Asbjørn Aavik (November 30, 1902 – November 20, 1997) was a Norwegian

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

to China. He was also the author of approximately forty books.

Early years

Aavik was born in Aavig (now

Åvik Åvik is a small seaport village in Lindesnes municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is on the coast near the southernmost part of Norway, about to the southeast of the village of Svenevig Svenevig or Svennevik is a village in Lindes ...

) in

Lindesnes Lindesnes () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Manda ...

, Norway. From 1921 to 1926, he received education at Fjellhaug utdanningssenter in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, a missionary school affiliated with the

Norwegian Lutheran Mission The Norwegian Lutheran Mission (''Norsk Luthersk Misjonssamband'' in Norwegian; NLM) is one of several independent Lutheran organisations working within the Lutheran Church of Norway. History The organization was founded in 1891 as Det Norske ...

Missionary work

He was sent to China in 1928 where he started on the China Mission Association's mission fields around Laohekou in Hubei. Aavik married Ragna Torgersen (1906–1984) in 1932 and later moved to the Yunyang northwestern mission area. The situation was turbulent, not least because of robber bands and the communist insurgency in the 1930s. In 1935 the couple decided to return to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The planned return trip to China had to be postponed because the missionaries in China warned of increasing uncertainty and unease, but in 1938 Aavik traveled alone, without family, back to the same mission field in China. The Norwegian missionaries would later temporarily and definitely leave this field because of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the subsequent communist advance. Aavik returned home for the second time in 1946. Aavik still came back to the Republic of China, now

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, where he worked with less interruption from 1952 to 1970. His work consisted partly in teaching at a Bible school at

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung, officially Kaohsiung City, is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsiung City has a population of approximately 2.73 million p ...

and at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

and

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: '), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in central Taiwan. Taichung is Taiwan's second-largest city, with more than 2.85 million residents, making it the largest city in Ce ...

. He also became the first principal at the China Lutheran Seminary in

Hsinchu Hsinchu (, ), officially Hsinchu City, is a city located in northwestern Taiwan. It is the most populous city in Taiwan that is not a special municipality, with estimated 450,655 inhabitants. Hsinchu is a coastal city bordering the Taiwan ...

. He was the writer of many missionary books. In the summer of 1999, a memorial stone was unveiled for the missionary in

Selected works

Best known

*''Temple of the Spirit', 1953 (translated to Chinese) *''Holy unrest'', 1956

Novels

*''They are waiting'', 1940 (published in four editions) *''Nybrott'', 1941 *''Dalen'', 1949 (best novel winner) *''The white river'', 1951 *''The Red Lotus'', 1957 *''The earth is bleeding'', 1964

Autobiographical

*''Roses in the rain: Young year in China'', 1977 *''Aavik in maturation: Rich years in China'' *''Grotid in the storm: War years in China'', 1982

Other

*''At the border'', 1948 *''The struggle for borders. Tanganyika and Christian Mission'', 1952 *''The shade of the bamboo carpet'', 1955 *''At the Kingdom Gate'', 1959 *''The East Comes'', 1962 *''God of Jacob'', 1965 *''The Missionary Association in Asia'', 1966 *''The Kingdom Comes'', 1967 *''Everyday'', 1968 *''The Sand by the Sea'', 1968 *''Elisa – Safat's son'', 1969 *''The sand was white'', 1970 *''Window to Hong Kong'', 1971 *''Golden Sand'', 1973 *''Window to Japan'', 1973 *''Wrecked silver: King Saul'', 1975 *''The China I saw again'', 1980 *''Years in the sun, Breakthrough in Taiwan'', 1984 *''Hiking'', 1987 (devotional)

Articles

* Harald Stene Dehlin and Asbjørn Aavik:''The priest with the red ads,'' Luther, 1979 (if Olaf Stromme) * "The mission of a track change" I:''Norwegian Journal of mission'', Årg. 6, No. 2 (1952) * "A Christian statesman and the world" I:''Norwegian Journal of mission'', Årg. 17, No. 2 (1963) (If

Chiang Kai-Chek Chiang may mean: * Chiang, a variant spelling of several Chinese surnames commonly spelled Jiang (surname), Jiang ** ** * Chi'ang, variant spelling of the ancient Qiang (historical people) () * Chi'ang, variant spelling of the modern Qiang peopl ...

)

References

Related literature

* Gunnar Bråthen:''Spirit and mission: the revival of Samba Its mission field in China, 1930–1932, with particular emphasis on how Marie Monsen and Asbjørn Aavik experienced this.'' Unpublished student assignment, MF, 2001 * Asbjørn Nordgård:''The wizards: they taught me something for life and eternity.'' Lunde, 2005

External links

Biography from Fjellhaug school
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aavik, Asbjorn 1902 births 1997 deaths People from Lindesnes Lutheran missionaries in China 20th-century Norwegian writers Norwegian Lutheran missionaries Norwegian expatriates in China 20th-century Lutherans