and Mitch and

Ruth Ohlendor. There will also be a major

article by John Anderson and Dan Nelson

on the lie and witness o F. O. Nilsson.

InsidethisIssueotheBaptistPietistClarion

Historical mural or Bethels 125th

anniversary celebration by Dale Johnson,

proessor o art at Bethel University


3/20

continued on p.4

~ 3 ~

BaptistPietistMarks:TheBGCasaPietistInfuencedCommunityoBelievers

Virgil A. olson, Th.

D. Proessor Emeritus

o Church History and

Global Missions, Bethel

Seminary | Presented

at a Seminar Session,Annual Meeting o the

Baptist General Coner-

ence, St. Paul, Minnesota June 28, 2006.

Now that I have unapologetically reached

ninety years, I eel qualied to speak out o

my spiritual journey with people whose bent

in spirituality was the religion o the heart,

Pietism. Even though I may sound ancient,

I never had the opportunity to meet the

original ounders o the Conerence Baptist

churches. But I was privileged as a boy to

listen to Frank Peterson, who knew many

leaders in mission, education and pioneer

pastors o early Baptist General Conerence

church lie.

Frank Petersons parents were among

the rst converts to be baptized by Gusta

Palmquist and were listed among the ound-

ing members o the irst

Swedish Baptist Church, lo-

cated in Rock Island, Illinois.

Peterson was a revivalistic

preacher. Wherever he wentto preach, sinners responded

by conessing their sins and

with tears o joy rejoiced in

nding Jesus as their Savior.

He was pastor o Bethle-

hem Baptist Church, Min-

neapolis, or several years.

During his ministry the

church experienced great growth. He was a

denominational leader and instrumental in

getting Bethel Academy started, which laterbecame Bethel College, now University.

I was born into the pious, Godly home o

Adol and Esther Olson. I eel I am the prod-

uct o not only my parents spiritual heritage

but I am the recipient o a whole line o Swed-

ish Baptist Pietists who have infuenced the

way I perceive the Kingdom o God and the

testimony o the Kingdom, the Bible. Seven

Baptist Pietistic Marks are part o the early

lie o the pioneer Swedish Baptists and have

been an important part o my lie.

a. a centralmarkoftheearlyBaptIsts

pIetIstswasthatthe BIBleIsthefInal

authorItyforfaIthandlIvInG. The

Lsare accepted the Bible as being more

authoritative than the Conessions and theDeclarations o the Church. F. O. Nilsson

stood beore the high court o Sweden in

Jnkping and declared that he ollowed

the Bible, not the mandates o articles and

conessions o the church.

Wiberg studied the New Testament and dis-

covered that there was no Scriptural support

or inant baptism. A. J. Edgren, the ounder

o Bethel Seminary, writes in his Fundamen-

tals o Faith, As a divine text book, the Bible

contains with absolute correctness all the

elements o spiritual truth. (1)

The Bible was the nal authority. I re-

member in the little Swedish Baptist Church,

Bethany Baptist, where I was brought up,

where my ather was pastor during my

boyhood years, the debates and discussions

would always end with the appeal, Vad

sager odert? (What does

the Word say?)

The pietists rom Sweden

were committed ollow-

ers o the Book, the Bible.And that mark is true this

day or the Baptist General

Conerence. The Arma-

tion o Our Faith, that

is o the Baptist General

Conerence, states in Article

One, The Word o God is

the supreme authority in

all matters o aith and conduct.

B. a second mark of the pIetIstIc

churchIsthatItwastoBecomposedonly of Born aGaIn BelIevers. In

Sweden to be a Christian was the same as

being a citizen o the Kingdom. For when

a baby is baptized in the Lutheran church,

the child not only is declared a Christian

but also is declared a citizen o the Kingdom

o Sweden. Thereore, when the Lsare and

the separatist, like the Baptists, preached

the New Birth in Christ, and that only born

again believers should belong to the church,

they were considered radicals. It was this

belie that got Wiberg into trouble. He

reused as a priest to oer communion to

his parishioners who were not born again

believers.

The early Swedish Baptist Pietists werestrong on having revivalistic meetings. Many

o the churches in Iowa and Minnesota were

born in times o revival. The stories are as

cinating.

One o the pioneer evangelists was Olaus

Okerson. He was a armer preacher who

elt called o the Lord to reach the Swedes

or Christ. In teen years o active ministry

Okerson organized eight churches directly

eighteen indirectly, or a total o twenty-six

churches. This is how Okerson described his

ministry.

Wherever we came in those days reviva

broke out. Hundreds became believers, and

many were immersed. I immersed in lakes

and rivers, requently when the weather was

so cold that our clothes roze sti as soon as

we came up rom the water on the ice. Bu

the people rejoiced in the Lord and praised

Him or glorious redemption. (2)

c. a thIrdmarkofthepIetIstIcchurch

was that It laId stronG emphasIs on

lIvInGlIvesseparatedfromtheworldlylIfestyle. The Pietistic Lsare displayeda Christian lie-style that was opposite to

behavior o the general population in Sweden

One story is told about the early Baptist days

in Sweden. Oten the Baptist meetings in the

homes would be broken into by the police

many o the people would be arrested and

put in jail because they were worshipping as

Baptists.

So, at least it is told o one Baptist group

that when they met around a table in a homeor Bible reading and prayer, they would

have whiskey and wine bottles under the

table. When the police came knocking on

the door, the worshippers would hide their

Bibles and place the bottles on the table. The

police became embarrassed when they saw

the bottles, and said, We thought you were

Baptists meeting here, but you all seem to be

Lutherans.

I was baptized when I was nine years old

Frank Peterson


4/20


5/20~ 5 ~

TheBestothePastasaGittotheFutureCArl h. lunDquist, President o Bethel

College and Seminary (1954-1982) | Thedevotional overtones in which the way o

the heart and the way o the mind to God

are used together is one o the distinctive

characteristics o Bethel.

It grows out o our Pi-

etistic heritage and the

revival o the University

o Halle under Francke

and Spener more than

a hundred years ago in

Germany. Historically

it has been nourished in

America both by Puri-

tanism and Fundamen-

talism and has let an

enduring mark upon our

people.

Pietism had its own excesses, o course,

but it is its legacy or good that I hope can

be perpetuated at Bethel. On many cam-

puses with a strong Reormed doctrinal

emphasis there is a built-in suspicion o

Pietism which tends to downplay personalspiritual development in avor o a rigor-

ous intellectual program. Thus there is a

uniqueness about Bethel when compared

to many schools with al-

most identical conessions

o aith.

Understanding without

devotion can be cold and

ormal. Devotion without

understanding can lead to

subjectivism and heresy.

Each is incomplete with-

out the other. The point

o Christian education,

in my judgment, is that

the pursuit o truth in any

ield leads ultimately to

the Christ who is Truth absolute. And when

we come to Him through various elds o

specialization it is to more perectly love

Him with all our mind.

sermons would be read.

Frank Peterson, to whom reerence has

been made, related a prayer meeting as a

young boy he attended at the Village Creek

Swedish Baptist Church in Iowa:

At prayer meetings it was sometimes

customary to remain kneeling while one

ater another, as the spirit moved them, ledin prayer. This would be kept up so long that

the knees would ache until the worshipper

would change rom one position to another,

and at last, he could think o nothing else

but his aching knees and eel unpleasantly

impatient o the long winded petitioners.

I recall, Peterson wrote, that upon one occa-

sion, when F. O. Nilsson came to Village Creek,

he had walked ten miles... and he was very

tired. At the meeting one o those long seasons

o prayer began. Nilsson lay until his knees

ached so that he could stand it no longer. He

arose and said, Brethren, let us intersperse

our prayers with song and testimony. This

long posture on aching knees takes the spirit

o worship out o us. It reminds me o the

torture that those doing penance impose

upon themselves. A restless youngster that I

was, I thought that rebuke, administered by

Mr. Nilsson, was the most sensible thing o

the meeting. (4)

Well, the old ashioned Bnemtte is

gone. But the spirit o prayer still exists

among the Conerence Baptists. The Fire and

Reign movement in our churches is a strong

prayer re. Thank God.G. a seventh element of pIetIstprIncIples was a commItment to

the IrenIcspIrIt. Pietists generally

were committed to the irenic spirit? The

irenic spirit or attitude, did maniest itsel

among the Lsare in Sweden because the

Pietists believed strongly that Christ had

admonished them to be disciples o love.

However, because they were oten beaten,

imprisoned or their aith, challenged in

their belies, the early Baptists became

ormidable debaters, deending the Bible and

its teaching about being born again, being

baptized by immersion upon conession o

aith, and orming separatists congregations,

where they could worship God according to

the dictates o their own conscience as they

believed they were led by the Holy Spirit.

This deensive posture did not always lead

to an irenic spirit.

The irenic spirit was the Pietists response

to brutality o the religious wars, persecution

o religious belie by political institutions

and incivility o the theological wars. It was

expressed in the phrase in essentials unity, in

non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.The irenic spirit became signicantly eviden

when the Seminary began to become estab-

lished, especially ater the school moved to St

Paul, to be settled on the Snelling campus.

Carl Gusta Lagergren, dean o the

seminary, while he held to strong orthodox

convictions, he was tolerant with others

who may have held dierent points o view

My ather graduated rom the seminary in

1912, when the seminary was listed as the

Morgan Park Swedish Department o the

Divinity School o the University o Chicago

The commencement speaker was the dean

o the Divinity School o the University o

Chicago, Schailler Matthews. Matthews was

a well known liberal theologian.

As I saw Matthews name on the com-

mencement program, a copy o which my

ather had kept, I marveled at the openness

o Lagergren to invite Matthews to speak

Lagergren evidently elt so secure in his aith

and in the commitments o his students, tha

he was able to invite this renowned liberatheologian to speak without thinking tha

this might be a problem.

Norris Magnuson, in his history o the

Seminary, Missionsskolan, writes about La

gergren as ollows:

Carl Lagergrens willingness and abil-

ity to work closely with people o dierent

theological or ecclesiastical persuasions was

in part due to his own personal qualities....

Lagergrens writings and the comments o

his contemporaries reveal him as irenic andperson-oriented, a tender husband and ather

who also related warmly to his students.(5)

carl h. lundquIstandthe marks

of pIetIsmInthe twentIeth century

It is somewhat dicult in trying to bring

all o this material together in some orm

o conclusion. I eel that Carl H. Lundquis

embodied all o the best eatures o Pietism

And to his memory I would like to make

reerence in closing. Carl Lundquist served as

Baptist Pietist Marks, rom p.

continued on p. 20


6/20~ 6 ~

ABethelSeminarianExplorestheValueoSwedishBaptistPietismDr. DAViD l. Wetzell,

2007 Bethel Seminary

Graduate| The idea or

this essay lies at the

heart o my decision to

go to seminary. I want-

ed to do theology, and,

as all theology is done in a tradition, I wanted

to do theology in my traditions o Swedish

Baptists and Pietism. However, as a third and

ourth generation Swedish-American Baptist

with relatively little training in church his-

tory, I elt removed rom my religious heritage

and uninormed about historical Pietism. My

experience not only included taking classes at

Bethel Seminary, but also a two and hal

month stay in Sweden taking classes at the

Orebro Mission School, ollowed by a month

and a hal stay in the Ukraine to learn aboutthe impact o the Orange Revolution and the

all o Communism on the Christian

church.

I began by learning about Early Ecclesial

Pietism as it was developed under Phillip

Jacob Spener and August Hermann Francke

and to a lesser extent, Count Nicholas

Zinzendor. I chose these writers because

they were ecumenical Christians who were

committed to signicant reorm within the

bounds o orthodox Lutheranism. I alsochose them because o their infuence on

other orms o Pietism that later emerged,

including Swedish Baptist Pietism.

One o the strengths o the Swedish Bap-

tist Pietists both in Sweden and the United

States may be their irenic ability to tolerate

diversity o belies and practices on non-

essentials. They valued the traditional desire

among Anglo-American Baptists to have a

pure church based on the Bible, beneted

considerably rom religious revivals started

by various Lsare groups, who worked or

reorm rom within the State Church, and

learned rom such organizations as the Men-

nonite or Calvinist churches.

How might an understanding o Pietist

history assist current churches infuenced

by this heritage? What are some o the core

belies and values? Does the heritage remain

signicant and helpul to those attempting to

create a theological tradition in the twenty-

rst century? Let me suggest ve rames

which may be helpul to the discussion.

fIrst the swedIsh BaptIst pIetIst

herItaGe looks towards alternatIves

to th e domInance of tradItIonal

anGlo-amerIcan BaptIstsandexpresses

anapprecIatIonofandwIllInGnessto

learnfrom europeanandotherformsof pIetIsm. Swedish Baptists have long

been willing to learn and adapt rom others.

They have learned rom the Anglo-American

Baptists and Reormed theology in the past,

but they are open to learning rom additional

sources. For example, the Orebro Mission

movement, included Arican-American orms

o spirituality associated with Pentecostal-

ism. Others explored contributions rom

Christians throughout the world, especially

in the two-thirds world, as part o their ocuson international missions. They developed a

strong Christian commitment to responsible

and eective political involvement, especially

to promote justice or the extreme poor in the

two-thirds world.

second, the swedIsh BaptIst pI-

etIst herItaGe arGues that the core

opponent In todays theoloGIcal

and polItIcal deBate Is more often

secularIsm, ratherthanotherforms

of chrIstIanIty.People o aith need tolearn how to get together and make joint

statements and share resources on matters

with which they can agree. It encourages

the development o alliances that do not use

the Fundamentalist-Modernist rames and

shows a fexible commitment to the resis-

tance o secularism in their post-Christian

society. The pietist heritage can help Ameri-

can Christians develop an eective response

to a society that seems to be driting toward

a post-Christian society.

thIrd, the swedIsh BaptIst pIetIstherItaGe expresses a stronG commIt-

menttotheprIesthoodoftheBelIev-

ersandItscorollarythatdIfferences

InIntellectual, economIcandsocIal

statusdonotImplydIfferencesInthe

aBIlItytoperceIvewhatouGhttoBe

done. Dierences in intellectual ability

aect mainly dierences in ones ability to

appreciate and understand the likely conse-

quences o alternative courses o action and

the ability to retain large amounts o inorma-

tion. This does not, per se, equip one better

or playing a priest-like role. All believers

are capable o discerning, when the acts are

presented well, what ought to be done.

One important result o the above is a

commitment to the expansion democracy

as well as renewed habits o thought and

action, or decision-making in the church

and other bodies o governance. For to be

a Baptist is to care about religious liberty

and the separation o Church and State. We

should pro-actively care about the relation

ships o religion and the public square, no

simply deend their separation.

We need to ask political theologica

questions like: Does it matter i Jesus and

the early Church community did not tryto change the rules that governed the Ro

man Empire? Are we to be Christ-like, as

Zinzendor advocated, or ollow Christ

in our discipleship, or should we develop

a broader understanding o what it means

to ollow Christ in our discipleship as was

advocated by Spener and Francke? I we are

ollowing Christ in our discipleship, would

that include the cultivation o disciplines or

habits o political deliberation and action

that give us more opportunities to shareabout our aith and help us to preserve and

spread the political and economic reedoms

that we Christians need to help us advance

the kingship o God?

fourth, the swedIsh BaptIst pIetIst

herItaGeholdstotheImportanceof

theBornaGaInrevIvalIsmandcultI-

vatIonofexperIentIal chrIstIanIty

This experience is centered on the Bible and

the need or Christian believers to cultivate

a better understanding o the entire Bible

as illustrated by Speners pious desires. The

experience o personal religious commitment

and renewal and understanding the Bible bet-

ter and deliberating on its implications or our

lives, in a more egalitarian community setting

like that o the conventicles, are the centra

orms o experience or Pietistic Christians.

To arm the importance o experience

or Christian Missiology though, inevitably

leads to a renewed commitment to the ongo-

continued on p.


7/20~ 7 ~

ing cultivation o our Christian traditions.

In a sense, it also may lead to a return to

the state o aairs that existed prior to the

Protestant-Catholic Schism. As I understand

it, the earlier state o aairs was where the

Church appealed to both Scripture and

Tradition(s) to justiy its policies, with

Tradition(s) being acknowledged as allible

and secondary to Scripture and subject

to more legitimate disagreements among

Christians and apt to change over time. Ide-

ally, our traditions ought to be repositories o

past Christian deliberations on their experi-

ences or situations that were not completely

dealt with by Scripture. To learn rom and

critically evaluate in light o Scripture our

own and others Christian traditions is to

extend the priesthood o believers to include

past believers who are no longer with us.

There are several ranging implications

o the importance o the Pietist notions

o experience and tradition. It critiques

the ree-church movements notion that

the Bible must be the basis or the ecclesial

structure o the church completely, as being

unrealistic. It also, at the same time, gives

them the right to dissent rom or to seek

reorms in existing ecclesial structures, since

the ecclesial structures are products o our

allible traditions, not Scripture. Another

implication o this view is that it may helpcheck the past excesses o both Christian

political conservatism and activism.

It may have prevented the Southern Bap-

tists in the United States rom using the Bible

to oppose reorms o the existing institutions

o slavery. And, with a more careul study

o the Politics o Jesus, the abolition-

ists could have persistently pricked the

consciences o their ellow believers in the

South into making a series o reorms that

would have evolved into reedom or theArican-American slaves, without the hor-

rors o the Civil War, the establishment o

the oppressive sharecropping system, and

the severe regional inequities in economic

development between the North and South

in the United States. There is no question

that the Civil War had terrible consequences

or Americas Spirit; we became ar more pes-

simistic and, especially in the North where

most Swedish-American Baptists lived, more

materialistic oriented.

fInally, the swedIsh BaptIst pIetIst

herItaGearGuesthat, orthodoxyand

orthopraxy, or rIGht thouGht and

practIce, areIntertwInedandInsepa-

raBleforthepurposeoftheoneIsto

Informtheother. They learned rom

the Orthodoxy o their day and concentrated

their critique, not on trying to reinvent the

wheel, or on deriving a whole new theology

based on their experiences, but rather on

recovering a more biblical and practical theol-

ogy that was missiologically-ocused, rather

than a polemical tool or statecrat. I think

that key to their irenic approach to theology

is to view much o it as a second order non-

essential process that is essential or how we

choose to let our lights shine beore others.

As a Swedish Baptist Pietist, one must

understand that denominations are allible

ecclesial institutions that, like all traditions,

will change, in most cases gradually. Revital-

ization and reorm are always needed. Given

the allen state o ecclesial relations, it is no

absolutely important to maintain all existing

denominations or their lines o organization

The decision to invoke change in a denomi-

nation by exit to a competing denomination

as the Swedish Baptists did, or to invoke

change rom within, as the Swedish Lsare

movement did, is a choice that is ultimately

let to the individual believers conscience

Equally devout believers in the Swedish

Free Church movement have made dieren

choices in the past. What remains important

is that those who value the Swedish Baptist

Pietist heritage continue to espouse the

excitement o an experiential Christianity

which encourages religious revivals, Lsare

Christian spirituality, social and economic

engagement, democratic governance and

civil discourse.

Seminarian Explores Swedish Baptist Pietism, rom p. 6

FormerandCurrentBethelProessorsWriteNewBooks.DeYoung, Curtiss Paul Living Faith: How

Faith Inspires Social JusticeMinneapolis:Fortress Press, 2007.

A Proessor o Reconciliation Studies

at Bethel University writes a ascinatingexploration o the interaction betweenaith and social justice. Concentrates on

the live and witness oBonhoeer, Malcolm X,

and Aung San Suu Kyi.Analyzes how their erycore o mystic aith drove

them beyond conven-tional boundaries and

empowered their livesand deeds.

Keiller, Steven. J. Gods Judgments: Inter-preting History and the Christian Faith

Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsityPress, 2007.An adjunct proessor o history at Bethel

University explores the idea that divine judg-ment can be a ruitul category or historical

investigation. He centers his exploration onthe 1814 burning o Washington, crises o

American slavery and September 11.

Kraybill, Donald B. and James P. Hurd

Horse-And-Buggy MennonitesPennsylva-

nia State University Press, 2006.Proessor Hurd, Bethel University

Anthropologist, has joined with a distin-guished Mennonite scholar to write the

history o the Wenger Mennonites. TheseMennonites, about 16,000 in number, rejecthe use o the automobile and are located in

Pennsylvania, Iowa and Michigan.

Piper, John Amazing Grace in the Lie oWilliam Wilberorce Wheaton, IllinoisCrossway Books, 2006.

A Baptist GeneralConerence pastor and

ormer Bible proessorat Bethel University

writes thoughtul es-say on the anti-slav-ery crusade o Wil-

liam Wilberorce. Itis an encouragement

to those who wish

to respond to eco-nomic and social justice issues today. Personsshould also see the lm Amazing Grace.

Shannon, Angela Singing the Bones TogetheTia Chucha, 2003.Angela Shannon is a new proessor in

Bethel Universitys English DepartmentHer book o poems is an Arican-American

perspective on issues such as work, hard-ship, and celebration, and the spirit world

o ancestors, remembrance, and aith.It is awonderul collection o poetry.


8/20~ 8 ~

Baptists, could speak boldly about the neces-

sity o being born again and living separated

rom the evils o the world.

And then there was Pietism. This powerul

spiritual, revivalistic movement that swept

across northern Germany, on into Poland

and Russia, arrived in Sweden in the mid-

eighteenth century, but a century later it be-

came a orce o revival, both in the northern

as well as the southern provinces o Sweden.

It is the marks o this spiritual movement

and its infuence on the rst hundred years

o the Baptist General Conerence history to

which I now want to turn my attention.

I. the roots of pIetIsm In sweden:

p I e t I s m s a r r I v a l I n s w e d e n

In th e eIGhteen century. In the

early 1700s small groups o religious

dissenters began to meet in homes

or spiritual encouragement. Many peoplewere seeking or a personal experience o

Gods joy and peace. The National Church,

which was Lutheran, had become rational

and legalistic, lacking the message o

personal salvation.

One Swedish church historian character-

ized the churchs condition as ollows:

To be a good Swedish citizen meant to

coness the evangelical Lutheran aith as it

was ormulated by the Church o Sweden.

Orthodoxy and civil obedience had becomealmost synonymous. The type o piety thus

developed became all too easily a matter o

outward habit without any eect on the in-

ner lie; oten it was more a matter o civil

duty than a conviction personally gained....

Greatest importance was attached to the

knowledge o Luthers Catechism, church

attendance, and occasional communions; in

this manner one became without question

eternally blessed even i one lived in all sorts

o carnality.(1)

At this same period the Swedish King,

Charles XII, in 1712, attacked the Russians

at Poltava, and suered a catastrophic deeat.

The Russian campaigns had drained the

Swedish treasury, robbed the country side

o its young male population, and exhausted

the eelings o the people. It was like a dark

cloud o hopelessness over the nation.

The Swedish soldiers taken captive at

Poltava were marched to Siberian prison

camps. And it was in these camps that the

soldiers received sources o spiritual hope.

Pietistic hymns, prayers, and searching o

the Scriptures helped the soldiers endure

the desperate hours o imprisonment. When

these soldiers returned to Sweden in 1720-21 they brought with them the pietistic

spirit, or the Bible reading cells, which were

called Lsare (Readers), increased markedly

ater this time. They were also infuenced

by Zinzendors Herrnhut community in

Germany.(2)

Revivals began to spread in many parts o

Sweden, especially in the southern province

o Skne. One o these lay preachers described

the eects o the awakening in the 1770s:

Instead o oaths, cursing, strie, quarrels,ght, drunkenness, the desecration o the

Sabbath, all sorts o superstition at christen-

ings, weddings, and unerals, and Christmas

games, which have now mostly declined,

there is now godliness, praying, and singing

among many and in many households. Nor

are the churches neglected as previously, so

that they go once in

Lent, but now they

go to church regu-

larly.(3)

D u r i n g t h e

1730s a young stu-

dent rom the Uni-

versity o Uppsala,

Sven Rosen, a son

o a Lutheran dean

o the Cathedral o

Gteborg, became

the leader o the

so-called religious

radicals, the Pietistic separatists. He began

to write theological tracts, which posed the

question, How can one who is a ollower

o the Lamb at the same time be obedient

to the laws o the Church?

The Church leaders became alarmed. They

pressured the Crown and the Rikstag to enact

laws against these Radicals meeting in their

cell groups, or conventicles. Laws orbidding

the meeting o conventicles were enacted in

1726. These laws led to the imprisonment

beatings and nes o the Radicals.

Sven Rosen met with a small group o

radical Pietists in a house in the south part

o Stockholm. They were strong believ

ers that the end o the world would come

soon. Protesting the luxurious lie style o

the day, they wore common clothes, simply

made. People called them the gray jackets

people. They decided to separate themselvesrom the world o luxury and vice to live in

a communal house, called Mommas Hus.

This was the rst separatist, ree church in

Sweden. It was not a large group, perhaps 15

to 16, but enough to cause the authorities to

react rather violently, bringing these radica

spiritualists to trial, ollowed with punish-

ment and imprisonment. Sven Rosen, the

leader, was brought to trial and banished

rom the Kingdom in 1741. He nally made

his way to America.II. pIetIsmand BaptIst BeGInnInGs In

sweden In the nIneteenth century

In the middle o the nineteenth century

there was another movement o radica

separatism. In the northern part o Sweden

among the Lsare (Readers) small conventicles

cell groups, began to meet in the homes. The

meetings were lead by lay persons who

administered communion, baptized babies

and perormed most o the liturgical duties

reserved or the parish priest.

A new, revised law, the Sacramental Law

was passed by the Rikstag in 1855. Any per

son or group that did not comply with the

State Church order o observing the sacra

ments would be ned 50 dollars. As a resul

there was widespread raiding o Lsare meet-

ings with many being ned and imprisoned

This search and apprehending was especially

true in the province o Dalarne.

In this environment o suspicion o any

Swedish Baptist Pietism, rom p. 1

continued on p.

Lsare childhood home o G. W. Schrder


9/20

continued on p. 10

~ 9 ~

orm o separatism rom the National Church,

an industrialist rom England, Samuel Owens,

came to Stockholm in 1826 to establish a busi-

ness. Owens was a Methodist and he began

to witness to people. Four years ater Owens

arrival, George Scott, another on re Method-

ist, joined Owens as a chaplain, to minister

to the workers. Scotts meetings attracted a

number o people. Ater a ew months Scott

began to preach in Swedish and the people

began to respond to his gospel preaching.

Following Wesleys method, Scott organized

small classes. Scott saw a need o publishing

a paper, so in 1842 he began publishing the

Pietisten (The Pietist).

This paper was very in-

fuential in coordinating

the spirit and actions o

the separatists and espe-

cially the Lsare. Scott didnot hold back criticism

o the National Church,

criticizing the Churchs

ungodliness, ormalism

(no spiritual lie), and

that the members o the

church were Christian in

name only. (4)

Scott attracted sev-

eral young men to join

him in being colporteurs,distributing religious literature, including

Bibles, as well as copies oPietisten. Among

the ollowers o George Scott were F. O. Nils-

son, Gusta Palmquist, Anders Wiberg, each

o whom would have a signicant part in the

beginning o the Baptist work in Sweden.

F. O. Nilsson upon his conversion in 1834

joined with the Methodists, so Scott was

pleased to recruit Nilsson, as a Methodist,

and to get support or him to be a colpor-

teur missionary to seamen in Southwest

Sweden.(5)

In 1845 Nilsson met a representative o the

Baptists o America, G. W. Schrder, who had

been a sea captain and at the time was the

Vice Consul o the United States Consul o-

ce in Gteborg. Schrder shared literature

with Nilsson about believers baptism. In

Nilssons deense beore the high court in

Jnkping he stated that ater two years o

searching the writings o Luther and other

theologians both ancient and modern, and

studying careully in the Holy Bible, I came

to the conviction in 1847 that there was no

support or inant baptism....that baptism

with some water on the head is not su-

cient. The total body must be immersed.

(6 ) In that Nilsson could not nd a Baptist

clergyman in Sweden to baptize him, he

traveled to Hamburg, Germany were there

was a Baptist church, whose pastor was J.

G. Oncken. Oncken baptized Nilsson in the

Elbe river on August 1, 1847.

Nilsson, on September 21, 1848 ormed the

rst Baptist congregation in Sweden. This is

the rst ree church, that

is, a church ree rom

the State church, to be

established in Sweden

which has had a con-

tinuous history to thisday. In May o the next

year, 1849, Nilsson re-

turned to Hamburg and

to the Baptist church

to be ordained to the

gospel ministry, to be

set apart as a teacher

and elder. Now several

people wanted to be bap-

tized by Nilsson, and in

1850, as reported in thecourt proceedings at Jnkping, there were

47 or 48 members o both sexes in this new

Baptist church.

Both National church leaders and civic

ocials became alarmed at the growth o

this heretical sect. The church council in

Gteborg drew up restrictive laws condemn-

ing these Baptists. Nilsson was imprisoned,

treated as a traitor to the nation and church.

Nilsson was summoned to appear beore

the Nations high court in Jnkping in

south central Sweden to give a deense o his

heretical teachings. The court was not sym-

pathetic to Nilssons statement and ordered

the Baptist preacher to be banished rom the

Kingdom.

Though Nilsson was banished, the Baptist

mission could not be stopped. A ew days

ater Nilsson had let Jnkping the minutes

o the trial were published in newspapers and

pamphlets, thousands o copies that were

eagerly read by people all over Sweden.

Nilsson writes about this spread o Baptis

ideas:

From this day the Baptists and their

doctrines were no longer conned to an

obscure corner o the land, and to a ew poor

despised laborers. The truth was with trum-

pet voices proclaimed on the house tops, and

the sound thereo reached rom cottage to

palace, through the length and breadth o the

land....Let now the poor sailor be banished

rom the realm! The truths that by his tria

have been disseminated in Sweden can never

be banished. Soli Deo Gloria.(7)

Baptist churches sprang up all over Swe-

den. The Lsare, house churches, grasped

on to the Nilsson court document. This tes-

timony became the guide to opening up the

Scriptures or an understanding o believer

baptism, importance o lay participation inthe mission o the church and o a congre

gational orm o church order.

The spirit o pietism came into Sweden

as a balm to people who were starved or

a spiritual experience that the Nationa

Church did not oer. The strong leadership

o pietist lay people and clergy, the infuence

o the periodical, Pietisten, coupled with the

spirit o revival, brought new lie, joy, and

hope in times o material and spiritual de

pression. The Baptist immigrants who camerom these pietistic centers in Sweden helped

orm the spiritual character o the Swedish

Baptist churches in the United States in thei

ormative years.

III. pIetIst Influences on BaptIst

General conference founders. Three

pioneer, Pietistic pastor/ missionaries

Gusta Palmquist, F. O. Nilsson and Anders

Wiberg, set the pietistic tone or the Swedish

Baptist Churches which were being born

in the Midwestern states, on both sides o

the Mississippi river. Members o Scotts

Pietist circle in Stockholm came to America

to be the ounding leaders o the Swedish

Baptist churches. Their lives and ministries

interlocked in the beginning years o

Conerence Baptist history.

There was a group o persecuted Lsare

Pietists in northern Sweden who planned

to emigrate to America. Gusta Palmquist, a

school teacher, who was part o the Stock-


George Scott, Methodist pastor who

infuenced Swedish Baptists


10/20

continued on p.11

~ 10 ~

holm Lsare Pietists, was chosen to be their

leader. However, the group preceded Palmquist

to America and when Palmquist arrived in

New York, he discovered that his group, which

he was to shepherd, had scattered to three

or our Midwestern states. He traveled to

Illinois to look or his fock, and there he

heard that a revival was in ull orce in Gales-

berg. So Palmquist, coming rom a revival

atmosphere in Sweden, made his way to

Galesberg to see what was going on.

Palmquist, although he had contact with F.

O. Nilsson, the Baptist, in Sweden, had never

been in a Baptist church. At the Salisbury

Baptist church Palmquist became convinced

o the Baptist views. He was baptized in June

o 1852, and shortly ater was ordained to

the gospel ministry, with the commission to

reach his ellow countrymen to Christ.

A short time later Palmquist met a ewSwedes in Rock Island, Illinois, preached

to them Saving Grace, and baptized three

people, two men and one woman, in the

Mississippi river. It was August 8, 1852, and

ve days later, August 13, this small band o

baptized believers organized themselves into a

Baptist church, the rst Baptist church o the

Baptist General Conerence, 154 years ago.

On one cold winter night, walking back

to his home in Rock Island ater a service

in Moline, Palmquist got caught in a bliz-zard. He became ill and never recovered. He

returned to Sweden and lived the remainder

o his lie as a chronic invalid. He died in

September o 1867. (8)

Ater two years in Denmark, the banished

Baptist preacher, Fredrik Olaus Nilsson,

with his wie and twenty-one Baptists,

emigrated to America, arriving at New York

City June 24, 1853. Nilsson and his group

made their way to Rock Island, where Nils-

son became linked up with Palmquist in his

missionary endeavors, assisting him with

starting churches in Iowa.

Nilsson had a very protabletime at the Baptist church in

Burlington, Iowa. However,

Nilsson elt the need to go to

Minnesota.

In 1855, together with

several o the members rom

the Burlington church, Nils-

son came and settled by the

shores o Clearwater Lake,

about twenty miles west o

Minneapolis, close to the

present city o Waconia. They named their

new settlement Scandia. The Scandia church

was organized August 1, 1855. Using Scandia

as his home base, Nilsson moved out to other

Scandinavian settlements and became the

leader in organizing churches at Chisago

Lake, Wastado, Carver and Grove City.

Nilsson returned to Sweden in 1860. King

Charles XV granted a pardon to Nilsson, so he

elt ree to serve as the rst pastor o the Bap-

tist church in Gothenburg, a position he held

or seven years. Nilsson returned to Houston

MN in 1868, and during the

remaining years o his lie hestruggled with physical, emo

tional and spiritual problems

his aith oten being tested

in the torment o suering

The champion or religious

reedom, or the spirit o

pietism, or energetic church

planting inally completed

his lie journey, October 12

1881.

Anders Wibergs origina

name was Anders Erickson. But as severa

people did in those days they changed their

names to become more distinct. Anders was

born close to the mountain o Wi, so he

decided to call himsel Wiberg.

As a young boy Wiberg took to reading

and study. He nally came to the University

o Uppsala, and while there decided to study

or the priesthood o the National Church

which was Lutheran. He was ordained June

Swedish Baptist Pietism, rom p.

Fredrik Olaus Nilsson

Rock Island Church

PalmquistwasaWorkaholic.Baptist

ChurchesWereBeingFormedinSeveralPlaces.A Baptist mission began in Moline, Illinois, and

Palmquist, besides being pastor o his new church

in Rock Island, took on the responsibilities to be a

pastor to the small group in Moline, a number o

miles away rom Rock Island. Palmquist did not

have a horse or buggy. He walked between Moline

and Rock Island to conduct services. He listed his

meetings. On Sundays he had three meetings in

the Rock Island Church, a Sunday School at 9 a.m.,

ollowed by the worship service at 11 a.m., and then

an aternoon service at 3 p.m. Palmquist would then

walk several miles to Moline to preach at an evening

service at a Baptist mission. Then walk back to his

home in Rock Island ater the service. Besides the Sunday services Palmquist kept walk-

ing between the churches several times during the week to conduct prayer meetings.

Palmquist also traveled to places in Iowa and was instrumental in helping Baptistchurches get started among the Swedish immigrant settlements at Village Creek,

Burlington, New Sweden, and Stratord. The Baptist Home Mission Society helped

support Palmquist. In his annual report to the Society or 1853, Palmquist reported

that he had traveled over 2,000 miles, preached 342 times, conducted about 200 prayer

meetings and had conversations o a spiritual nature with between 400 and 500 amilies

and persons.

Gusta Palmquist


11/20~ 11 ~

11, 1843 and his rst assignment was to be

an assistant to an older priest who was a

notorious drunkard, who never was able to

administer the pastoral duties o the parish.

So Wiberg soon got experience preaching

and caring or the parishioners.

In his parish there were a number o

Lsare who were meeting in the homes.

Wiberg became interested

in their devotion, their

zeal or the Lord. Soon

in his preaching he began

to preach the ull gos-

pel o believing in Jesus.

He reused to administer

communion to people

who were not converted.

Alarm bells began to ring

in the Lutheran hierarchy.

Wiberg was warned andellow priests and many

people began to speak and

write against him. Finally

Wiberg let the church in May 1850.

It was at this time he came into contact

with the pietistic, religious separatists in

Stockholm, Scott and company (i.e. Gustav

Palmquist and F. O. Nilsson). Wiberg was

asked to be an interpreter or a business man,

D. Forsell, who was going to Hamburg, Ger-

many. Here Wiberg met Gerhard Oncken,

the Baptist pastor, and visited his church.

The people o the congregation were ull o

joy, compassionate in serving others, and

zealous students o the Bible. Wiberg was

impressed.

But Wiberg was not convinced about adult

baptism. To challenge Oncken and his Baptist

ollowers, Wiberg decided

to write a book to reute

the Baptist position. The

outcome, ater searching

the New Testament writ-

ings, Wiberg wrote a large

book deending believers

baptism by immersion,

entitled, Who Should be

Baptized? And What is

Baptism? This book be-

came a key text or theBaptists in Sweden and

in America.

Now Wiberg needed

to be baptized. So on his way to America,

the ship on which he was sailing, made a

port call at Copenhagen, which gave Wiberg

the chance to meet up with his riend F. O.

Nilsson. He asked Nilsson to baptize him.

Nilsson writes about this experience in his

diary:

At about 12 oclock in a beautiul northern

night this unworthiest o all had the great and

solemn privilege o burying brother Wiberg

in baptism in the likeness o Christs death

beneath the waves o the Baltic Sea, right

outside the royal city o Copenhagen. (9)

Wiberg, upon his arrival in America

joined up with Palmquist in assisting in the

organizing o churches and giving instruction

o how to conduct an orderly church. Ate

helping with church beginnings, Wiberg

went to Philadelphia, where he spent two

years with the Baptist Publication Society

writing booklets and tracts or the Swedish

Baptists, most o whom were young convert

and not very literate in the truths about the

Christian lie and the mission o the Baptis

churches.

Wiberg dened the church as Bible cen-

tered, with a revivalistic passion and a deepcommitment to love God with heart and

soul. Adol Olson sums up Wibergs lie as

ollows: Wiberg was a man o great honesty

and integrity, pronounced unselshness and

deep humility. Truly he walked with God.

(10) Wiberg died November 5, 1887.

The true nature o Pietism cannot be

understood unless it is understood in the

context o history. The Pietist heritage

revived the value o experiential Chris-

tianity which included an emphasis onthe born again experience, holy living

and Lsare spirituality. It became part o

the warp and woo o the pioneer Swedish

Baptist immigrants. All o us, today, stil

need to learn how to truly walk with God.

Footnotes:1. Hjalmer Holmquist Handbok I svenska kyrkohistoria

(Revised Edition) Stockholm, 1953, p. 11.2. Gunnar Westin Den kristna rirsamlingen I Norden

Westerbergs, Stockholm, 1956, p. 23.3. Karl A. Olsson By One Spirit Chicago: Covenan

Press, 1962, pp. 32-33 (citing Hilding Pleijel Herrnhutism I SydsverigeStockholm, 1925, p. 56)4. Gunnar Westin, Den kristna rirsamlingen, p. 305. Gunnar WestinI den svenska rikyrklighetens genom

brottstidStockholm: Westerbergs, 1983, p. 37.6. Gunnar Westin, I den svenska, p. 98.7. Adol Olson A Centenary Historyas related to th

Baptist General Conerence o America ChicagoBaptist General Conerence Press, 1952, p. 7 (citingM.F. Anderson, The Baptist in Sweden, pp. 68-69).

8. Carl G. Lagergren Eter sjuttio r, 1852-1922St. PaulMinnesota, 1922, p. 12.

9. Virgil Olson (editor) An Autobiographical Sketchby F. O. Nilsson Bethel Seminary QuarterlyVol. XNumber 4, August 1962, p. 84.

10. Adol Olson A Centenary History, p. 42.


PietismandtheLsareMovementADolf olsonA Centenary HistoryChicago:

The Baptist Conerence Press, 1952, pp.

13-14| As pietism usually is democratic by

nature, it is not surprising that the revival

o 1830 was largely a movement led by

lay preachers.

Many o these

were school

t e a c h e r s ,

who, by rea-sons o their

training and

educat ion

as well as

because o

their reli-

g ious ex-

per ience ,

were well

qualied to lead the multitudes starving

or spiritual nourishment. In its attitude

toward the church the movement can be

characterized by separatism and non-con-

ormism. In the early stages o the revival,

beore the Baptists and the Methodists ap-

pear on the scene, it is true that practically

all who were infuenced by the movement

were orthodox Lutherans. But this did not

prevent them rom seeking elsewhere thespiritual ood which they ailed to nd in

the preaching o the unconverted state

church parsons. Thus the tendency to con-

venticles. The believers ormed the practice

o meeting in the homes to read devotional

books, and especially the Bible.

Hence they were called readers or

Lsare

Anders Wiberg


12/20

continued on p. 13

~ 12 ~

ThePietistPoetryoSigneOlsonPeterson:TheLetterStartedOnUnderstandingtheImmigrantExperienceg. WilliAm CArlson, Proessor o History and

Political Science, Bethel University| In recent

issues o the Baptist Pietist Clarionwe have

published the poetry o Signe Olson Peter-

son. She wrote, under the name Signe,

around 300 poems and essays which werepublished in at least eight Swedish newspa-

pers and journals rom Port Arthur, Canada,

to Chicago, to New Britain Connecticut.

Many o the poems are located at the Baptist

General Conerence History Center in St.

Paul, Minnesota.

Signe was born in Varmland, Sweden, and

immigrated to Port Arthur, Canada in May

1911. She journeyed on the ship, The Em-

press o Ireland, and traveled across Canada

on the Canadian

Paciic Railway.

Signe worked as

a domestic or

a widow in one

o Port Arthurs

grand homes.

More than eighty

o her early Swedish poems were written while

she lived in Canada between 1911-18.

Ater moving to Minnesota she married

Rev. E. B. Peterson and raised six children.

They served the Lord in Fish Lake, Evelethand Kerkhoven, Minnesota. Signes poetry

oten refected upon her Christian aith. Her

poems requently dene characteristics o

the Pietist tradition. Such include a need or

a born again experience, a delight in prayer

and Bible study, a celebration o the com-

munity o aith, a desire or holy living and

an anticipation o heaven.

I have received great help in developing an

understanding o Signes Canadian experi-

ence rom Elinor Barr, research scholar or

the Swedes in Canada. She eatured Signes

poetry in the Swedes in Canada newsletter

#5, December 2005. Just recently Elinor Barr

located a translated history o the SwedishBaptist Church in Port Arthur rom 1930. It

included one o Signes poems.

Port Arthur, located on the Northwest

shore o Lake Superior, was

established as a town in

1884 and a city in 1907. Its

growth was largely a result

o the expansion o the Ca-

nadian Northern Railway. It

served as a grain handling

port. An economic elite

quickly developed in the

city. It was essentially made

up o English business-

men many o whom lived

in ashionable dwellings

which had need o a variety o servants to

take care o the house and amily lie.

Elinor Barr writes that Signe lived in

what was arguably the grand-

est home o all, along the

citys main street, about our

blocks up rom the water-

ront. Signe was probably

Mrs. Clavets only live-in

servant, but the home would

also require a gardener, a

handyman, someone or

heavy cleaning and taking

care o the coal-red urnace, and a cook or

special occasion. Mrs. Clavet was a Roman

Catholic, rom Newoundland, with a grown

amily.

According to The Ships List around10,000 Swedes immigrated to Canada rom

1900-1906 and another 18,000 rom 1907-

1915. This did not include other Swedish

immigrants who moved to Canada rom

the United States. According to the Report

o a Preliminary and General Social Survey

o Port Arthur in 1913, Port Arthur had

a population o 15,654 o whom 423 were

Swedish and 762 were Baptist. From 1901

to 1911 the population had increased over

249%.

Elinor Barr summarizes the lie o the

Swedish immigrant servants in the ollowing

way:

Signes jobs would be to care or hermistress and or the interior o the house

- clothing, draperies, linens and bedding

(airing, washing, ironing). She would also be

responsible or the cleaning

and polishing o woodwork

brass, copper, silverware

and glassware including

windows, or dusting urni-

ture, cleaning light xtures

and replaces, washing and

starching runners and doi

lies, waxing the foors, vacu-

uming the rugs and running

errands. Her tasks could also

include the preparation and

serving o ood, aterwards

eating by hersel in the kitchen. Mrs. Clave

may have done some o the above jobs her-

sel. Signes poems suggests that her mistres

was oten an ungrateul taskmaster.

Signe would wear a maids apron and cap

kept immaculately clean and starched. When

her mistress had guests, Signe would be ex-

pected to meet them at the door and hang

up their wraps, then serve rereshments. A

maids day o was usually Thursday a-

ternoon, but Signe obviously chose Sunday

instead. Otherwise she was on hand and

on call 24-7. Her tasks were repetitive and

boring, and there were no opportunities or

advancement. For these reasons ew English-

speaking girls were willing to take on this

kind o work.

Thereore, like many immigrants, Signesexperience in Port Arthur was a hard and

isolated one. Her poems refect a sense o

aloneness. She laments over the immigrants

inability to be with amily members and

thanks God or the prayerul lives o mother

and ather. In 1917 Signe wrote a poem en

titled Write Home to Your Mother which

expresses the heartbreak o parents losing

their children to the immigrant experience:


13/20~ 13 ~

Signe Olson Peterson Poetry, rom p. 12

Write to mother: she waits or word,From child or long she has not heard,So lonely she eels as each day ends.So empty since you went away,The place you lled must vacant stay,Cannot be lled by the best o riends.

Can you orget the day you let?Last glimpse o mother all beret?

How she her sorrow then tried to hide,How she at house door stood alone,Until you rom her sight had gone.No more could she ollow at your side.

Could you orget her nal word,The nal prayer o hers you heard?That she never would abandoned be?Whatever course your road might take,You always would the eort make,To send a letter that she might see

For Signe, there was a consistent refection

on the pillars o strength she was able to ac-

cess; the support o the aith community, therealization that ultimately this lie is not all

there is; the hope o heaven, and necessity o

valuing Gods presence. Signe expressed this

well in one o her Port Arthur poems entitled

No Rest on This Earth is To Be Found:

No rest on this earth is to be ound,Expect naught but trouble and toil,You to be guest and stranger are bound,When you must reside on earths soil.

Even on our lies sunniest heights,

Some shadow will always appear,To muddy and tarnish our delights,And leave our road dark without cheer.

You dreamed o a better careree lie,When you rom trouble ound release,But you will nd no release rom strie,Beore the day all toil shall cease.

Hold out then in every circumstance,When to our nal home you go,When you shall beyond the grave advance,At last perect joy you will know.

Weeping nevermore will there be ound,For no sorrow there will we see,Peace and joy will evermore be abound,And the Lord all in all will be.

During Signes stay in Port Arthur she was

an active participant in the lie o the Swedish

Baptist Church. The church was ounded in

1905 under the leadership o Fred Palmquist.

Numerous pastors came and went during

the early period o the church. Some let or

educational reasons and others or dierent

places o ministry. Ater

meeting in homes, a church

building was completed in

1909. During Signes stay in

Port Arthur, the church was

pastored by John Olander,

Reverend Grondahl, and

Axel Carlson. SeveraloSignespoems

discussaspectsotheminis-

tryo theSwedishBaptist

Churchandmajorfguresin

theBaptistGeneralCone-

rence.Onepoemrecognized

thetragic deathomissio-

naryOliviaJohnson.Anothershowedsup-

portorKlingbergChildrensHomewhich

wasoundedbyJohnKlingbergin1903in

NewBritain,Connecticut.Signehadadeep

attachmenttochildrenandmayhavewanted

toworkorthehomewhenshecametoSt.

Paulin1919.

The Letter Started On (published in

Svenska Standaret, December 1915), is about

a young Swedish woman, Ida, who died in a

hospital ater trying to earn enough money

to send some back to her impoverished

amily in Sweden. The poem likely refects

Signes own emotions concerning her early

years as a domestic and the experiences o

other domestics in Port Arthur. I cried whenI rst read this poem in translation.

Many o us tend to orget that the Baptist

General Conerence heritage emerged rom

the struggles o immigrants many o whom

aced the economic, social and spiritua

turmoils o the late nineteenth and early

twentieth century American and Canadian

experience. Signes poetry should remind us

o the need to value our ethnic immigrant

historical memory as we give support to

those who struggle in todays America. We

also need to celebrate and value the entrance

o several new immigrant churches into

the Baptist General Conerence. They are

churches o immigrants rom such countries

as Haiti, Russia, Korea, Latin and South

America and Vietnam.

The poems included in this essay were

translated rom the Swedish by Tom Cole-

man, a retired Baptist Conerence missionaryto Ethiopia and Cameroons. He is not only a

gited translator, but also a gited poet. Many

thanks or his hard work and creativity.

continued on p. 14

SigneWrites1918LettertoRev.JohnKlingbergThere was also, or Signe, a sense that lie was hard and that only God could provide

strength and support in times o need. In a letter rom Signe to Rev. John Klingberg in

1918, a pastor in New Britain, Connecticut and a major champion o her poetry, she

wrote:

I have been and am continually completely alone out here. I have worked in amiliesthe whole time. I worked in the same amily or ve years. There did I write the greatest

number o my poems. Some are written under so tragic conditions. Monday mornings,

when I was alone down in the basement and did laundry, my thoughts used to work

the best. I stole some minutes now and then and wrote them down.

I will not speak about scoldings and snubs I used to get because I was absent-minded,

and sometimes neglected the work. All resistance has only spurred me to new eorts.

The poetry has become more important to me as time goes by and today there is no

doubt whether I shall spend time on poetry or not. The poetry has helped me overcome

so much and has been such a great blessing to me.

Swedish Baptist Church, Port ArthurCourtesy o Myrtle Koreen, rom the Elinor Barr Collection


14/20~ 14 ~

Signe Peterson Poetry, rom p. 13

She had let her home and riends beore goingAboard a ship to sail across the sea.

Dreaming as we oten do when not knowing,

Very cold an unriendly world may be.It was dicult to hold her mothers hands,

For the last time orever she was told.Great was the pain with the breaking o the bands,

That souls o child and mother rmly hold.

Though broken the heart o the young hope will keep,When no more fow the tears that had dropped.The sorrow o parting though recent and deep,

Was soon gone, orgotten, and stopped.That the stars in their promise smile as they shine

It ever seems in the morning o lieIn Idas soul soon all her worries decline

As she goes out alone to the strie.

What could she hope or? That success hers might be,Though impossible that all could be done.

Although dark might be the uture she could see,All by the young and hopeul could be won.Ida will stand in a place no one has stood,

Is this not how both o us have prayed?Where others have ailed we hope she will make good,

And win success that no one else has made.

Her road was the coldest she had ever known,Barren and empty was the world she saw,

For all her trials she had to bear alone,There was no place where comort she could draw.When at last she reached the goal that she had set,

And had done her best then it was she heard,What many poor people in their lives have met,

They would be repaid with but a cruel word.

How can the eelings o a sad heart be known,By a stranger to sorrows heavy hands?

How could those who always had riends o their own,Surmise how Ida longed or riendships bands?When leaving mother a promise she had made

To supply her with money to buy bread.Time ater time when her wages had been paid,

She thought o sending help as she had said.

Her diligence was never to be cherishedBy those she ran so hard to serve all day.

The bright hope that she so long had nourished,In lies hard toil no longer bright could stay.

Her meager wage was not enough to alterThe lack or which she hoped it would provide,

But in her mothers soul would never alter,The hope she gave when leaving mothers side.

One November day when cold and dark the air,In a letter rom mother Ida saw,

For their Christmas they had not a crown to spare,And mother hoped rom Ida help to draw.

She begged Ida or some help however small,Gave thanks or what she possibly might spare.You know in the house how old and worn is all,

The little children have no clothes to wear.

The days passed by and Ida gave no answer.The day the letter came she was not well.

She wondered i her mother was in danger,

That she was sick she did not want to tell.More days passed by and Ida must be taken,

Transported to a place she greatly eared,Where her last murmur soon would be recorded,

And her last whisper also would be heard.

One day by someone her ailing voice was heard,I must write or my mother is so poor,

Dear Mother she wrote as her beginning word,Forgive me that I did not write beore.

I am weary and sick, my heart is weeping,On you and home my thoughts will always be.

I have hoped my promise as Im keepingTo take again the work that waits or me.

Her strength was gone, her tired hand no longerCould make the pen within her grasp to stay,

Her evered cheek she laid upon the pillowShe wished to rest until the coming day.

The northwind in deance started blowingHis voice a message cold and grim to send,

The western sky a golden glow was showing,Which witnessed that the day had reached its end.

TheLetterStartedOnDet pbegynta brevet

(Svenska Standaret, Vol. IX, No. 51, December 22, 1915, p. 3)

(translated by Tom Coleman)

Signe (on right) rom Port Arthur,

taken shortly ater their arrival in U.S.

continued on p. 15


15/20~ 15 ~

Historical Origins o Pietism, rom p. 1

to think rigorously about the aith andto live

out what was being thought. In act, both

Spener and his successor August Hermann

Francke were brilliant men, scholar/pastors

who were deeply engaged in educational re-

orm. Education was not or its own sake, but

rather or the sake o a livingorthodoxy.

In their theology, the Pietists studied

Luther deeply. And they were also deeply

involved, as Luther had been, in Biblical

studies, at an advanced level. In act, thePietists produced one o the ages great

Biblical scholars and commentators, J. A.

Bengel (1687-1762). So much or anti-intel-

lectualism. The rest o the stereotypes: inac-

tive, hyperemotional, although they name

tendencies that certain more radical Pietists

sometimes maniested, are inaccurate at best

when describing this whole movement.

II. understandInGthe Intellectual,

socIal, theoloGIcal and relIGIous

contextforthe rIseof pIetIsm.

Rise o Protestant Scholasticism:The Challenge o Melanchthon

To understand Pietism, as with most

historical movements, there is a need to

understand the historical context. One

o the trends was the rise o Protestant

Scholasticism or Protestant orthodoxy.

This movement fourished during a period

roughly rom the late sixteenth to the eigh-

teenth century.

What do these terms mean? The term

Orthodoxy reers to right belie and

is crucial to an understanding o basic

Christian doctrine. The phrase Scholastic

suggests the need or an academic style

appropriate to the classroom. This was a

systematic way o doing theology, which

ocused not on the heart o the gospel,

out o which everything else grows (that

was more Luthers approach), but rather, on

asking every imaginable theological questionand getting the answers, in detail, precisely

right, and in the right relationship to each

other. Put simply, Protestant Scholasticism

or Orthodoxy was the systematizingo Re-

ormation thought.

A crucial early gure in the development

o Protestant orthodoxy was Philip Mel-

anchthon (1497-1560). Melanchthon was

a German proessor and theologian, a key

leader o the Lutheran Reormation, and a

riend and associate o Martin Luther. It was

Melanchthon who pioneered many o the key

emphases that would later develop into a ull-

blown movement o scholastic orthodoxy.

Melanchthons path diverged signicantly

rom Luther in three areas:

1. Melanchthons interest in education

emerged dierently rom Luthers. Mel-

anchthon wanted to saeguard the truth o

Luthers ideas rom misconception, because

i you get the ideas wrong, he believed, its

going to mess up your practice. Melanchthon

suggested how can you act as a Christian

i your mind is mush. Christians must be

ormed by the right theological ideas rst

in order to have their lives reormed. It all

hinges on the correct theology.

2. Melanchthon used a more structured

thoroughgoing approach to Scripture. He

talked about aith as agreement with a set o

revealed truths. This is very dierent rom

Luther. For Luther, aith is a reckless con-dence in God, throwing yoursel on divine

mercy.

3. Melanchthon relied more consciously

on philosophyespecially the philosophy

o Aristotlein his approach to organized

theology. He would agree with the proessor

who once said: the purpose o theology is

so to pattern your mind ater the logic o the

gospel that you can witness to Christ withou

contradicting yoursel.

Rise o theological wars andintemperate Christian interactionsAter Melanchthon turned Lutheranism

and indeed, Protestantism in generalin

this direction, toward a scholastic theology

that staked aith on correct belie, and be-

lieved that every detail o ones belie must be

correct, there was not surprisingly a period

o intense theological debates. Within Lu-

theranism, and within the Reormed church

as well, people lined up and took sides in

continued on p.16

The nurse now took Idas letter in her hand,She was the one who had so oten stood,

Beside Ida as she traversed that dark land,She had to cross when nearing deaths dark food.

That Idas eyes were ailing she could well see,To wake no more she soon asleep would all,

A mothers bitter tears were unavailing,When death her darling rom the earth would call.

A little while to struggle and to suer,And Idas simple saga reached its end,

She had no one to come and stand beside her,She died alone without a single riend.

Ill not orget that cold winters dreary day,When in the grave we laid her down to rest.

As I saw her tortured eatures I could sayA withered rose that never knew lies best.

In remembrance or her mother at the last,Hal a letter was all that she could leave.

Who could tell mother that Idas days were past,And tell her she would nothing else receive?

It would be even more dicult to wait,To tell the news which she at last must hear,She would not be satised i they but state,Excuses which concerned her child so dear.

At Christmas just as mother had been thinking,Came the letter, none could express how dear,Filled with unease, her spirit quickly sinking,

The strange handwriting lled her heart with ear.With uncertainty and weak rom crushing doubt,

The letter she tore open and what more?As she read her tears o sorrow all poured out,Which tongue could never give expression or.

When or lies questions there may no answer be,Because our search or wisdom is in vain,

Its no wonder that those perish in doubts sea,Who have no God to comort in their pain.

Now let the one who in childlike trust God ears.Seek him who knows no comort on lies way,

And tell him that in the Saviours eyes are tears,When He words o rebuke to us must say.

Signe Peterson Poetry, rom p. 14


16/20~ 16 ~

heated discussions on such matters as these

(and this is only a small sampling): original

sin; the roles o grace and human eort in

justication; the role o the law in Christian

lie; and inralapsarian vs. supralapsarian

views o the all and predestination.

Germany struggled with the issueo Orthodoxys dark side

At the same time, the orthodoxy that de-

veloped ater Luthers death began to show a

dark side tendencies to violent theologi-

cal wrangling. Within a ew short decades

Lutheranism had become a matter o the

word plus the tradition. Some ollowed the

tradition o Luther, some o Philip Melanch-

thon, and so orth. Proessors were packing

pistols in classes, there were schisms and

conficts and debates. People were praying

that God would strike down Catholics, Cal-

vinists, and other Lutherans who disagreedwith them. The Phillipists (Melanchthon

ollowers) were called Crypto-Calvinists,

and suppressed. Wittenberg proessors

were jailed (when seen as opposing True

Lutherans). A Pietist leader would later call

this a time o theologia spinosaprickly

theology.

Germany aced the issue oantinomianism

From the beginning o the Reormation,

some people had seen Luthers emphasis onthe imputed righteousness o Christ as an

open door or moral lazinessand they had

walked through it. This antinomianism was

not necessarily inherent in Luthers theology.

But the possibilitywas there or those who

wished to seize it.

There were plenty o imperectly convert-

ed people in Lutheran churchesbigwigs

who joined up simply because Luther was

against the pope. Many o these were much

more interested in earning their living than

in earning their salvationeven clergy. So

they were happy to rest on cheap grace.

Germany experienced thenegative impact o the Thirty YearsWar (1618-1648)

The time o pietisms birth under Spener

was one still shaken by the eects o the

Thirty Years War, which

ended with peace o West-

phalia. This was a religious

war that let a permanent

bruise upon the European

psyche. Christians had lied,

tricked, and burned oneanother, and this was never

quite orgottenit let a

terrible spiritual conu-

sion.

III. the rIse of th e

pre-pIetIsmof johann

arndt (1555-1621)

- TrueChrisTianiTy(1605)

The pre-Pietist Johann Arndt was a pas-

tor and his writings were essentially marked

by pastoral concerns. He was also greatlyinfuenced by medieval and 16th-century

mystics, including Thomas Kempis and the

Theologia Germanica, as well as by Luther, o

course. He may well have gotten his ethical

sensitivity and emphasis on practical piety

rom the Calvinists. I so, he didnt admit it

in that age o gun-toting theologians.

In 1599 Arndt took a pastorate in Braun-

schweig (or Brunswick), and it was there

that he wrote True Christianity. Arndt said

he wished to show wherein true Christian

ity consists, namely, in the proving o true

living, active aith through genuine godli-

ness.

The book ocused strongly on the need

or ongoing, strenuous vigilance over, repen-

tance rom, and mortication o the Adamic

naturewhich prevents us rom receiving

Gods grace and enjoy-

ing his ellowship. There

was a strong emphasis

on repentence. The book

went through multiple

printings in Germany.

Arndts emphasison being Born Again

unnerved unorthodox

Lutherans. According to

Luther, one was Born

Again by being baptized

into the church, although

aith was involved - even

or inants. But Arndt didnt get into details

here, he just saw a lot o Lutherans who as ar

as he could tell needed to be Born Again!

The Reorm Party used Arndtian Pietismto encourage church reorm and renewal

There were a number o pre-Pietists

involved in a reorm movement based in

Rostock, Germanyseeking a renewal o

the church that would lead to individua

renewal. Philip Spener wrote Pia Desideria,

or Pious Wishes, which will generally be

come Pietisms key text.

Arndtian Pietism also bred a desire or

true Christianity. Alongside these writing

aimed at church reorm was a set o Arndtian

Pietist writings that seemed to argue or a

Billy Graham approach to church reorm

renewed persons would lead to a renewed

church. One o these, a contemporary o

Spener, showed how anti-churchly this tradi-

tion could get. Henry Mueller (1631-1675

expressed these ideas in his book A Heavenly

Kiss o Love. His main concern was dead

sacramentalisma kind o churchgoing

that just went through the motions, without

Historical Origins o Pietism, rom p. 15

continued on p.1

InfuencesoSpenersPietism:TheYearningorAuthenticChristianityJaroslav Pelikan Pietism in Dictionary o the History o Ideas 2003.

Pelikan was the Sterling Proessor Emeritus o History at Yale University. the chie residue o Pietism in the history o modern thought is probably to be

sought in the

the baptist pietist clarion, june 2007

Documents