WALDENSTROEM, vdl'den-strSm, PAUL PETER: Swedish theologian and educator; b. at Lulea (106 m. n.e. of Stockholm), Sweden, July 20, 1838. He pursued post-graduate studies at the Uni versity of Upsala, 18572 (Candidate in Philos ophy, 1862; Ph.D., 1863); in 1864 he was ordained and was appointed lector in theology, Greek, and Hebrew at the gymnasium at Umea. Financially aided by the State, he traveled, in 1867, in Prussia and Württemberg, Germany, for the purpose of studying the German school system. In 1873-74 he studied at the University of Upsala the symbolical books of the Lutheran Church, publishing the re sults in De justifeeatione quid statuant libri symbolici ecclesice lutherante (Upsala, 1874). In the spring of 1874 he was appointed lector in theology and He brew at the gymnasium in Gefle. He has contribu ted numerous articles on pedagogy to Pedagogisk Lidsskrift (1866-73); after the death of Rosenius (q.v.), in 1868, he became the editor of Pietisten, in
which most of his religious beliefs have found expression; in 1877-80 he was coeditor of Vittnet, a monthly periodical; and is the editor of the annual Calendar Ansgarius. He is prominent in politics, having been repeatedly elected a representative at the State diet, second chamber.
It is in the ecclesiastical field that he has exerted
most of his influence. He is one of the foremost
leaders of the Free Church movement in Sweden,
and the father of a theological movement the
supporters of which; found both in Sweden and in America, are called Waldenstromianere,
though they prefer to be known as Missionsvanner. In a sermon,
published in Pietisten, 1872,
he gave impetus to the theological movement with which he is identified by
proclaiming his novel idea of the atonement. He
holds that the reconciliation through Christ is of us
to God, not of God to us: not through grace on account of Christ, but on account of grace through
Christ. The subject is God, the Father of Christ;
the source is the love of God; the object is the whole
world; the mediator is Christ, the only begotten
God (Waldenstrom accepts and defends the reading
d tCOVOyev~s 9a6g in
This sermon called forth a storm of controversy. He then published (1873) Om forsoningens betydelse, which was combated by theologians but met with the favor of many lay people who were opposed to State religion, the nucleus of his subsequent constituency.
Within the ranks of Evangeliska Fosterlandsstiftelsen (a society for foreign and home missions, founded 1856 as the result of the evangelical work of Carl Olof Rosenius; q.v.), the adherents of WaldenstrSm soon brought matters to a schism. They submitted in 1875 a motion to annul the confessional basis of Fosterlandsstiftelsen by making adherence to the Augsburg Confession no longer obligatory for missionary workers. The motion failed to pass. The Waldenstromians consequently left the Fosterlandsstiftelsen and organized, Aug., 1878, Svenska Missionsforbundet, now consisting of 1,144 congregations with 91,000 members. In 1904, Waldenstrom became president of Missionsforbundet. Waldenstrom held his clerical position in the State church till 1882, when he resigned. His conflicts with the church authorities were caused by his manner of accommodating his idea of the Church to circumstances rather than by his doctrine of the atonement. When he once was called to serve a group of "believers" by administering the Lord's Supper, the authorities refused him the use of the church. This furnished him the opportunity of attacking the Church for refusing to believing ministers the opportunity to serve people who for the sake of their conscience could not partake of the Lord's Supper except with believers.
For almost a generation Waldenstrom has been a leader of the Free Church movement in Sweden. His influence has also been felt in America, where his adherents number about 33,000. He visited America in 1889 and several times subsequently, the last
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To the writings already mentioned the following maybe added: Brukspatron Adamsson eller hvar bor du? (1863, 5th ed., 1891); Forsok till granskning of M. Luther's lilla katekes med kort utveekling (1873); Fader var eller bon och 56nhorelse (1876); Predikningar ofver svenska kyrkans nya hogmessotexter (4 vols., 1876-80); BarndoPets historic (1880, 4th ed., 1883); En oversattelse of Nya testamentet med forklarande anmkrkninger (1883-94); Gods euiga frdlsningsrad (3 vols., 2d ed., 1891); Kristi afsked frdn sins larjungar (1894); Jesu pleas och uPpstAndelses historic (1897); DoP och barndop (1898); Frals niny for all verden (1902); Lett os behalla v&r gamla bibel (1902); Bibelns evangelium och de eviga straffen, eller huru staar det skrifvet g (1904).
There have appeared in English: Blood of Jesus, What is its Significance? (Chicago, 1888); The Reconciliation-who was to be Reconciled, God or Man, or God and Man? (1888); and The Lord is Right: Meditations on Psalm xxv. (1889).
Bibliography: M. W. Montgomery: A Wind from the Holy Spirit in Sweden and Norway, New York, 1884.
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