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Thursday, June 20, 2019

Probably Impossible but ...

Probably Impossible but ... I need help solving this mystery if possible. Thomas Brewer, a very early adherent living in Michigan, wrote to Russell in 1887, saying:

I have discovered a movement, among
the Swedes similar to ours, a family of
them rented a farm joining mine. They
are good pious people. I paid them a
visit after they had become settled, and
learned that they in common with numbers
of their countrymen here had discorded
sects and sect names, salaried ministry,
etc., etc. They believe that where two
or three meet, there is the true Church,
and every one is encouraged to use his or
her own talents as the Lord has endowed
them. The Bible and the Bible only is
their rule of faith and practice. I found
that from a study of Scripture they have
discovered many truths similar to those
we rejoice in.

I need to identify this group. I have failed thus far. Can you solve the mystery?
Posted by at

3 comments:

latecomer said...

Here's a possibility, although admittedly a distant one:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laestadianism

It's a denomination that grew out of the Finnish Lutheran Church during the 19th Century. It has some adherents in Sweden; for that matter, some 15% of Finns spoke Finnish during that period. There have also many variants, so it's possible that some had similar beliefs to some of the early Bible Students. Also, they were strong in Michigan.

This link might also give some clues: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.14321/j.ctt7zt5gw

Does the following sound familiar? I think it might be significant.

A faction within Laestadianism has believed that the movement is a contemporary descendant of an unbroken line of living Christianity via the Moravian Church, Luther, the Bohemian Brethren, the Lollards, and the Waldensians all the way back to the primitive Church. Martin Luther, Jan Hus, John Wycliffe and Peter Waldo are seen as spiritual ancestors of Laestadianism.

I will post more later this evening.

June 20, 2019 at 3:39 PM
B. W. Schulz said...

I'm aware of that group. Another represented by a clergyman in Minnesota rejected infant baptism. I meed something a bit more definite. Thanks for searching. Please keep looking.

June 20, 2019 at 5:11 PM
latecomer said...

Here's another obscure group, one that seems to have more specifically Swedish roots - The Akians.

The protagonists in the 1971 film "The Emigrants" were portrayed as belonging to that sect.

https://books.google.com/books?id=g42hFb0r7FAC&pg=PT11&lpg=PT11&dq=Akian+sect+Ake+Svensson&source=bl&ots=9goWsBn1Ca&sig=ACfU3U0cYJTrQPPKpitJgCxfmnFUdqmlYw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj134P7pfniAhUFXq0KHR9oDOoQ6AEwB3oECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=Akian%20sect%20Ake%20Svensson&f=false

June 20, 2019 at 5:19 PM

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