Johan Alfred Eklund

Bust of JA Eklund in front of Karlstad Cathedral

Johan Alfred Eklund , mostly JA Eklund (born January 7, 1863 in Ryda , Skaraborgs län ; † August 23, 1945 in Brunskog , Värmland province ) was a Swedish Lutheran theologian, hymn poet and bishop .

Life

Growing up as the son of the tailor Andreas Andersson Eklund and Greta Olofsdotter, Eklund was shaped by the revival movement founded by Henric Schartau . After attending grammar school in Skara , he studied Protestant theology at Uppsala University from 1883 and became a lecturer in Gothenburg after graduating in 1889 . He was ordained in 1892 and then worked as a pastor in Borås and Västra Tunhem . In 1896 he became vice pastor at Uppsala Cathedral and took over a lectureship in apologetics at the university. 1899–1900 he was the professor for theological propaedeutics and encyclopedia, but was defeated by Nathan Söderblom when applying for this position . Appointed provost of the cathedral in Kalmar in 1902 , he was appointed bishop of Karlstad in 1907 . Before the introduction he acquired the title of Doctor theologiae in Uppsala . In 1938 he became bishop emeritus , but remained a writer active.

Work and meaning

Eklund first made a name for himself as a theologian. His first publication was devoted to an analysis of Viktor Rydberg's poems (1892). This was followed by an academic treatise on the relationship between faith and other human expressions of life (1896) and a work on the history of religion on nirvana (1899). As a bishop he also published works on the philosophy and sociology of religion, but concentrated on the writing of biographies, among other things. a. about Paulus Genberg (1905 and 1925), Pontus Wikner (1919), Queen Kristina (1928) and Erik Gustaf Geijer (1942). His main work is Andelivet i Sveriges kyrka , published in ten volumes from 1911 to 1938 , a presentation of the history of piety in the Church of Sweden .

However, the significance of his scientific works lags behind his ecclesiastical influence. He was one of the most important inspirers of the young church movement ( ungkyrkorörelsen ) at the beginning of the 20th century and wrote the song in 1909 that was to become a hymn of the renewal movement: “Fäderas kyrka i Sveriges land, kärast bland samfund på jorden!” ( Church of the Fathers in Sweden's country, dearest church on earth ). As the text shows, Eklund (and thus the entire movement) was not devoid of nationalist tones. In his later work, however, Eklund was also critical of a mixture of Christianity and nationality in National Socialist Germany.

As a poet and translator of numerous other hymns , Eklund was also jointly responsible for the Swedish hymnbook from 1937, which replaced the hymnbook from 1819. Here he was represented with numerous of his own songs. The current Swedish hymnbook from 1986 still contains six poems by Eklund, plus translations. Eklund's sermons were also valued and published in many volumes.

Awards

Eklund was accepted as a knight in the North Star Order in 1904 , received the dignity of Commander 1st Class in 1909 and the rank of Commander with Grand Cross in 1917 .

family

Eklund was married to Maria Pettersson (* 1873) since May 23, 1894. His son Harald Eklund (1901–1960) also became a theologian and most recently worked as professor for the philosophy of religion at Lund University .

Fonts

A complete bibliography in: Nils Karlström (Ed.): För fäderas kyrka. Biskop JA Eklunds livsgärning , 1947, pp. 179-253.

literature

• Sven Thulin (Ed.): En bok om biskop JA Eklund . 1946
• Elis Malmeström: YES Eklund. En biografi . 1950
• Elis Malmeström: Eklund, Söderblom och Billing. Anteckningar och minnen . 1969
• HB Hammar: Personlighet och samfund. YES Eklund och hans tillflöden . 1971
• Karl Josef Sundberg: Fäderas kyrka: en idéhistorisk studie i folkkyrkotanken hos JA Eklund mot bakgrund av sekelskiftets Kulturdebatt (Summary: The Fathers Church. A historical study of the ideas of the people's church by JA Eklund, on the background of the cultural discussion around the turn of the century). 1982
• Ralph Tuchtenhagen :  Eklund, Johan Alfred. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 14, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-073-5 , Sp. 951-955.
• Johan Sundeen: Andelivets agitator: JA Eklund, kristendomen och cultures . 2008

Web links

• Svenskt Biografiskt Lexicon (Swedish)