Georg Sverdrup (December 16, 1848 – May 3, 1907) was a Norwegian-American

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 ...

theologian and an educator.

Background

He was born at

Balestrand Balestrand is a former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It was located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center was the village of Balestrand. Other villages in th ...

Sogn og Fjordane Sogn og Fjordane (; English: "Sogn and Fjordane") was, up to 1 January 2020, a county in western Norway, when it was merged to become part of Vestland county. Bordering previous counties Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, Buskerud, and Hordaland, the cou ...

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 ...

to Karoline Metella Suur and Harald Ulrik Sverdrup, a member of the

Norwegian Parliament The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years base ...

, whose brother

Johan Sverdrup Johan Sverdrup (30 July 1816 – 17 February 1892) was a Norwegian politician from the Liberal Party. He was the first prime minister of Norway after the introduction of parliamentarism and served as the 4th prime minister of Norway. Sverdrup was ...

was

Prime Minister of Norway The prime minister of Norway ( no, statsminister, which directly translates to "minister of state") is the head of government and chief executive of Norway. The prime minister and Cabinet (consisting of all the most senior government department ...

between 1884 and 1889.''Georg Sverdrup. Dictionary of American Biography Base Set'' (American Council of Learned Societies, 1928–1936) He attended the Hartvig Nissens skole in Christiania and later graduated from the

University of Christiania The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

in theology in the year of 1871. Moving to

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, he was educated in Semitics at the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

and befriended

Sven Oftedal Sven Oftedal (March 22, 1844 – March 30, 1911) was a Norwegian American Lutheran minister. He served as the 3rd president of Augsburg University and helped found the Lutheran Free Church. Background Sven Svensen Oftedal was born in Stavanger, ...

before traveling to

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to study at several other universities.

Career

Georg Sverdrup, together with

, were two scholars from prominent

Haugean The Haugean movement or Haugeanism ( no, haugianere) was a Pietistic state church reform movement intended to bring new life and vitality into the Church of Norway which had been often characterized by formalism and lethargy. The movement empha ...

families in Norway who were recruited to the United States by

August Weenaas August Weenaas (1835–1924) was a Norwegian American Lutheran minister and educator. August Weenaas was the founding President of Augsburg University. Biography August Weenaas was born in Norway and educated in the ministry at the University ...

, founding president of

Augsburg Seminary Augsburg University is a private university in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It was founded in 1869 as a Norwegian-American Lutheran seminary known as Augsburg Seminarium. Today, the u ...

. They both brought with them a genuinely radical view of Christian education, centered on Scripture and the simple doctrines of Christianity. In 1874, they became professors at Augsburg. Two years later, Sverdrup was appointed as the president of the Seminary. Emphasizing the freedom of the local congregation, together with

, he founded the

Lutheran Free Church The Lutheran Free Church (LFC) was a Lutheran denomination that existed in the United States, mainly in Minnesota and North Dakota, from 1897 until its merger into the American Lutheran Church (ALC) in 1963. The history of the church body predates ...

in 1897. He also served as the President of Augsburg until his death in 1907. Apart from his teachings, Sverdrup became joint editor to the ''Theologisk Kvartalskrift'' (1875–1877; sole editor until 1881), of the weekly church magazine ''Lutheraneren'' (1885–1890), later renamed as ''Luthersk Kirkeblad'' (1890–1894) and editor of the monthly magazine ''Gasseren'' (1900–1907). Many of his writings are published in a six-volume set edited by Andreas Helland.

Views

Sverdrup was raised in the

Norwegian State Church The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church b ...

and educated in

theology. However, he declined to become a minister, serving rather as a Professor at

. He was member of the Norwegian Lutheran Conference which existed between 1869 and 1890. Sverdrup believed that the congregation was "the right form of the kingdom of God on earth". He had become concerned with the role and influence of the hierarchy within the church as well as their understanding of the Bible. He believed that, according to the New Testament of the Bible, the local congregation was the correct form of God's kingdom on earth. He believed in a "free church in a free land". His beliefs resulted in his participation in the formation of the

in 1897.

Personal life

Sverdrup married Katherine Elisabet Heiberg in 1874, with whom he had five children. Three years after her death, Sverdrup married Katherine's sister, with whom he had two children. His son George Sverdrup later also served as President of

Augsburg College Augsburg University is a private university in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It was founded in 1869 as a Norwegian-American Lutheran seminary known as Augsburg Seminarium. Today, the u ...

.James S. Hamr
''Georg Sverdrup / utdypning'' (''Store norske leksikon'')
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References

Other sources

*Hamre, James S. (1986) ''Georg Sverdrup: Educator, Theologian, Churchman'' (Northfield, Minn: Norwegian-American Historical Association) *Helland, Andreas (1947) ''Georg Sverdrup, the Man and His Message 1848–1907 : A Biographical Sketch'' (Minneapolis, MN) * Tavuchis, Nicholas (2013) ''Pastors and Immigrants: The Role of a Religious Elite in the Absorption of Norwegian Immigrants'' (Springer Publishing Company)

External links

The Georg Sverdrup Society Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sverdrup, Georg 1848 births 1907 deaths American Lutheran theologians Norwegian educators Norwegian Lutherans University of Oslo alumni Norwegian emigrants to the United States People from Balestrand 19th-century Lutherans