Lars Olsen Skrefsrud

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Lars Olsen Skrefsrud

Lars Olsen Skrefsrud (born February 4, 1840 in Fåberg , Norway , † December 11, 1910 in Benagaria , India ) was a Norwegian missionary and linguist in India. Together with Hans Peter Børresen he is considered the founder of the Norwegian mission society Santalmisjonen (part of Normisjon from 2001 ). His successor was the missionary, linguist and folklorist Paul Olaf Bodding .

As a young man, Skrefsrud was imprisoned for several years for burglary. He became a Christian in prison and began to study the Bible and various languages. He later became one of Norway's leading linguists: he eventually mastered 18 languages.

Life

Early years

Skrefsrud grew up with eight siblings in poor conditions. His father was a carpenter and blacksmith , but was an alcoholic and this caused many difficulties for his family. Lars was very talented, but the family couldn't afford a high school for him.

He learned the coppersmith trade and then worked in Brumunddal. His interest in Christianity was aroused at a gathering of Haugians (named after the revival preacher Hans Nielsen Hauge ), to which he and a few friends only went to see the girls there. In the fall of 1857, however, he got into bad company and committed theft.

In the summer of 1858 he was arrested and sentenced to four years in prison. During his time in prison in Christiania (Oslo) he turned to the Christian faith. During this time he also learned German and English by himself. His interest in linguistics followed him throughout his life, inspired mainly by his missionary calling. As a result, he mastered eighteen different languages ​​over time. He was also known as a competent and inspiring speaker.

education

In October 1861 he was released from prison. Anna Onsum, a farmer's daughter from Fåberg, visited him in prison, they got engaged and married in 1865 (?).

He then spent some time in the Bodding bookstore in Gjøvik to study theology and missionary studies. At that time Skrefsrud was working in the Nyland workshop in Christiania (Oslo), and in addition to his work also continued his language studies in French, Latin and Greek.

In the summer of 1862 he went to Stavanger and applied for admission to the mission school. But he was rejected - probably because of his previous conviction. However, Skrefsrud felt a strong missionary calling, and so this refusal did not stop him. There were other mission societies. So he went to Berlin and became acquainted with the Hans Peter and Caroline Borresen family, who brought him into contact with the Berlin Goßner mission .

Missionary activity

After a short training until the spring of 1863 at the mission school of the Gossner Mission, where he also learned Greek and Hebrew, he was sent to India. There he worked first in the northwest of Calcutta . His plan was that his fiancée Anna would follow, but this project was made considerably more difficult because the cooperation between German and Scandinavian mission societies had been broken off due to the German-Danish war in 1866.

Skrefsrud proselytized among the Santal people in India . Their traditional religion was a kind of animism . The starting point of the mission was the organization "The Indian Home Mission to the Santals". On September 26, 1867, the foundation stone was laid for the first house of the mission station in Ebenezer Benagaria. This date is considered the foundation day of the Santal Mission.

In the spring of 1868 Skrefsrud performed the adult baptism. For a long time he had been inspired by the Baptist mission in India, but later got away from it.

Skrefsrud published a grammar of Santali in 1873 . In 1873 and 1874 he traveled through Europe, including Great Britain and Germany, and twice to Norway. In doing so, he laid a secure foundation for the financing of the Santal mission. His lectures met with great interest, and from 1881 to 1883 he repeated his trip to Europe. The result was a large number of fundraisers and mission associations that supported him. Skrefsrud visited Norway for the last time in 1894 when his ship lay in the port of Oslo for one day en route to the USA.

Assam

The work in India was expanded to include other areas: The Santal Mission acquired an area of ​​around 100 km² wasteland in the state of Assam . Santal settlers moved there from 1881. A number of schools were built and the Mornai Tea Estate company established in the area. The income from this is used for missionary work to this day.

Last years

Skrefsrud died on December 11, 1910 in Benagaria, India. In the last years of his life he was partially paralyzed.

Freemasons

With his language skills and international experience, it was not unnatural that Skrefsrud also came into contact with Freemasonry . In Copenhagen he became a member of a lodge and was criticized for it. But he defended himself with the scripture "Basis he before Kristentro" (Basis is our Christian faith, Copenhagen 1883), in which he argued that Nordic Freemasonry is based on Christianity and the Bible, on the baptismal profession and the belief in redemption through Christ. However, this view of his was disputed by the Danish church historian Frederik Nielsen. This discussion eventually led to Skrefsrud giving up his activity in the lodge. At his death he had the VI. Degree.

meaning

The mission he founded has now grown into a church with over 150,000 members in the Indian states of Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam - the (Indian) Northern Evangelical Lutheran Church (NELC).

The Evangelical Church in Germany commemorates Lars Olsen Skrefsrud with a day of remembrance in the Evangelical Name Calendar on December 11th .

literature

  • Ivar Saeter: Lars Olsen Skrefsrud. The founder of the Santal Mission . Evang. Missionsverlag, Stuttgart, Basel, 1929

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lars Olsen Skrefsrud in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Skrefsrud, Lars Olsen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian missionary and linguist
DATE OF BIRTH February 4, 1840
PLACE OF BIRTH Fåberg
DATE OF DEATH December 11, 1910
Place of death Benagaria