Theodore Marcus Hansen was a Danish-American Lutheran pastor, educator, and church leader. Ordained as a pastor in the United Evangelical Lutheran Church

United Evangelical Lutheran Church

The United Evangelical Lutheran Church was one of the many denominations formed when Lutherans came to the United States from Europe...

 (UDELC) in 1915, Theodore Marcus (commonly known as TM Hansen) served eleven Lutheran congregations. He was also President of Dana College

Dana College

Dana College is a now defunct baccalaureate college located in Blair, Nebraska. Its rural 150-acre campus is approximately 25 miles northwest of Omaha, and overlooks a portion of the Missouri River Valley....

 (1925-1929) and Trinity Seminary, and served in many leadership positions in the UDELC.

Training for Ordination

Hansen’s preparation for the ministry began in 1905. Along with his younger brother Henry, Hansen enrolled in the UDELC school in Blair, Nebraska (later known as Dana College). After four years of preliminary studies in Blair, Hansen went on to study at the University of Nebraska from 1909-1911.

In 1911, Hansen returned to Blair to begin his studies at the seminary of the UDELC, Trinity Seminary. At that time, instruction at Trinity was entirely in Danish

Danish language

Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...

. Thus, after two years at Trinity, Hansen went to Maywood Seminary in Chicago (later known as the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago

Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago

The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago is a seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Its degree programs include Master of Divinity, Master of Arts, Master of Theology, Doctor of Ministry, and Doctor of Philosophy. It offers concentrations in urban ministry, Bible, environment,...

) in order to gain proficiency at preaching in English. In 1915, Hansen was awarded a Bachelor of Divinity

Bachelor of Divinity

In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity is usually an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology or, rarely, religious studies....

 degree from Maywood.

Graduate Studies

In 1919, the UDELC was looking for a new professor Trinity Seminary. Up to this point, all the school’s professors had been born and trained in Denmark, and there was a desire to have an American born professor. Hansen was selected by the church to be trained for this position.

By applying credits he earned at Dana, Trinity, and Maywood, Hansen was able to earn a Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 degree in one year from Saint Olaf College. Thus, in 1920, Hansen entered the Graduate Studies program of the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

. After just one year there, Hansen went to Europe to complete his studies. Staying with family in Denmark, Hansen studied at the University of Copenhagen

University of Copenhagen

The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...

 and Tübingen University

Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen

Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen is a public university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of Germany's oldest universities, internationally noted in medicine, natural sciences and the humanities. In the area of German Studies it has been ranked first among...

.

Having completed the coursework for a Master of Arts

Master of Arts (postgraduate)

A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 degree (although he never wrote a thesis), Hansen returned to America to begin teaching at Dana College and Trinity Seminary in 1921.

Pastorates

Theodore Marcus Hansen was ordained by the United Danish Evangelical Church in 1915 at the annual convention in Luck, Wisconsin. His first call, from 1915-1919, was to serve Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Royal, Iowa. Near the end of this first pastorate, he served as a civilian chaplain at Fort Riley

Fort Riley

Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in Northeast Kansas, on the Kansas River, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 100,656 acres in Geary and Riley counties and includes two census-designated places: Fort Riley North and Fort...

, believed by many to be ground zero of the American outbreak of the Spanish Flu

Spanish flu

The 1918 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic, and the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus . It was an unusually severe and deadly pandemic that spread across the world. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin...

.

On leaving Dana College and Trinity Seminary in 1929, Hansen returned to pastoral ministry. Over the next twenty-nine years, he served as pastor of 10 congregations. They were

• 1929-1942

Trinity Lutheran and Calvary Lutheran

Denmark, WI

• 1942-1948

Saron Lutheran (Calgary, Alberta)

Our Savior’s Lutheran (Edgewater, British Columbia)

St. Paul’s Lutheran (Olds, Alberta)

• 1948-1952

Our Savior’s Lutheran (Owatonna, MN)

Trinity Lutheran (Blooming Prairie, MN)

• 1952-1956

Ansgar Lutheran (Winnipeg, Manitoba)

• 1956-1958

Ebenezer Lutheran (McCabe, MT)

Brorson Lutheran (Sidney, Montana)

After his retirement in 1958 to Hastings, Nebraska, Hansen served as the chaplain to the retirement community he lived in, and occasionally served as an interim pastor to nearby congregations.

Academia and Church Leadership

In 1921, Hansen began teaching at Dana College and Trinity Seminary, the educational institutions of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Blair, Nebraska. He served on the faculty of those institutions from 1921-1925, teaching primarily at the college. In 1925, there was a major turnover in the faculty and administration of Trinity Seminary.

The convention of the UDELC (which had paid for Hansen's graduate education) asked Hansen to fill the vacant position of President of Dana and Trinity. He served in that capacity from 1925-1929. After 1929, Hansen continued to guide Dana and Trinity, serving as the chairman of the Board of Directors for both institutions from 1929-1942.

In the UDELC, the judicatory

Middle judicatory

A middle judicatory is an administrative structure or organization found in a religious denominations between the local congregation and the widest or highest national or international level...

 was known as the District, and each district was headed by a District President (a position analogous to that of bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 in other churches). Hansen served as District President of the Wisconsin District (1938-1942) and of the Western Canada District (1945-1948). He was also Vice-President of the Western North Dakota/Montana District (1956-1957).

In 1960, the UDELC ceased to exist when it became a part of the newly formed American Lutheran Church

American Lutheran Church

The American Lutheran Church was a Christian Protestant denomination in the United States that existed from 1960 to 1987. Its headquarters was in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Upon its formation in 1960, the ALC designated Augsburg Publishing House , also located in Minneapolis, as the church publisher...

. Prior to the formation of the American Lutheran Church, Hansen served on the Joint Union Committee, which helped to shape what this new Lutheran church would look like.