Nathan Söderblom

Nathan Soderblom ( born January 15, 1866 in Trönö; † July 12, 1931 in Uppsala; Complete name: Lars Olof Jonathan Soderblom ) was a Swedish Lutheran theologian and Archbishop of Uppsala. He also gained importance as a religious scholar. Because of his tireless commitment to ecumenism and world peace to him in 1930 the Nobel Peace Prize.

Life and work

Nathan Soderblom was born in 1866 as the son of a pastor and was taught next to the school by the latter. So he already had to learn the age of five Latin. From 1886 to 1892 he studied literature and theology in Uppsala. In 1890 he took part in the international Christian student conference in Northfield (Massachusetts ). This conference and meeting people of other nations and faiths awakened his passion for ecumenism. A year later, he took part in the congress of the Young Men's Christian Association in Amsterdam.

After his ordination as pastor of the Lutheran Church in 1893 Soderblom worked as a chaplain in a psychiatric hospital in Uppsala. A year later he won the Swedish legation minister in Paris. Before departure, married Nathan Soderblom and Anna Forsell. The couple had thirteen children.

In 1901 he graduated from the Sorbonne theological doctorate with a thesis on the Mazdaism. In the same year he was appointed Professor of Religious History at the University of Uppsala. From 1912 to 1914 he additionally held the first German Chair of Religious Studies at the University of Leipzig. As a scholar of religion, he wrote both fundamental studies, overviews, which have become standard works.

In May 1914 Soderblom was appointed surprisingly Archbishop of Uppsala and thus to the head of the Swedish State Church. After the outbreak of the First World War, he tried through several appeals to achieve a reconciliation of the warring nations. He focused his efforts initially on the World Alliance for International Friendship through the Churches and convened jointly with the senior bishops of Denmark and Norway for 1917 a church conference in Uppsala, which was not attended by the warring countries. After 1918, he continued his reconciliation efforts and organized the World Federation new. Thus he became one of the leaders of the modern ecumenical movement. Soderblom 1925 organized the Stockholm World Conference of Churches as the " World Conference on Life and Work ", to which he invited representatives of all Christian churches. The head of the Anglican Church, Archbishop Randall Thomas Davidson, representatives of the Orthodox Churches and Protestant churches followed his invitation was not present only Pope Pius XI ..

As Archbishop Soderblom was also Vice-Chancellor of the University of Uppsala Uppsala and made into an international center of ecumenism. To him to Sweden invitees include Friedrich Siegmund- Schultze, Friedrich Heiler and physician and theologian Albert Schweitzer. An intense friendship during his time as Archbishop connected him with the family of the future UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld.

In addition to his scientific and political writings church Soderblom wrote several hymns, some of which are still in the current Swedish hymnal of 1986 are. Due to the importance of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach for Protestantism Soderblom Bach designated in 1929 as the " fifth evangelist ".

Soderblom died in 1931 from the effects of an operation, a year after he was allowed to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Special

Soderblom was a member of Svenska Academies and since 1925 the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences since 1921. In addition, he has received numerous honorary doctorates. The Cathedral Square in Uppsala was renamed after Nathan Soderblom of Wotan grove in Soderblom Square. In addition, Nathan Soderblom church of the parish Reinbek - West in Reinbek and Soderblom High School was named after him in Espelkamp. In Eisenach, Espelkamp and in Söderhamn him were erected in honor monuments. A plaque on the Wittenberg church square honors the Wittenberg honorary citizen.

Remembrance

• Evangelical Church in Germany: July 12 in the Protestant calendar name
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: July 12

Writings (selection )

• The religions of the world. J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck ); Tübingen, 1906.
• Gudstrons uppkomst (1914; German: The Will of God faith, studies on the origins of religion Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1916, 2nd edition 1926, reprint Hildesheim 1979. )
• Introduction to the history of religion. Leipzig: Quelle & Meyer, 1920
• Unification of Christendom - Tatgemeinschaft the churches from the spirit of toiling love. Müller Verlag, hall., 1925
• The levande Guden (1932; German: The living God in the witness of Religious History, ed v. F. Heiler, Munich: Reinhardt, 1942; 2nd edition 1966. ).
• Selected Works. Volume 1: Revelation and religions. Translated from Swedish by Dietz Lange. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 2011 ISBN 978-3-525-57015-9.
• Dietz Lange ( ed.): Brev: a selection from his correspondence = Letters = Letters. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht 2006 978-3-525-60005-4.