Red Wing Seminary was a

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

seminary which operated from 1879 to 1932 in

Red Wing, Minnesota Red Wing is a city in Goodhue County, Minnesota, United States, along the upper Mississippi River. The population was 16,547 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Goodhue County. This city is named for early 19th-century Dakota Sioux c ...

, United States, with brick buildings on a bluff called College Hill overlooking the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...

History

Red Wing Seminary was the educational center for Hauge's Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Synod in America, commonly known as the

Hauge Synod The Hauge Synod (formally Hauge's Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Synod in America) was the name of a Norwegian Lutheran church body in the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Background The Hauge Synod (Norwegian: ) wa ...

. The synod de-emphasized formal worship and stressed personal faith in the

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 emphas ...

tradition (''haugianere''). Red Wing Seminary opened in 1879 and was in operation until 1917. Notable alumni included Bernt B. Haugan, Nils Nilsen Ronning, August Herman Andresen, and Knute Hill. In 1917, the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America was formed by merger of the Hauge Synod, the

Synod of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America The Synod of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, commonly called the Norwegian Synod, was founded in 1853. It included churches in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. History In February 1853, several Lutheran ministers in ...

(commonly called the Norwegian Synod), and the

United Norwegian Lutheran Church of America The United Norwegian Lutheran Church of America (UNLC) was the result of the union in 1890 of the Norwegian Augustana Synod (est. 1870), the Conference of the Norwegian-Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (1870), and the Anti-Missourian B ...

. Each of the three churches operated a seminary, so the Norwegian Synod's Luther Seminary and the United Norwegian's United Church Seminary, both in

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center ...

, were merged with the Red Wing Seminary to form the Luther Theological Seminary on the site of the United Church Seminary. ''History of Luther Seminary'' (Luther Seminary)
/ref> Following the merger in 1917, the Red Wing facility initially continued as an academy and junior college of the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America. In 1932, those programs were merged into

St. Olaf College St. Olaf College is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. It was founded in 1874 by a group of Norwegian-American pastors and farmers led by Pastor Bernt Julius Muus. The college is named after the King and the Patron Saint Ola ...

Northfield, Minnesota Northfield is a city in Dakota and Rice counties in the State of Minnesota. It is mostly in Rice County, with a small portion in Dakota County. The population was 20,790 at the 2020 census. History Northfield was platted in 1856 by John W. ...

and the Red Wing campus was used for other purposes. None of the old seminary buildings remain standing.

References

Additional sources

*Wolf, Edmund Scott (1889) ''The Lutherans in America; a story of struggle, progress, influence and marvelous growth'' (J.A. Hill. New York) *Jarchow, Merrill E. (1973) ''Private Liberal Arts Colleges in Minnesota: Their History and Contributions'' (Minnesota Historical Society Press)

External links

Luther Seminary - HistoryStavanger students of Red Wing Seminary, 1901Red Wing Seminary BuildingRed Wing Seminary (1908)
{{authority control Buildings and structures in Goodhue County, Minnesota Lutheran buildings and structures in North America Lutheran seminaries Red Wing, Minnesota Seminaries and theological colleges in Minnesota