Iver Hesselberg

Iver Hesselberg

Iver Hesselberg (born December 16, 1780 in Bragernes, today Drammen , † August 19, 1844 in Aker , today part of Oslo ) was a Norwegian pastor and poet.

Life

His parents were the assistant pastor and later pastor Hans Iver Hesselberg (1753-1811) and his wife Karen Paludan (1746-1821). On November 1, 1809, he married Alette Preus (October 15, 1786– July 28, 1843), daughter of the pastor Jacob Abrahamsen Preus (1733–1805) and his wife Anne Elisabeth Arctander (1759–1808). He was a champion of religiously based liberalism and a supporter of Grundtvig .

Hesselberg grew up in Drammen. In 1796 he began his studies in Copenhagen, but soon returned to Norway, where he prepared for the exam in self-study. In 1804 he passed his theological state examination. In the following year he became auxiliary chaplain to his father in Spydeberg .

In 1813 Hesselberg was appointed pastor in Grue in the Solør ( Hedmark ) countryside , where he stayed for a little over 20 years. There he was confronted with the most dramatic experience of his life, the fire in the church of Grue on May 26, 1822. The fire started on Pentecost Sunday of the year in the old wooden church during high mass, and as the doors opened inward, more than 100 people were killed. Hesselberg saved himself by jumping through the window. This traumatic experience haunted him all his life.

Hesselberg became famous for his opposition to the book Christendommens Aand (The Spirit of Christianity) by the former church minister and current philosophy professor Niels Treschow , which he published in 1828. To his reply he gave the title Gjenlyd fra Fjendet af Christ-Kirkens Røst (The Voice of the Christian Church Echoes from the Mountains) (1829). In it he showed himself to be a supporter of Grundtvig. He opposed Treschow's attempt to fuse reason, virtue and religion, and instead emphasized that the Christian church could not survive without the historically transmitted creed and living personal faith. This book ushered in a generation change in the clergy, away from Enlightenment theology towards the new orthodoxy.

In 1830 he published a book about the Moravian Brethren , which flourished especially in Christiania from 1820 onwards. He himself came from a family close to this movement and had great understanding for it. He said that it made a great contribution to religious freedom in the 18th century. However, he doubted that she still had a right to exist and that it was right for pastors to work with her.

In the 1930s he also gave popular lectures on pastoral theology at Christiania University.

In 1834 he became pastor in Aker, now a district of Oslo. Immediately after the King had dissolved the Storting in the summer of 1836 , Hesselberg gave a passionate sermon in the church of Aker, which was immediately criticized as a political statement on this event, as von Welhaven in his newspaper Den Constitutionelle. Hesselberg had the sermon printed and published in defense a book under the title Christelig Liberalisme in which he presented his social doctrine. He demanded that the ideas of freedom of the time should also find their expression in society, politics and church life. Every form of absolutism contradicts historical development and Christian culture. The only godly form of government is the republic or democracy. Only if the monarch concludes a democratic social contract is the monarchy still legitimate. That was his response to the king's dissolution of the storting. This opinion led to the fact that he was elected as a delegate from Akershus office to Storting for the period 1839-1841. In the church commission, he wrote a recommendation for the liberalization of canon law and turned against the so-called “Konventikkelplakat”. In his opinion, compulsory laws were not compatible with Christian thought. "Enthusiasts" have to be convinced of the spiritual pastoral care and not suppressed by the judiciary.

Hesselberg did not make a career. To this end, he took a position that was too independent and shared neither by his colleagues nor by the conservative civil servant aristocracy. But precisely his consistent development of the idea that God created human beings as equals played a special role in the second half of the 19th century.

Selected publications

• "Tria juncta in uno, Gud - Frihed - Fædreland", in Hermoder No. 25/1821.
• Tale, holden June 1st, 1822 ved deres Grav, som i Grue Kirkes Brand found Døden (speech given on June 1st, 1822 at the grave of those who died at the Grand von Grues Church) 1822.
• Gjenlyd fra Fjendet af Christ-Kirkens Røst (The Christian Church Voice Echoes from the Mountains) 1829.
• "Om Menneskehedens langomme Fremskriden" (About the slow progress of mankind) in Almindeligt Norskt Maanedsskrivt 1832 pp. 256–286
• Herrnhuterne eller de evangeliske Brødre. En Mærkværdighed i det attende Aarhundredes Kirkehistorie (The Moravians or the Evangelical Brothers. A curiosity in the church history of the 18th century), 1830
• Prædiken i Agers Kirke paa sjette Søndag efter Trefoldighed on July 10th, 1836 (sermon in the church of Ager on the seventh Sunday after Trinity, July 10th, 1836). 1836.
• Christelig Liberalisme. En Utvikling for Almeenheden af ​​min Idea om vor Tids Frihedsstræben og dens Grund (Christian Liberalism. An unfolding of my idea about today's striving for freedom and its reason for the general public) 1837.

Remarks

The article is essentially based on Norsk biografisk leksikon . Any other information is specifically identified.

1. ↑ He was "Aftensangprest". One such was an assistant pastor of a full-time pastor. In contrast to the pastor, who was appointed by the king, he was employed by the pastor and led only one hymn service in the evening.
2. ↑ Only one corpse could be identified, namely that of Bailiff Dines Guldberg Høegh by means of the saber and headgear. This fire event led to a law that all doors in public buildings must open to the outside. Article Grue kirke-brannen in the Norwegian Wikipedia.
3. ^ JB Halvorsen, Edvard Bull: Hesselbarg, Iver . In: Christian Blangstrup (Ed.): Salmonsens Konversationsleksikon . 2nd Edition. tape 11 : Hasselmus – Hven . JH Schultz Forlag, Copenhagen 1921, p. 378-379 (Danish, runeberg.org ).
4. ↑ Konventikkelplakaten was a law of January 3, 1741, which forbade a preacher to hold meetings ( conventicles ) without the consent of the local pastor and was directed against lay preachers. It was repealed in 1842, which initiated the development of freedom of assembly in Norway. Article Konventikkelplakaten in the Norwegian Wikipedia.
5. ^ Iver Hesselberg . In: Store norske leksikon .

literature

• Arne Bugge Amundsen: Iver Hesselberg . In: Norsk biografisk leksikon ; Retrieved September 9, 2009

Web links

Commons : Iver Hesselberg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files