Erik Benzelius (the Elder) (16 December 1632 – 17 February 1709) was a Swedish

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and

Archbishop of Uppsala The Archbishop of Uppsala (spelled Upsala until the early 20th century) has been the primate (bishop), primate of Sweden in an unbroken succession since 1164, first during the Roman Catholic Church, Catholic era, and from the 1530s and onward un ...

. Benzelius was born at the Bentseby farm in the parish of

Luleå Luleå ( , , locally ; smj, Luleju; fi, Luulaja) is a city on the coast of northern Sweden, and the capital of Norrbotten County, the northernmost county in Sweden. Luleå has 48,728 inhabitants in its urban core (2018) and is the seat of Lu ...

in northern Sweden, son of the farmer and lay assessor (''nämndeman'') Henrik Jakobsson. He took a family name derived from his birthplace, rather than using the patronymic as was common in the Swedish peasantry. He was raised by a relative who was a merchant in

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

, and studied 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 ...

, where he completed his '' filosofie magister'' degree in 1661. He was hired by Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie as a tutor for his sons in 1660 and accompanied one of them on a foreign journey stretching from 1663 to 1665, visiting

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, the most important universities of Germany, and continuing to Paris, London,

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, and

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

. Returning to Uppsala, he was appointed professor extraordinary of history and moral philosophy in 1665, of theology in 1666, and 1670 ordinary professor of theology. He became

bishop of Strängnäs A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

in 1687, and succeeded Olov Svebilius in 1700 as

. He took an important part in the various ecclesiastical committees active during the reigns of

Charles XI Charles XI or Carl ( sv, Karl XI; ) was King of Sweden from 1660 until his death, in a period of Swedish history known as the Swedish Empire (1611–1721). He was the only son of King Charles X Gustav of Sweden and Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein- ...

and Charles XII, such as that concerning the new Church Law of 1686, the new

hymn book A hymnal or hymnary is a collection of hymns, usually in the form of a book, called a hymnbook (or hymn book). Hymnals are used in congregational singing. A hymnal may contain only hymn texts (normal for most hymnals for most centuries of Chri ...

of 1695 and the new Bible translation. In the Bible translation committee, created on the initiative of Jesper Swedberg, Benzelius was a conservative force, and is largely responsible for the fact that the so-called

Charles XII's Bible Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

ended up as nothing more than a revision of the Swedish Reformation Bible. Benzelius was a typical representative of 17th-century Swedish Lutheran orthodoxy, was careful not to deviate from established theological principles, and lacked originality in his writing. Nevertheless, he was a productive author of works in theology, and his work on church history was used as a textbook for the following century. Of the seven sons of Benzelius, three later were appointed archbishops of Uppsala, one after the other: Erik (1675–1743, appointed 1742, but died before taking office), Jakob (1683–1747, archbishop from 1744), and Henrik (1689–1758, archbishop from 1747).

References

*R. Holm, "Benzelius, Eric d.ä.", in ''

Svenskt biografiskt lexikon ''Svenskt biografiskt lexikon'' () is a Swedish biographical dictionary, started in 1917. The first volume, covering names ''Abelin'' to ''Anjou'', was published in 1918. As of 2017, names from A to S are covered. Volumes # ABELIN – ANJOU (1 ...

, vol. 3.'' *''

Nordisk familjebok ''Nordisk familjebok'' (, "Nordic Family Book") is a Swedish encyclopedia that was published in print from between 1876 and 1993, and that is now fully available in digital form via Project Runeberg at Linköping University. Despite their consi ...

, 2nd ed., Vol. 2 (1904)
col. 1387–1388
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Benzelius, Erik 1 1632 births 1709 deaths People from Luleå Lutheran archbishops of Uppsala 17th-century Lutheran bishops 18th-century Lutheran archbishops Lutheran bishops of Strängnäs 17th-century Swedish people

See also

References