Hans Nielsen Hauge (1771-1824) was a revivalist Norwegian lay preacher who spoke up against the Church establishment in Norway. He and his followers were persecuted in their time, though their teachings were in keeping with Lutheran doctrine. Hauge is considered an influential personality in the industrialization of Norway.

Biography

Hans Nielsen Hauge was born the fourth of ten children on April 3, 1771 in his ancestral farm of Hauge in Tune, near Fredrikstad in the county of Østfold. He had a poor and otherwise unextraordinary childhood and youth until April 5, 1796, when he received his "spiritual baptism" in a field near his farm. Within two months, he had founded a revival movement in his own community, written a book, and decided to take his mission on the road. He wrote a series of books, and estimates are that 100,000 Norwegians read one or more of them, at a time when the population was 900,000 more or less literate individuals.

In the next several years, Hauge traveled - mostly be foot - throughout most of Norway, from Tromsø in the north to Denmark in the south. He held countless revival meetings, often after church services. In addition to his religious work, he also offered practical advice, encouraging among other things settlements in Northern Norway.

He was imprisoned for much of the period between 1804 and 1814. At the time, religious assembly outside the auspices of the state church was illegal, and Hauge also found himself accused of various other spurious charges. By all accounts, his time in prison broke his health and led to his premature death. Upon his release from prison in 1814, he took up work as a farmer, and in 1815 he married Andrea Andersdatter, who died in childbirth. In 1817, he remarried Ingeborg Marie Olsdatter and bought the farm Bredtvedt farm (which is now a prison) where he died March 2, 1824.

Historical legacy

Hauge's message emphasized the type of spirituality he felt originated with Martin Luther. He led charismatic meetings, and his organization became an informal network that in many ways challenged the establishment of the state church. As a result, he and his followers were persecuted in various ways. Hauge was imprisoned on several occasions, spending nine years in prison. Nevertheless, the "haugianere" increased their influence over time. It is generally agreed that Hauge had a profound influence on both secular and religious history in Norway.

This appears to have several reasons:

• His defiance toward the religious and secular establishment gave voice to ordinary people, paving much of the way for the social democratic tradition in Norway and indeed the entire Nordic region
• His theology, while bound in Lutheran doctrine, revitalized the notion of universal religion in Norway. The Norwegian state church credits him today for making religion a personal obligation.
• His travels created nationwide networks that persist in Norway's political system generally and among parties in particular.
• His advocacy for common people became an important force as the industrial revolution unfolded.

Three members of the constitutional assembly in Eidsvoll belonged to his movement, and the movement dissolved when it had obtained its objectives.

External links

• Hans Nielsen Hauge Memorial Museum in Fredrikstad