Haugean
Encyclopedia
Haugean was a pietistic state church
State church
State churches are organizational bodies within a Christian denomination which are given official status or operated by a state.State churches are not necessarily national churches in the ethnic sense of the term, but the two concepts may overlap in the case of a nation state where the state...

 reform movement
intended to bring new life and vitality into a Norwegian State Church which had been often characterized by formalism and lethargy.

The Haugean movement took its name from the lay evangelist Hans Nielsen Hauge
Hans Nielsen Hauge
Hans Nielsen Hauge was a noted revivalist Norwegian lay minister who spoke up against the Church establishment in Norway. Hauge is considered an influential personality in the industrialization of Norway...

. It played an important part in nurturing the democratic folk movement of the time, and stimulating the entrance into politics of representatives of the rural population. It increased tensions between the more privileged classes and the common people, as well as between the clergy and the laity.

Hans Nielsen Hauge
Hans Nielsen Hauge
Hans Nielsen Hauge was a noted revivalist Norwegian lay minister who spoke up against the Church establishment in Norway. Hauge is considered an influential personality in the industrialization of Norway...

 worked as a lay preacher at a time when such activity was forbidden by law. The Conventicle Act of 1741 prohibited any religious meetings not authorized by the state church: a response to radical Pietism
Pietism
Pietism was a movement within Lutheranism, lasting from the late 17th century to the mid-18th century and later. It proved to be very influential throughout Protestantism and Anabaptism, inspiring not only Anglican priest John Wesley to begin the Methodist movement, but also Alexander Mack to...

 within Norwegian cities. The act decreed that religious gatherings could be held only under the supervision of a state approved minister. The pastor was thought to be the only person who could correctly interpret the teachings of the Norwegian State Church. The ministers had the sole right to administer the sacraments, and as a public official he was accountable to the state for the Christian indoctrination of his flock.

Hauge came to feel that he had a divine call which made it mandatory for him to break this law and proclaim the word of God directly among his fellowmen. He advocated a Priesthood of all believers
Priesthood of all believers
The universal priesthood or the priesthood of all believers, as it would come to be known in the present day, is a Christian doctrine believed to be derived from several passages of the New Testament...

. He felt that people had to be awakened to a consciousness of their sins before they could begin to gain salvation
Salvation
Within religion salvation is the phenomenon of being saved from the undesirable condition of bondage or suffering experienced by the psyche or soul that has arisen as a result of unskillful or immoral actions generically referred to as sins. Salvation may also be called "deliverance" or...

 through the grace of God. According to Hauge’s views, the State Church failed to provide parishioners with a personal religious experience
Religious experience
Religious experience is a subjective experience in which an individual reports contact with a transcendent reality, an encounter or union with the divine....

. Hauge’s religious teachings were therefore viewed as attacks on the state church and its ministers.

The Haugean influence on Lutheranism
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...

 in America has been considerable. Within American Lutheranism, both the Hauge Synod
Hauge Synod
The Hauge Synod, was the name of a Norwegian Lutheran church body in the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century.-Background:...

 and the Eielsen Synod
Eielsen Synod
The Eielsen Synod was a Lutheran church body. It was founded in 1846 at Jefferson Prairie Settlement, Wisconsin by a group of Haugean Lutherans led by Elling Eielsen.-Background:...

 were indications of that influence.

The character Solveig in Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...

's Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt is a five-act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, loosely based on the fairy tale Per Gynt. It is the most widely performed Norwegian play. According to Klaus Van Den Berg, the "cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones"...

is presented as a member of a Haugean family, and this religious affiliation is clearly related to her purity and steadfast love for the play's protagonist.

Other sources

  • Gjerde, S.S & Ljostveit, P. The Hauge Movement In America (The Hauge Inner Mission Federation. 1941)
  • Eielsen, Sigrid. A Haugean Woman in America : the Autobiography of Sigrid Eielsen (Norwegian-American Historical Association. Northfield, Minn., vol. 35. 2000)
  • Amundsen, Arne Bugge The Haugean Heritage – a Symbol of National History (from "In Search of Symbols. An Explorative Study" Jens Braarvig & Thomas Krogh,editors, pp. 214–233. Department of Cultural Studies, University of Oslo, 1997)

External links

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