Lars Olof Jonathan Söderblom (; 15 January 1866 – 12 July 1931) was a Swedish bishop. He was the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden () is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.5 million members at year end 2023, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest List ...

Archbishop of Uppsala The Archbishop of Uppsala (spelled Upsala until the early 20th century) has been the primate of Sweden in an unbroken succession since 1164, first during the Catholic era, and from the 1530s and onward under the Lutheran church. Historical ove ...

from 1914 to 1931, and recipient of the 1930

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

. He is commemorated in the

Calendar of Saints The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

of the

Lutheran Church Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...

on 12 July.

Life and career

Söderblom was born in the village of Trönö in

Söderhamn Municipality Söderhamn Municipality () is a Municipalities of Sweden, municipality in Gävleborg County, in east central Sweden. The seat is located in Söderhamn. The present municipality was created in 1971 when the former ''City of Söderhamn'' was amalga ...

Gävleborg County Gävleborg County () is a Counties of Sweden, county or ''län'' on the Baltic Sea coast of Sweden. It borders the counties of Uppsala County, Uppsala, Västmanland County, Västmanland, Dalarna County, Dalarna, Jämtland County, Jämtland and V� ...

. His father was a parish priest. He enrolled at

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () 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 operation. Initially fou ...

in 1883. Although not initially convinced what he wanted to study, he eventually decided to follow in his father's footsteps. On returning from a journey to the United States, he was ordained as a priest in 1893. During the years 1892 and 1893, he was first vice president and then president of the Uppsala Student Union. From 1894 to 1901, he had a ministry position at the Swedish Embassy in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where his congregation included both

Alfred Nobel Alfred Bernhard Nobel ( ; ; 21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedish chemist, inventor, engineer, and businessman. He is known for inventing dynamite, as well as having bequeathed his fortune to establish the Nobel Prizes. He also m ...

(1833–1896) and

August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (; ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than 60 pla ...

(1849–1912). In 1897, he officiated at the memorial service for Nobel. From 1901 to 1914, Söderblom held a chair in the School of Theology at Uppsala University and from 1912 to 1914 was also a professor of

religious studies Religious studies, also known as religiology or the study of religion, is the study of religion from a historical or scientific perspective. There is no consensus on what qualifies as ''religion'' and definition of religion, its definition is h ...

Leipzig University Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

. In 1914, he was elected as

, the head of the Lutheran church in Sweden. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he called on all Christian leaders to work for peace and justice while working to alleviate the conditions of prisoners of war and refugees. He believed that church unity had the specific purpose of presenting the gospel to the world and that the messages of Jesus were relevant to social life. His leadership of the Christian " Life and Work" movement in the 1920s has led him to be recognised as one of the principal founders of the ecumenical movement. He had begun the movement toward intercommunion between the

and the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

and was a close associate of the English ecumenist George Bell (1883–1958), Dean of Canterbury, Bishop of Chichester. He was instrumental in chairing the World Conference of Life and Work in Stockholm, in 1925. In 1930 he was awarded the

Selected works

*''Den enskilde och kyrkan : föredrag'' (1909) *''Helighet och kultur'' (1913) *''Gudstrons uppkomst'' (1914)
9 Works by Nathan Söderblom
at The Documentation of Chinese Christianity program, Hong Kong Baptist University Library

References

Other sources

*Andrae, Tor J.E. (1931) ''Nathan Söderblom'' (Uppsala University) *Curtis, Charles J. (1967) ''Söderblom: Ecumenical Pioneer'' (Minneapolis, Augsburg Publishing House) *Jonson, Jonas (2016) ''Nathan Söderblom: Called to Serve'' (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company) *Katz, Peter (1949) ''Nathan Söderblom: A Prophet of Christian Unity'' (London, James Clarke) *Sundkler, Beng (1968) ''Nathan Söderblom: His Life and Work'' (Lutterworth Press)

External links

*
The Content of Christian Faith, a reflection by Nathan Söderblom
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Soderblom, Nathan 1866 births 1931 deaths People from Söderhamn Municipality Uppsala University alumni Academic staff of Leipzig University Lutheran archbishops of Uppsala 20th-century Lutheran archbishops Swedish historians of religion Members of the Swedish Academy Nobel Peace Prize laureates Swedish Nobel laureates People celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar Burials at Uppsala Cathedral People in Christian ecumenism Lutheran saints

Life and career

Selected works

See also

References

Other sources

Further reading

External links