Lars Oftedal

Lars Oftedal

Lars Oftedal , Lars Svendsen Oftedal, originally Oftedahl, (born December 27, 1838 in Stavanger , †  May 2, 1900 in Stavanger) was a Norwegian pastor, preacher, journalist and politician.

Life

His parents were the teacher and bank teller Svend Oftedahl (1812-1883) and his wife Gunhild Ommundsdatter Stokke (1809-1881). On February 9, 1865, he married Olava Mathilde Olsen (March 15, 1839– November 16, 1931), daughter of the shoemaker Christian Olsen (1806–1865) and his wife Inger Kristine Knudsen. The couple had lived separately since 1897.

Lars Oftedal was a controversial pastor, social reformer, member of parliament and editor. He was a leader of the revival movement and founder of the Stavanger Aftenbladet . He was distinguished by a hearty and popular language in his speeches and sermons.

He grew up in Stavanger, where his father was a teacher at the Latin school. He was ailing in the first three years of his life and his father had to carry him constantly. He later compensated for this by developing strength in mind and body. After passing his examen artium in 1859, he began to study theology in Christiania. During his studies he worked as an assistant teacher in Christiania and Stavanger and, according to his own statement, had an “awakening experience” that determined his future life. He held Bible readings and revival meetings in the city and in the country. He was strongly influenced by Professor Gisle Johnson . So he signed up for the exam focusing on Johnson's demand for orthodox doctrine and pietistic renewal. He passed his exam in 1864 and passed the practical theological exam in 1865. In the same year he married, but the marriage remained unhappy, and so the couple separated again in 1867.

His first position was traveling preacher for the Inner Mission in Bergen. His preaching and pastoral care was very emotional. He came into conflict with the clergy and the citizenry when it became known that he had written a letter to a maid warning her not to attend a ball if she did not want to end up in hell. He was appointed bishop and quickly applied for another position. From 1866 to 1868 he was a seaman's pastor in Cardiff . There, too, his preaching was marked by judgment and death. He thought the sailors were all addicted to Satan. This is how his work for the seaman's mission ended. In 1868 he was without work and without the support of the bishop. In 1869 he worked against the determined resistance of the local pastor in Arendal's Inner Mission. In 1870 he became a chaplain in Agder, and for the next ten years he was an assistant chaplain in ten different parishes in the west of the diocese. In 1874 he became a permanent chaplain in Hetland near Stavanger and soon became a "fashion pastor". In addition to serving in his own parish, he made regular visits to neighboring parishes and, to the great annoyance of the pastors there, held meetings.

No room was big enough for his meetings. In 1874 his own meeting house "Bethania" was finished and the following year it was expanded to 3000 seats. Schools and an orphanage were also built. This was followed by a farm called "Emmaus". Then he bought a piece of land on the outskirts and built a printing shop, a bookbinding shop, a shoemaker's shop, a braiding shop and a bag factory where the orphanage children got work. In 1887 he bought the island of Lindøy in the Stavangerfjord, where he set up an educational facility for neglected children from all over the country. In the adult school he taught 1,200 students, most of them women from the lower classes. Soon he was heading a charity, and thousands of the lower classes were encouraged to help. There were also ample donations and bequests. Although he never gave an account of the use of the funds, his unselfishness was undisputed. Knut Hamsun wrote in his work on Oftedal that even the fiercest opponents showed his zeal for work and his perseverance with respect and that he treated all people equally, regardless of person.

In 1875 Oftedal visited his brother Sven in America and held over 60 meetings in the Midwest. Inspired by the American ideals of freedom, he was spurred on to further extreme efforts, especially in politics. He joined the “ Venstre ” and advocated parliamentarianism at a time when the clergy of the Østlandet thought it was madness. His mouthpiece was Vestlandsposten , of which he was editor and editor from 1878 to 1891. His combination of the politics of the “Venstre” with the lay preaching movement shaped Sør-Vestlandet, and the so-called “Oftedølene” (Pentecostals) formed the core of the moderate “Venstre”.

Oftedal became chaplain in 1880 and pastor in 1885 in the parish of St. Petri in Stavanger. He sat in the Stavanger City Parliament from 1877 to 1891 and in the Magistrate from 1885 to 1889. From 1883 to 1885 he was a member of the Storting. There he fought against the poet's salary for Alexander Kielland, who had depicted him satirically in some of his novels. He campaigned for democratic reforms. The revival movement he founded spread to Jæren . It was characterized by Bible reading, prayer, singing and alcohol abstinence. He wrote several hymns himself and also published a hymn book, which was printed in 200,000 copies.

His social decline came in 1891: after a long period of rumors, he stood in front of his community on All Saints' Day in 1891 and confessed that he had had an immoral relationship and resigned from his position as pastor. It became a public scandal and his opponents triumphed. He sought his release and received her "out of favor". He also resigned from all positions in his charity and placed management in the hands of two foundations. He, already re-elected to the storting, also had to resign. But his followers did not withdraw their trust in him. He immediately looked for a new place of work with a new prayer house and a new newspaper. From 1893 he published the Stavanger Aftenbladet and edited it himself. In 1898 he was re-elected to the city parliament.

In 1889 he became a knight of the Order of St. Olav .

Works (selection)

• En publicly Efterlysning . (A public want ad) along with some hymns. Stavanger 1869
• Basunrøst og Harpetoner (trumpet blast and harp tones ). Haugesund 1870
• Til Menigheden i Soggendal . (To the municipality in Soggendal) Haugesund 1872
• “Beretning om Reisen til Amerika” (Report on the trip to America) in Biblical Budet Nos. 39–44 and 49–52. 1874-1875
• En Samtale mellem Kristen og Ukyndig om Metodismen (A conversation between Christians and someone who knows nothing about Methodists). Stavanger 1875
• Bethanias Kirkelige Calendar (Bethanias Church Calendar), Stavanger 1878
• Before Frelsers Jesu Kristi Lidelse. Atten Betragtninger (The sufferings of our Savior Jesus Christ. Eighteen reflections). Stavanger 1881
• Besvarelse af Pastor Klavenes's aabne Brev til 'Vestlandspostens' Udgiver (reply to Pastor Klavenes' open letter to the editor of the Vestlandsposten). Stavanger 1882
• Prædikener, Taler og Betragtninger (sermons, speeches and reflections). Stavanger 1885
• Translation by Minucius Felix: Octavius. Et forsvarskrift for Christendommen (Menucius Felix: Octavius. A defense document for Christianity), 1885
• Botnegutten og Kvildalsjenten (boys from Botne and girls from Kvildal). Stavanger 1888
• Forlovelse (engagement). Story, Stavanger 1888
• Sypigen og hendes Datter (The seamstress and her daughter). Story, Stavanger 1889
• Translation: Basilius den store: Udvalgte Taler og Breve (Basilius the Great. Selected speeches and letters). 1890
• Blade af min Dagbog (sheets from my diary). Stavanger 1892
• Hilsen til Guds børn tillige med nogle nye sange (Greetings to the children of God with some new songs). Stavanger 1892
• Morgendug, husandagtsbog med skriftsteder, betragtninger og salmevers til hver dag i aaret (morning dew, house devotional book with scriptures, reflections and psalm verses for every day of the year). Stavanger 1893

Remarks

The article is based on the Norsk biografisk leksikon . Other information is specially marked.

1. ↑ The “Examen artium” was the entrance examination to the university. So it corresponded to the Abitur, but was accepted by the university.
2. ↑ Clergyman with his own sphere of activity, but subordinate to the local pastor.
3. ↑ Hetland is a former municipality in the Stavanger area. It was dissolved in 1965 and its territory partly Stavanger and partly Sandnes was added.
4. ↑ The institution was taken over by the city of Stavanger in 1900 and will exist until 2010. Then it will be closed and given way to an open-air center. See Lindøy in the Norwegian language Wikipedia.
5. ↑ Hammer / Keilhau p. 420.
6. ↑ Hammer / Keilhau p. 421.

literature

• Vidar L. Haanes: Lars Oftedal . In: Norsk biografisk leksikon .
• KV Hammer, W. Keilhau: Oftedal, Lars . In: Christian Blangstrup (Ed.): Salmonsens Konversationsleksikon . 2nd Edition. tape 18 : Nordlandsbaad – Perleøerne . JH Schultz Forlag, Copenhagen 1924, p. 420-421 (Danish, runeberg.org ).