APPENDIX 4
How the (Roman) Catholic and Lutheran
Versions of Christianity came to Scandinavia
Sweden and Denmark; the lands of my paternal ancestry
Index
- Scandinavia
- Sweden
- Denmark
- Historical Scandinavian culture – Vikings
- Catholic version of Christianity comes to Scandinavia
- The Lutheran Church founded in Germany
- Denmark – Church of Denmark - Lutheran theology – state church 1536
- Sweden – Church of Sweden – Lutheran theology - state church 1527
- Partial religious freedom came to Sweden in 1860
- Swedish immigration serge to America
- Danish immigration to America
Scandinavia – Present-day Sweden, Denmark and Norway are commonly referred to as Scandinavia. Some definitions also include Iceland and Finland (Greenland is a Danish territory). Together, the countries are sometimes referred to as Nordic countries. The Scandinavian countries have many things in common; their languages have similarities, albeit the Finnish language is quite different from the others.
Sweden - Sweden is a country about 900-miles long and 250-miles wide. There is a near continuous mountain range on the western side of the country dividing it from Norway. Finland forms Sweden’s northeastern boundary. The 400-mile long Gulf and Bothnia separates the rest of Sweden from southern Finland. The Baltic Sea wraps around the southern part of the country; a natural water boundary separating Sweden and Denmark. The bay of Skagerrak separates Sweden from western Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and north Germany.
Sweden has over 300-miles of rivers and 96,000 lakes. Mountains in the mid and northern regions rise to over 6,000 feet; largely covered with pine and birch forests. The southern region is a level plain largely devoted to agriculture with elevations near sea level. My ancestors lived in Sweden’s southern regions.
Denmark - Geographically, Denmark is less than a tenth the size of Sweden. It comprises the large peninsula and several islands that protrude north from Germany into the Baltic Sea on the east and the North Sea on the west.
Today, there is a 5-mile long combination bridge and tunnel crossing Oresund Strait; connecting Copenhagen, Denmark with Malmo, Sweden. On the Swedish side is the Oresund Bridge with a a two-track rail line and four-lane highway; extending for about three miles to a man-made island. On the island, the roads drop into a tunnel bored beneath the seafloor and surfacing at Copenhagen. The tunnel is two and a half miles below the waterline where heavy ships pass.
Historical Scandinavian culture - Vikings – The people of Scandinavia, onetime known as Vikings, were pagan. They began using their seafaring skills to extend their influence beyond their shores circa 800 AD.
For centuries, they used long boats of various sizes, powered by a single sail with generally 25-60 oarsmen-soldiers on each side. They navigated the coastlines of Europe and Britain, south to the Mediterranean Sea and Constantinople and west to Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland (perhaps beyond) on the American Continent.
Many of their boats could navigate in four feet of water thus allowing them to attack riverside settlements located inland as far as 60-miles, generally plundering and then leaving. However, many of the Vikings stayed and settled in the cities and lands they conquered.
Commentary - Pagans believed in multiple Gods, both men and women, that they gave different powers and priorities. The Greek pagans worshiped 12 Gods. The Greeks in Athens even had an alter to the “Unknown God” (Acts 17: 22-23).
Diana is the name of a mythical Roman Goddess for which tradesmen in Ephesus profited by making and selling silver artifacts with women’s images they designed. (Acts 19: 24-41). Ancient Egyptians had a mythical god with a human body and an animal head. Some pagans worshiped animals. Other pagans gave names to their mythical Gods and Goddesses but gave them no form.
Catholic version of Christianity comes to Scandinavia - Christianity, as taught by the Catholic Church, first came to Scandinavia circa 830 by a Benedictine monk named Ansgar. Later, Catholic missionaries came from Germany and Britain to proselyte the pagan Vikings.
In Denmark, King Harald Bluetooth who had trade relationships with Germany and other monarchies in Europe and England, converted to Catholic Christianity in 960; many of his subjects followed – it became the country’s state-church.
King Inge of Sweden accepted Christianity in 1080 and issued a decree outlawing pagan sacrifices. His pagan subjects rejected his heavy-handedness; rose up in rebellion and forced him to flee into exile. He was replaced by Bolt-Sweyn, a pagan.
However, King Inge did not give up. While in exile he recruited a powerful army and three years later returned; defeating Bolt-Sweyn and regaining the throne. However, he had learned a lesson. He officially let the pagans alone. However, he supported Catholic missionary work and the construction of beautiful churches. Gradually, pagans were persuaded to convert to the state church that “royalty” supported; reporting to the Pope in Rome.
Commentary - In 1054 the Catholic Church split between the Roman Catholic Church on the west and the Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church (Constantinople). They divided over differences in doctrine, claims to authority and lands. When that happened, Pope Leo IX of Rome and Patriarch Michael Cerularius of Constantinople excommunicated each other. Those cataclysmic events are called the Great Schism of 1054. (Appendix 2).
After the Great Schism, the Christians in Scandinavia continued to report to the Pope in Rome. Albeit, in 1378-1417, another “Schism,” occurred in the Roman Catholic Church wherein two Popes claimed papal succession before resolving the conflict by appointing another.
The Lutheran Church founded in Germany - In 1517 Roman Catholic scholar, professor and priest, Martin Luther, wrote “95 Theses,” a list of questions and propositions for which he wanted official debate. Luther was seeking to reform certain doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church in which he found no basis in the Bible. For example, he objected to the church’s practice of selling “indulgences,” wherein a believer paid money or donated services in exchange for receiving church forgiveness for sins and transgressions.
Luther also opposed the Roman Catholic teaching of eternal salvation. Luther believed salvation comes from the grace of God, after a person’s profession of faith, not from anything else that they did. He emphasized the Apostle Paul’s statement in his belief: “For by grace ye are saved through faith … Not of works, least any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Roman Catholic Pope Leo X demanded Luther rescind 41 of his 95 “theses” and ordered him to appear before the Holy Roman Empire’s Diet of Worms, Worms, Germany, to answer the charges. Luther refused. The Pope ruled Luther a heretic, a capital offence, and excommunicated him in 1521. However, the Pope and his proxies in Germany were unable to arrest and bring Luther to trial for his alleged crimes because Luther was protected by certain of Germany’s other royalty, who sequestered him in Wartburg Castle.
Luther founded the Lutheran Church in Germany in 1531. He retained the creeds and doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church except for those included in his 95 objections.
Commentary – Luther’s refusal to go to his trial was likely based on his knowledge of what had gone on before. For example, John Huss, an ordained Roman Catholic priest who objected to several doctrines of his church, was ruled a heretic and burned alive at the stake in 1415.
It is not known how Martín Luther reconciled Paul’s recorded statement in Ephesians with conflicting scripture, some of which Paul also wrote, such as Paul’s letter to Titus, “they profess they know God, but in works, they deny him” (Titus 1: 16); the Apostle James “faith without works is dead” (James 2:20), or the Apostle John “the dead were judged … according to their works” (Revelation 20: 12); or Jesus Christ’s statements: “Not everyone that sayeth unto me Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is heaven.” (Matthew 7: 21-23); and “By their fruits you will know them.” (Matthew 7:15). We must “ask, seek and knock.” (Matthew: 7: 7-8), then strive to keep all of his commandments. (John 14:15)
It appears that once Luther decided which Bible scripture he liked, he either disregarded or discredited conflicting scripture. For example, he called the book of James, “an epistle of straw.”
It is noteworthy that ancient scripture not available to Luther reconciles the two doctrines; “… it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” (BM, 2 Nephi 25:23).
Denmark – Church of Denmark - Lutheran theology – state church 1536 - The introduction of the Lutheran version of Christianity into Denmark officially came on Easter Sunday in 1525 when Hans Tausen, a Roman Catholic monk who had studied with Luther in Germany, proclaimed Martin Luther’s complaints against the Roman Catholic Church valid. He advocated, over the pulpit, for Luther’s reforms.
Danish monarchy agreed with Tausen. They established the Church of Denmark with Lutheran theology as the country’s state church in 1536; with the King of Denmark its Supreme leader.
An 1849 provision in the Danish Constitution specified that the Church of Denmark is “the church of the people” and the official national church and financially supported by the national treasury. The constitution also provided that membership in the national church is voluntary – other churches could receive permission to teach.
Commentary - The religious freedom provision in the Danish Constitution was critical to the spread of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ into Denmark.
My paternal great-grandmother, Fredrikke Pederson Norr, an enormously brave and courageous lady, was a poor widow and single-parent when she, along with her four children, faced social persecution when they joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1865. She used her skills as a seamstress to save money to immigrate with her children to America. She sent her 12-year old daughter ahead with friends in 1867. She and two of her other children, including her 8-year old daughter Mary, who would become my grandmother, followed three years later, settling in Utah and Idaho territories. (Chapter 20).
Sweden – Church of Sweden – Lutheran theology - state church 1527 - Sweden left the union it had with Denmark and Norway in 1521. Sweden’s King Gustav I Vasa subsequently moved to limit the economic power of the Roman Catholic Church in his country. Vasa founded the Church of Sweden with Lutheran theology in 1527; made it the state church and confiscated all of the Roman Catholic Church’s property in his country. Distinctive church buildings, once Catholic, immediately became Church of Sweden facilities.
Partial religious freedom came to Sweden in 1860 – Only the Church of Sweden was allowed in Sweden until the “dissenter law of 1860.” Under that law, people were allowed to leave the Church of Sweden for another religion, if that other religion had applied for and received formal approval from the government.
A few years later, the devastating three-year famine (1866-1868) in (northern) Sweden and Finland known as “the great hunger years” hit. An estimated 150,000 people in both countries starved to death.”
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Church) had Swedish members as early as 1843. The first, a sailor Johan E. Forsgren, heard and accepted the pristine Gospel of Jesus Christ while in Boston. When he returned to Sweden, he taught others. With that membership base, the Church successfully applied for and received government approval to teach. Missionaries from America then came and began teaching the pristine Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Social repression, along with successive crop failures brought increasing discontent among Sweden’s citizens. At the same time, they were reading newspaper stories and promotions from America; advertising that in America, people had personal and religious freedom, jobs and up to 160 acres of free land for the taking (Homestead Act).
Commentary - The U.S. Congress passed the Preemption Act in 1841 allowing settlement of 160 acres of un-surveyed federal land [squatter’s rights] for a small fee paid after the land was surveyed. The Homestead Act, passed in 1862, allowed settlers to claim up to 160 acres of surveyed land if they lived on it for five years and improved it. (Appendix 7).
Swedish immigration surge to America - A surge of immigration from Sweden to America occurred principally between 1850 and 1900. Motivated by successive years of crop failures, oppressive government laws and policies - and the allure of jobs, free land and freedom in America; over a million people immigrated.
In partial response to this huge out-migration, the monarchy gave way to political change with the creation of the Riksdag (Swedish Parliament) in 1866. The Riksdag formed a commission in 1907, to investigate the reasons people were leaving. National social and economic reform ensued and Swedish out-migration fell off.
My great grandparents, John Victor and Ingri Bunderson received the missionaries in their home and joined the Church in 1866 and started to make plans for their family to go to America.
Their plan was to sail sequentially, as they could save enough money to book passage. Fourteen-year-old William Victor, my grandfather, traveling alone, was the first of his family to immigrate in 1872 (Chapter 20).
Danish immigration to America – Out-migration from Denmark to America was significant but much less than the late 1800s immigration surge experienced by Sweden. Albeit, the allures of economic, religious and social freedom and opportunity for free land in America were similar.
Commentary - When Mary Kay and I visited Sweden and Denmark in May 1997, we went to the parish churches and courtyards where my paternal ancestors likely attended. Approximately fifty-foot tall pitched roof, rectangle buildings with murals pained on the inside walls and ceiling. Miniature Nordic ships hung from the ceiling. The buildings were in immaculate condition, beautifully preserved and maintained at taxpayer expense.
The buildings were constructed in the 13th and 14th centuries by the Roman Catholic Church – later confiscated by the respective monarchies of Sweden and Denmark for their state churches; the Church of Sweden and the Church of Denmark.