Jacob Tanner was a Norwegian American

Norwegian American

Norwegian Americans are Americans of Norwegian descent. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the later half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th century. There are more than 4.5 million Norwegian Americans according to the most recent U.S. census, and...

 Lutheran minister, educator and religious author. He spent most of his life in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and became a naturalized

Naturalization

Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....

 citizen.

Biography

He was born at the farm Leirgrovvik in Bolsøy

Bolsøy

Bolsøy is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. Bolsøy encompassed the area around the Fannefjord including most of the present-day municipality of Molde, excluding the city of Molde...

 (now Molde

Molde

is a city and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Romsdal region. The municipality is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord...

), Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, as the eldest son of Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 dairyman Johannes Tanner (a Zwinglian) and native

Native-born citizen

In general, a native-born citizen of a country is a person who was born within the country's territory and has been legally recognized as a citizen of that country since birth...

 farmer's daughter Anne Birgitte (née Innholm), who taught her children how to read and instructed them in the Catechism

Luther's Small Catechism

Luther's Small Catechism was written by Martin Luther and published in 1529 for the training of children. Luther's Small Catechism reviews The Ten Commandments, The Apostles' Creed, The Lord's Prayer, The Sacrament of Holy Baptism, The Office of the Keys & Confession, and The Sacrament of the...

. Jacob was confirmed 24 April 1881, receiving high grades. He was educated in Molde and Kristiania

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

, and became a theologian in 1892. At 27 years of age, he departed from the port of Kristiansand

Kristiansand

-History:As indicated by archeological findings in the city, the Kristiansand area has been settled at least since 400 AD. A royal farm is known to have been situated on Oddernes as early as 800, and the first church was built around 1040...

, arriving in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, USA, on 19 May 1893.

Jacob served as pastor

Pastor

The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....

 for congregations in Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

 and New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, and taught at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota

Moorhead, Minnesota

Moorhead is a city in Clay County, Minnesota, United States, and the largest city in northwest Minnesota. The population was 38,065 at the 2010 Census. It is the county seat of Clay County....

 from 1916 to 24. In 1924 Tanner became the editor of Lutheraneren – the Norwegian-language

Norwegian language

Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...

 organ of the NLCA, where he also served on the Board of Elementary Christian Education. From 1925 to 38, Tanner was a professor of theology at Luther Seminary

Luther Seminary

Luther Seminary is the largest seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America . Located in the Saint Anthony Park neighborhood of St...

 in Saint Paul, Minnesota

Saint Paul, Minnesota

Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...

. He assembled a collection of small catechisms

Luther's Small Catechism

Luther's Small Catechism was written by Martin Luther and published in 1529 for the training of children. Luther's Small Catechism reviews The Ten Commandments, The Apostles' Creed, The Lord's Prayer, The Sacrament of Holy Baptism, The Office of the Keys & Confession, and The Sacrament of the...

 in translations from around the world, and the Jacob Tanner Catechism Collection forms part of the special collections in the Luther Seminary Library.

After retiring, he taught theology as professor emeritus of Iowa's Waldorf College

Waldorf College

Waldorf College, located in Forest City, Iowa, is a four-year liberal arts, for-profit college.Founded in 1903, the college was affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America until 2009, when, due to financial problems, the college was sold to for-profit Mayes Education, owner of...

, whose Tanner Hall is named for him.

He married Ingeborg Sophie Aarøe in April 1893. They had five children. Jacob Tanner dictated his autobiography

Autobiography

An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...

 in 1960. He died at 98 years of age in a nursing home in Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

.

Selected works

He published several books on the Lutheran

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...

 faith. Some of his works are translated into other languages, including Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

.

• Ten Studies in the Catechism (1927)
• Ten Studies on the Child (1929)
• Ten Studies in Church Doctrines (1930)
• Ten Studies in Religious Pedagogy (1932)
• Ten Studies in Biblical History (1935)
• The Senior Confirmation Book (1941)
• The Junior Confirmation Book (1943)
• Atonement and Forgiveness: a Re-Orientation (1948)
• Ten Studies in the Creed (1950)
• Exploring God's Word: a Study Guide to Bible Teachings (1950)

Literature

• E. Clifford Nelson, Eugene L. Fevold, The Lutheran Church among Norwegian-Americans: a History of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Augsburg Publishing House, Minneapolis 1960, ISBN B0007E9B54)