Anders Wiberg (17 July 1816 – 5 November 1887) was a preacher, missionary, and leader of the early Swedish Baptist movement.

Life

Early life and influences

Wiberg was born on 17 July 1816 in Vi in Hälsingtuna parish,

Hälsingland Hälsingland (), sometimes referred to as Helsingia in English, is a historical province or ''landskap'' in central Sweden. It borders Gästrikland, Dalarna, Härjedalen, Medelpad and the Gulf of Bothnia. It is part of the land of Norrland. Ad ...

, Sweden. He was educated at

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...

and became a priest in the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sw ...

. The growing

pietist Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christianity, Christian life, including a social concern for ...

and Reader (''

läsare (lit. 'reader') or the Reader movement was a Swedish Pietistic Christian revival movement of people who stressed the importance of reading (), that is, reading the Bible and other Christian literature. It was influenced by both the Herrnhute ...

'') movements in the Scandinavian countries were an influence on him. Wiberg, like fellow Lutheran-turned-Baptist-pioneer Gustaf Palmquist, was a friend of pietist preacher

Carl Olof Rosenius Carl Olof Rosenius (February 3, 1816 – February 24, 1868) was a Swedish lay preacher, author and editor of the monthly ''Pietisten'' (The Pietist) from 1842 to 1868.''Twice-Born Hymns'' by J. Irving Erickson, (Chicago: Covenant Press, 1976 ...

. He was also influenced by Methodist missionary George Scott and

Lars Vilhelm Henschen Lars Vilhelm Henschen (1 June 1805 – 27 January 1885) was a Swedish jurist and politician and involved in the free church movement. He was the father of doctor Salomon Eberhard Henschen, educator Maria Henschen (von Bergen), and publicist , an ...

, a champion of

religious freedom Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freedom ...

. Wiberg later came to know several of the figures in the growing Baptist revival movement and his views on the

state church A state religion (also called religious state or official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as confessional state), while not secular, is not necessarily a t ...

became more skeptical. Wiberg has been called the "pivotal link to the New World" and "in some ways a piece of ideological blotting paper" due to his connections with so many key figures in the Reader movement. After a visit to preacher

Johann Gerhard Oncken Johann Gerhard Oncken (26 January 1800 - 2 January 1884) was a pioneer German Baptist preacher, variously referred to as the "Father of Continental Baptists", the "Father of German Baptists" and the "Apostle of European Baptists". Oncken, Gottfri ...

in Hamburg in 1851, Wiberg came to agree with Baptist teachings regarding

baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...

Wiberg's influence

He developed his teachings on baptism in the book ''?'' ('Who should be baptized and what does baptism consist of?') in 1852, which sparked a fierce debate in which

Lars Anton Anjou Lars Anton Anjou (18 November 1803 – 13 December 1884) was a Swedish bishop, church historian and politician. Biography Anjou studied at Uppsala University, where he became a Bachelor of Philosophy in 1827, a Master of Philosophy in 1830, a Bach ...

, and

Fredrik Gabriel Hedberg Fredrik Gabriel Hedberg (15 July 1811 – 19 August 1893) was a Finnish Lutheran priest and vicar. He was a Neo-Lutheran theologian, a prominent figure in the Finnish evangelical revival movement and a leader of confessional Lutheranism in Finland ...

made high-profile contributions. The same year, on his journey to the United States, he was baptized by F. O. Nilsson in Copenhagen. Wiberg spent three years in the United States to learn more about the Baptist movement there. He was ordained in New York in the Baptist Mariner's Church and then worked for the

American Baptist American Baptist may refer to: * American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA), formed (as the Northern Baptist Convention) in 1907 * American Baptist Association, formed 1924 * American Baptist College, Nashville, Tennessee, formed 1924 by the National B ...

Publication Society. While in Philadelphia, he married Caroline Lintemuth. He also wrote ('The Christian baptism') and ('Are you baptized?'), the first Swedish Baptist publications in the United States. Wiberg returned to Sweden in 1855 to find his writings had contributed to the movement's growth; there were now 500 Swedish Baptists, with 800 to 1000 formal conversions a year. He became leader of the first Baptist church in Stockholm, which had been founded the year before. He began intensive work to strengthen the new movement throughout the country. Among his collaborators were brothers

Johannes Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as "John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, ''Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' Yeh ...

Per Per is a Latin preposition which means "through" or "for each", as in per capita. Per or PER may also refer to: Places * IOC country code for Peru * Pér, a village in Hungary * Chapman code for Perthshire, historic county in Scotland Math ...

, and Gustaf Palmquist. A confession of faith written by Wiberg was adopted, a training course for preachers was begun, and from 1856 the new movement had its own publication, , edited by Wiberg. The publication and Wiberg's colporteur work were to play a large role in the spread of Baptist churches in Norway and Finland as well; his writings were brought to

Åland Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1 ...

and contributed to the start of the early Finnish Baptist movement. He also baptized some of the early founders of Baptist churches in Finland, siblings

Viktor The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

and

Anna Heikel Anna Charlotta Heikel (2 February 1838 – 3 April 1907) was a Finland-Swedish teacher and director of the School for the Deaf in Jakobstad, Finland, from 1878 to 1898. She was a temperance activist as well as a pioneer of the Baptist movement i ...

. In 1858, the Conventicle Act, which outlawed religious meetings other than those of the

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 ...

Church of Sweden, was overturned. By the following year, the Baptists had grown to a total of 4,311 members in 95 churches, and almost 6,000 members in 1863.

Baptist Union and seminary

Wiberg was one of the leaders who worked to gather the Swedish Baptist churches for their first general conference in 1857; this was to become the

Baptist Union of Sweden The Baptist Union of Sweden ( sv, Svenska Baptistsamfundet) is the oldest of several Baptist bodies in Sweden. The first-known Baptist church in Sweden was organized on September 21, 1848, in Vallersvik, where a group of people committed the firs ...

in 1889. Speakers at the second conference included key Baptist figures Julius Köbner,

John Howard Hinton John Howard Hinton (23 March 1791 – 11 December 1873) was an English author and Baptist minister who published, along with many other works, ''The History and Topography of the United States of North America'' together with his brother Isaac ...

, and Edward Steane. In 1866, the conference established a seminary, Bethel Seminary (), which he raised funds for through the

American Baptist Missionary Union International Ministries is an international Baptist Christian missionary society. It is a constituent board affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. The headquarters is in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, United States. History The soc ...

Death

Wiberg died 5 November 1887 in Stockholm.

Works

* ''?'' (1852, Uppsala) * (1854, Philadelphia) * (1855, Philadelphia) (also printed in Stockholm) * (1869) * (1879) * (1880)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiberg, Anders 1816 births 1887 deaths 19th-century Baptist ministers Swedish-language writers Swedish writers Swedish Baptist missionaries Writers from Hälsingland Converts to Baptist denominations Radical Pietism