Asbjørn Aavik (November 30, 1902 – November 20, 1997) was a Norwegian

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

to China. He was also the author of approximately forty books.

Early years

Aavik was born in Aavig (now

Åvik Åvik is a small seaport village in Lindesnes municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is on the coast near the southernmost part of Norway, about to the southeast of the village of Svenevig. Åvik sits on the mainland, about north of t ...

) in Lindesnes, Norway. From 1921 to 1926, he received education at Fjellhaug utdanningssenter in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, a missionary school affiliated with the Norwegian Lutheran Mission.

Missionary work

He was sent to China in 1928 where he started on the China Mission Association's mission fields around

Laohekou Laohekou () is a county-level city in the northwest of Hubei province, People's Republic of China. It is located on the Han River (Hanshui), near the Henan border. The entire county-level city has an area of and a population of 490,000 (2002). I ...

in Hubei. Aavik married Ragna Torgersen (1906–1984) in 1932 and later moved to the Yunyang northwestern mission area. The situation was turbulent, not least because of robber bands and the communist insurgency in the 1930s. In 1935 the couple decided to return to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The planned return trip to China had to be postponed because the missionaries in China warned of increasing uncertainty and unease, but in 1938 Aavik traveled alone, without family, back to the same mission field in China. The Norwegian missionaries would later temporarily and definitely leave this field because of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and the subsequent communist advance. Aavik returned home for the second time in 1946. Aavik still came back to the Republic of China, now

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, where he worked with less interruption from 1952 to 1970. His work consisted partly in teaching at a Bible school at

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung City (Mandarin Chinese: ; Wade–Giles: ''Kao¹-hsiung²;'' Pinyin: ''Gāoxióng'') is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsi ...

and at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

and

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of Taiw ...

. He also became the first principal at the China Lutheran Seminary in Hsinchu. He was the writer of many missionary books. In the summer of 1999, a memorial stone was unveiled for the missionary in

Selected works

Best known

*''Temple of the Spirit', 1953 (translated to Chinese) *''Holy unrest'', 1956

Novels

*''They are waiting'', 1940 (published in four editions) *''Nybrott'', 1941 *''Dalen'', 1949 (best novel winner) *''The white river'', 1951 *''The Red Lotus'', 1957 *''The earth is bleeding'', 1964

Autobiographical

*''Roses in the rain: Young year in China'', 1977 *''Aavik in maturation: Rich years in China'' *''Grotid in the storm: War years in China'', 1982

Other

*''At the border'', 1948 *''The struggle for borders. Tanganyika and Christian Mission'', 1952 *''The shade of the bamboo carpet'', 1955 *''At the Kingdom Gate'', 1959 *''The East Comes'', 1962 *''God of Jacob'', 1965 *''The Missionary Association in Asia'', 1966 *''The Kingdom Comes'', 1967 *''Everyday'', 1968 *''The Sand by the Sea'', 1968 *''Elisa – Safat's son'', 1969 *''The sand was white'', 1970 *''Window to Hong Kong'', 1971 *''Golden Sand'', 1973 *''Window to Japan'', 1973 *''Wrecked silver: King Saul'', 1975 *''The China I saw again'', 1980 *''Years in the sun, Breakthrough in Taiwan'', 1984 *''Hiking'', 1987 (devotional)

Articles

* Harald Stene Dehlin and Asbjørn Aavik:''The priest with the red ads,'' Luther, 1979 (if Olaf Stromme) * "The mission of a track change" I:''Norwegian Journal of mission'', Årg. 6, No. 2 (1952) * "A Christian statesman and the world" I:''Norwegian Journal of mission'', Årg. 17, No. 2 (1963) (If Chiang Kai-Chek)

References

Related literature

* Gunnar Bråthen:''Spirit and mission: the revival of Samba Its mission field in China, 1930–1932, with particular emphasis on how Marie Monsen and Asbjørn Aavik experienced this.'' Unpublished student assignment, MF, 2001 * Asbjørn Nordgård:''The wizards: they taught me something for life and eternity.'' Lunde, 2005

External links

Biography from Fjellhaug school
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aavik, Asbjorn 1902 births 1997 deaths People from Lindesnes Lutheran missionaries in China Norwegian writers 20th-century Norwegian writers Norwegian Lutheran missionaries Norwegian expatriates in China 20th-century Lutherans