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<> Remembering the Augustana Synod Legacy <>
<> Remembering the Augustana Synod Legacy <>
Their 1860-1962 "Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Synod"
~ Gaining and losing its Swedish identity
~ Gaining and losing its Swedish identity
The events of the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Synod were constantly affecting the spiritual and secular lives of Bethany Church members like Lydia, Emil, their families, and friends. The conferences of the Synod were key to the management of the congregations and in communicating the mission and vision of the Church.
Lindsborg's Bethany Lutheran Church would host six (6) of these Augustana Lutheran Synod Conferences: In 1875, the year in which the new Church building (which was completed in 1874) would be dedicated with the founding pastor Olof Olsson presiding conducting a large choir for the ceremony; in 1881, the year when Bethany College was founded by second pastor Carl Aaron Swensson who would be presiding; in 1892, the year when the Augustana Women's Missionary Society was founded with Rev. Swensson presiding; and in 1904, 1919 and 1939, when Bethany Lutheran Church and Lindsborg were celebrating their foundings -- in their 35th year, in their 50th year and in their 70th year respectively with Dr. Rev. Alfred Bergin presiding at all three conferences.
This Synod, first called the Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod in North America, was established in 1860 by a group of eleven or so Swedish Lutheran pastors which included Erland Carlsson, Lars Paul Esbjörn, Tuve Hasselquist, Eric Norelius, and Jonas Swensson at the Jefferson Prairie Settlement near Clinton, Wisconsin. It would be eventually named the Augustana Lutheran Evangelical Church and later referred to by other names such as the Augustana Lutheran Synod, the Augustana Synod, the Augustana Lutheran Church, the Augustana Church, the Synod.
The Swedish American Smoky Valley descendant historian Mr. Thomas N. Holmquist in his 1994 Pioneer Cross, Swedish Settlements Along the Smoky Hill Bluffs, presents a very detailed account of how the Augustana Synod was formed after the split up of the Norwegian and Swedish Synod of Northern Illinois. Of his eleven informative paragraphs, in the "By Faith Alone" chapter is found this subsection, "The Rise of the Augustana Synod" and these four paragraphs:
"Not only was a rift developing between the Swedes and Norwegians, but the Norwegians were showing great strain among themselves. The Swedes too were disagreeing over Synod affairs. Esbjörn was fully supported by Norelius. Hasselquist and Carlsson agreed with each other on most points but usually disagreed with Esbjörn and Norelius. The Synod of Northern Illinois began to unravel.
"Finally, a convention was called to deal with the problems of the growing rift in the Synod of Northern Illinois. The delegates convened at Jefferson Prairie, Wisconsin, on June 5, 1860. Twenty-six pastors and fifteen laymen were present for the meeting. The majority of the delegates were Swedish, as were the majority of the congregations in the Synod. All the prominent Lutheran pastors were in attendance, including Esbjörn, Norelius, Carlsson, Hasselquist, Andrén, and Jonas Swensson.
"In a move strongly supported by Esbjörn and Norelius, the Swedish delegates to the convention soon decided to withdraw from the Synod of Northern Illinois and form their own synod. Esbjörn still felt snubbed by the lack of support from the Norwegians for losing his professorship at Illinois State University. The delegates set to work, drew up a new constitution and prepared for the future under the umbrella of a new Augustana Synod. The Swedish delegates abandoned the school at Springfield to the Norwegians and established the new Augustana Seminary in Chicago.
"Pastor Esbjörn was awarded the Presidency of the Augustana Seminary and also the position of Professor of Theology. T. N. Hasselquist became the first President of the Augustana Synod while still retaining his pastorate at First Lutheran in Galesburg.
Lindsborg's Bethany Lutheran Church would host six (6) of these Augustana Lutheran Synod Conferences: In 1875, the year in which the new Church building (which was completed in 1874) would be dedicated with the founding pastor Olof Olsson presiding conducting a large choir for the ceremony; in 1881, the year when Bethany College was founded by second pastor Carl Aaron Swensson who would be presiding; in 1892, the year when the Augustana Women's Missionary Society was founded with Rev. Swensson presiding; and in 1904, 1919 and 1939, when Bethany Lutheran Church and Lindsborg were celebrating their foundings -- in their 35th year, in their 50th year and in their 70th year respectively with Dr. Rev. Alfred Bergin presiding at all three conferences.
This Synod, first called the Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod in North America, was established in 1860 by a group of eleven or so Swedish Lutheran pastors which included Erland Carlsson, Lars Paul Esbjörn, Tuve Hasselquist, Eric Norelius, and Jonas Swensson at the Jefferson Prairie Settlement near Clinton, Wisconsin. It would be eventually named the Augustana Lutheran Evangelical Church and later referred to by other names such as the Augustana Lutheran Synod, the Augustana Synod, the Augustana Lutheran Church, the Augustana Church, the Synod.
The Swedish American Smoky Valley descendant historian Mr. Thomas N. Holmquist in his 1994 Pioneer Cross, Swedish Settlements Along the Smoky Hill Bluffs, presents a very detailed account of how the Augustana Synod was formed after the split up of the Norwegian and Swedish Synod of Northern Illinois. Of his eleven informative paragraphs, in the "By Faith Alone" chapter is found this subsection, "The Rise of the Augustana Synod" and these four paragraphs:
"Not only was a rift developing between the Swedes and Norwegians, but the Norwegians were showing great strain among themselves. The Swedes too were disagreeing over Synod affairs. Esbjörn was fully supported by Norelius. Hasselquist and Carlsson agreed with each other on most points but usually disagreed with Esbjörn and Norelius. The Synod of Northern Illinois began to unravel.
"Finally, a convention was called to deal with the problems of the growing rift in the Synod of Northern Illinois. The delegates convened at Jefferson Prairie, Wisconsin, on June 5, 1860. Twenty-six pastors and fifteen laymen were present for the meeting. The majority of the delegates were Swedish, as were the majority of the congregations in the Synod. All the prominent Lutheran pastors were in attendance, including Esbjörn, Norelius, Carlsson, Hasselquist, Andrén, and Jonas Swensson.
"In a move strongly supported by Esbjörn and Norelius, the Swedish delegates to the convention soon decided to withdraw from the Synod of Northern Illinois and form their own synod. Esbjörn still felt snubbed by the lack of support from the Norwegians for losing his professorship at Illinois State University. The delegates set to work, drew up a new constitution and prepared for the future under the umbrella of a new Augustana Synod. The Swedish delegates abandoned the school at Springfield to the Norwegians and established the new Augustana Seminary in Chicago.
"Pastor Esbjörn was awarded the Presidency of the Augustana Seminary and also the position of Professor of Theology. T. N. Hasselquist became the first President of the Augustana Synod while still retaining his pastorate at First Lutheran in Galesburg.
Rev. Lars Paul Esbjörn, Wikipedia England
[This 1860 year was thus the beginning of what is today Augustana College with its then Augustana Theological Seminary of whom Pastor Esbjörn was first president. Like, Lindsborg's founder Pastor Olof Olsson of Värmland, Sweden, twenty years earlier Pastor Esbjörn (1808-1870), born in Delsbo from the Swedish province of Hälsingland, was a follower of the same pietistic revival movement in Sweden. He, thus, became a colony leader of a group of Swedish emigrants to the prairies of Northern Illinois in 1849. Here, he established a church in the small town of Andover, 20 miles southeast of Rock Island. That church, named the Jenny Lind Chapel, would become known as the "Mother Church" of the Augustana Lutheran Synod churches.]
The Synod, as a result of this 1860 new formation, was made up of an assembly of Swedish Lutheran clergy, pastors of churches from different parts of the country, which would meet periodically at appointed churches to attend to the concerns, needs, business and Christian matters affecting its various church congregations. These meetings were called conferences. In these early years, there was no official headquarter location for the conferences to take place.
Among ministering to social concerns overseas in Africa, China and India where its missionaries served, this growing Swedish American Lutheran Synod was first, and originally, committed to local social and educational service at home which found it supporting hospitals, orphanages, homes for the aged, and educational institutions.
Nine years after its founding, the Synod accepted Lindsborg's Bethany Lutheran Church as a member into its body in 1869, the year of its founding. In 1884, the Synod would "adopt" Lindsborg's Bethany Lutheran College, founded in 1881, as its "child."/\ Lindsborg's Bethany Home for the Aged, founded in 1907, was also adopted by the Synod in 1911, the time in which the Home began accepting residents.
/\ The Augustana Lutheran Synod was the direct parent to these liberal arts' Lutheran colleges in the United States: the 1860 Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois; the 1862 Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota; the 1881 Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas; the 1883 Midland University in Fremont, Nebraska; the defunct 1893 Upsala College in East Orange, New Jersey; and the 1959 California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California.
In 1910, the Augustana Synod, celebrating its fiftieth (50) year anniversary, compiled a book titled "The Augustana Synod 1860 - 1910," and in 1911 it compiled another book titled "Minnen från Jubelfasten" loosely translated "Memories from Jubilee." (See examples of these books below.) These were both published by the Augustana Book Concern in Rock Island, Illinois, home to Augustana College and Theological Seminary located on the shores of the Mississippi River and just west of neighboring Moline, Illinois.
One-hundred-and-two (102) years after its 1860 founding, the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church merged with several other Lutheran Synods in America to form a new synod, that of the Lutheran Church in America (LCA) in 1962; and, in turn, it lost its cherished unique Swedish identity.
To learn more on this most important subject, go HERE to The Augustana Heritage Association, 2000 - 2016.
(Note that the "Augustana" name was chosen at that first meeting of the Synod. It is Latin. It translates to Augsburg, a city in Germany, and birthplace of a most important Lutheran document for the Protestant Reformation, that of the Augsburg Confession! The Catholic German monk Martin Luther is considered the founder of Lutheranism following his famous posting of the 95 Theses on the Wittenberg Church door on October 31, 1517. The "Theses" was against the practices of indulgences by the Catholic Church.)
For a concise account on the founding of the Augustana Women's Missionary Society, go HERE to Their "Augustana Women's Missionary Society" 1892 ~ An account by Ms. Humphrey.
Among ministering to social concerns overseas in Africa, China and India where its missionaries served, this growing Swedish American Lutheran Synod was first, and originally, committed to local social and educational service at home which found it supporting hospitals, orphanages, homes for the aged, and educational institutions.
Nine years after its founding, the Synod accepted Lindsborg's Bethany Lutheran Church as a member into its body in 1869, the year of its founding. In 1884, the Synod would "adopt" Lindsborg's Bethany Lutheran College, founded in 1881, as its "child."/\ Lindsborg's Bethany Home for the Aged, founded in 1907, was also adopted by the Synod in 1911, the time in which the Home began accepting residents.
/\ The Augustana Lutheran Synod was the direct parent to these liberal arts' Lutheran colleges in the United States: the 1860 Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois; the 1862 Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota; the 1881 Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas; the 1883 Midland University in Fremont, Nebraska; the defunct 1893 Upsala College in East Orange, New Jersey; and the 1959 California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California.
In 1910, the Augustana Synod, celebrating its fiftieth (50) year anniversary, compiled a book titled "The Augustana Synod 1860 - 1910," and in 1911 it compiled another book titled "Minnen från Jubelfasten" loosely translated "Memories from Jubilee." (See examples of these books below.) These were both published by the Augustana Book Concern in Rock Island, Illinois, home to Augustana College and Theological Seminary located on the shores of the Mississippi River and just west of neighboring Moline, Illinois.
One-hundred-and-two (102) years after its 1860 founding, the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church merged with several other Lutheran Synods in America to form a new synod, that of the Lutheran Church in America (LCA) in 1962; and, in turn, it lost its cherished unique Swedish identity.
To learn more on this most important subject, go HERE to The Augustana Heritage Association, 2000 - 2016.
(Note that the "Augustana" name was chosen at that first meeting of the Synod. It is Latin. It translates to Augsburg, a city in Germany, and birthplace of a most important Lutheran document for the Protestant Reformation, that of the Augsburg Confession! The Catholic German monk Martin Luther is considered the founder of Lutheranism following his famous posting of the 95 Theses on the Wittenberg Church door on October 31, 1517. The "Theses" was against the practices of indulgences by the Catholic Church.)
For a concise account on the founding of the Augustana Women's Missionary Society, go HERE to Their "Augustana Women's Missionary Society" 1892 ~ An account by Ms. Humphrey.
Listed below are the Swedish Lutheran pastors who served the Augustana Synod from its beginning in 1860 to its end in 1962 when the Augustana Synod merged with other Lutheran synods to form the Lutheran Church in America (LCA) at which time it lost its Swedish identity forevermore!
The Augustana Synod Swedish Lutheran Pastors
Tuve Hasselquist 1860–1870
Jonas Swensson 1870–1873
Eric Norelius 1874–1881
Erland Carlsson 1881–1888
Sven Peter August Lindahl 1888–1891
P. J. Svärd 1891–1899
Eric Norelius 1899–1911
L. A. Johnston 1911–1918
Gustaf Albert Brandelle 1918–1935
Petrus Olaf Bersell 1935–1951
Oscar A. Benson 1951–1959
Malvin H. Lundeen 1959–1962
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Jonas Swensson 1870–1873
Eric Norelius 1874–1881
Erland Carlsson 1881–1888
Sven Peter August Lindahl 1888–1891
P. J. Svärd 1891–1899
Eric Norelius 1899–1911
L. A. Johnston 1911–1918
Gustaf Albert Brandelle 1918–1935
Petrus Olaf Bersell 1935–1951
Oscar A. Benson 1951–1959
Malvin H. Lundeen 1959–1962
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- Jonas Swensson -
Augustana Synod Pioneer
- First Secretary and second President of the Synod -
He was the father of Rev. Dr. Carl Arron Swensson, Bethany College Founder and second President.
Rev. Dr. Jonas Swensson and his wife are buried in Andover, Illinois on the grounds of the Jenny Lind Chapel,
Mother Church of the Augustana Lutheran Synod.
Source: "Forget-Me-Not." 1902
- The Jenny Lind Chapel -
Courtesy of the Jenny Lind Chapel Museum
* * *
Examples of the Augustana Synod Books
*
In our day and age now, we can actually read The Augustana Synod 1860 - 1910 from our computers and even have it read to us. Below is the "digital" book for you to review. It is fascinating to just browse a bit. Just click on it to begin.
Source: Internet Archive, San Francisco, California
*
My Augustana Synod Family Book
This is the 1911 book belonging to my great grandparents Ernst and Selma Sohlberg. The title reads: "Minnen från Jubelfesten" loosely translated "Memories from Jubilee"
and the rest on the cover translation is
"Program, Sermons and Speeches at Augustana Colleges and Augustana-Synods"
"Fifty Years - The Jubilee"
"5 to 15 June 1910"
"Program, Sermons and Speeches at Augustana Colleges and Augustana-Synods"
"Fifty Years - The Jubilee"
"5 to 15 June 1910"
* * *
World War I American Red Cross members of the Augustana Lutheran Church
World War I American Red Cross members of the Augustana Lutheran Church
My great grandmother Selma Sohlberg is in this photograph. See the X for her location.
*Source: Emory Lindquist 1975 book, Bethany in Kansas, the history of a college, page 11
Other sources: Wikipedia: Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church; Augustana College; Augustana Heritage Association website
Other sources: Wikipedia: Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church; Augustana College; Augustana Heritage Association website
* * *
Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~
reconnecting past to present
* * *
All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated.
Copyright © since October 8, 2015 to Current Year
as indicated on main menu sections of
www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~
reconnecting past to present
* * *
All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated.
Copyright © since October 8, 2015 to Current Year
as indicated on main menu sections of
www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
