The Swedish Pietists

Beginning in the 1830s and stretching into the first decades of the twentieth century, the Lutheran state churches of Scandinavia experienced a great spiritual awakening. At the center of this movement were devotional materials and sermons made accessible through colporteurs and booksellers throughout Scandinavia, as well as among immigrants in North America. Two of the most influential and widely-read authors of this period were the Swedish preachers, Carl Olof Rosenius (1816-1868) and Paul Peter Waldenstrom (1838-1917), who became household names through their immensely popular devotional journal Pietisten (''The Pietist''). Both men emerged from the long tradition of revivalism within the Lutheran state churches of Europe known as Pietism, and consciously drew on this heritage as they helped to articulate and redefine the priorities of revival Christianity in a new era. This collection includes many excerpts never before translated into English, as well as an accessible and thorough introduction to these authors’ careers and historical contexts. Influenced by their irenic tone, simplicity, and evangelical warmth, translator and editor Mark Safstrom makes available some of the best of Rosenius’s and Waldenstrom’s writing for a new generation of laypeople, pastors, and scholars.''This treasure of writings of Swedish Pietists enriches both the mind and soul of the reader. Such writings launched Sweden’s spiritual revival of the nineteenth century, and remain timeless in theological breadth and spiritual depth for us in the twenty-first century. What a resource for scholar, pastor, and lay reader alike.''--David M. Gustafson, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL''Mark Safstrom’s The Swedish Pietists: A Reader is an invaluable resource for scholars in the fields of history, theology, homiletics, and Scandinavian studies. For those interested in Pietism, renewal movements, and devotional practices, Safstrom’s excerpts provide an excellent window into the world of a critical movement in church history. The translation work--both in technical skill and choice of excerpts--shows careful scholarship and makes a real contribution.''--Michelle A. Clifton-Soderstrom, Professor of Theology & Ethics, North Park Theological Seminary, Chicago, ILMark Safstrom, PhD, is Lecturer in Swedish and Scandinavian Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on various aspects of the history of social movements and revivalism in Scandinavia. He has previously written on such topics as the political career of Paul Peter Waldenstrom (chapter in The Pietist Impulse in Christianity, 2011), as well as translated Waldenstrom’s allegorical novel Squire Adamsson, Or, Where Do You Live? (2014).