August Weenaas (1835–1924) was a

Norwegian American Norwegian Americans () are Americans with ancestral roots in Norway. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the latter half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th century. There are more than 4.5 milli ...

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 ...

minister and educator. He was the founding president of

Augsburg University Augsburg University is a private university in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It was founded in 1869 as a Norwegian-American Lutheran seminary known as Augsburg Seminari ...

Biography

August Weenaas was born in

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 ...

and educated in the ministry at the

University of Christiania The University of Oslo (; ) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick University, the university was established in 1811 as the de facto Norwegian conti ...

, where he learned from the famed theologian and revivalist

Gisle Johnson Gisle Christian Johnson (10 September 1822 – 17 July 1894) was a leading 19th-century Norwegian theologian, revivalist, and educator. Biography Gisle Christian Johnson was born at Fredrikshald (now Halden) in Østfold, Norway. He grew up at ...

. He was ordained as a minister in the

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

. He served as a pastor there for several years at Loppen prior to immigrating to the United States in 1868. Weenaas resigned his pastorate in the beginning of February 1868 and became a professor in

Paxton, Illinois Paxton is a city in and the county seat of Ford County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,450 at the 2020 census. History The town was initially named Prairie City in the late 1840s, then Prospect City by an Illinois Central Railr ...

, at the Scandinavian Augustana Synod Seminary (now Augustana College in

Rock Island, Illinois Rock Island is a city in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The population was 37,108 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located at the confluence of the Rock River (Mississippi River tributary), Rock a ...

). In 1869, he was named president of Augsburg Seminary, a position he held from 1869 until 1876. Weenaas recruited two professors from Norway,

Sven Oftedal Sven Oftedal (March 22, 1844 – March 30, 1911) was a Norwegian American Lutheran minister. He served as the 3rd president of Augsburg University and helped found the Lutheran Free Church. Background Sven Svensen Oftedal was born in Stavanger, ...

and

Georg Sverdrup Georg Sverdrup (born Jørgen Sverdrup; 25 April 1770 – 8 December 1850) was a Norwegian statesman, best known as one of the presidents of the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll Manor in 1814. He was a member of the Norwegian Parlia ...

. Together these three men would serve as the first three presidents of Augsburg Seminary, covering the period 1868 through 1911. Weenaas took active part in the movement which resulted in the friendly separation of the Norwegians from the Scandinavian Augustana Synod at the meeting held at Andover, Illinois, in June 1870. He was one of the organizers of the

Conference of the Norwegian-Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church of America Conference of the Norwegian-Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church of America usually called the Conference was a Lutheran church body that existed in the United States from 1870 to 1890, when it merged into the United Norwegian Lutheran Church of Ame ...

at the following meeting held at St. Ansgar, Iowa, in August of the same year. From January 1870 until June 1876 he edited the official paper of the Conference called ''Lutheraneren og Missionsbladet''. His wife, Valborg, died in September 1873 and subsequently his two young daughters also died. In 1876, Weenaas returned to Norway. In 1882, he returned to the United States with his second wife, Marie, and several of their children. The family lived in

Red Wing, Minnesota Red Wing is a city in and the county seat of Goodhue County, Minnesota, United States, along the upper Mississippi River. The population was 16,547 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropo ...

, where Weenaas taught theology at the

Red Wing Seminary Red Wing Seminary was a Lutheran Church seminary which operated from 1879 to 1932 in Red Wing, Minnesota, United States, with brick buildings on a bluff called College Hill overlooking the Mississippi River. History Red Wing Seminary was the educ ...

from 1882 to 1885 before returning to Norway. Upon his return to Norway he received an appointment as pastor at Søndmøre in

Ålesund Ålesund () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of Ålesund Municipality. The centre of the town of Ålesund lies on the islands of Hessa, Aspøya, Ålesund, Asp� ...

, More og Romsdal.

Selected works

*''Wisconsinismen; belyst ved historiske Kjendsgjerninger'' (1875) *''Falskt vidnesbyrd'' (1879) *''Mindeblade: eller Otte Aar in Amerika'' (1890)

References

Other sources

*Hamre, James S. ''August Weenaas: A Seminary President among Norwegian Immigrants Interprets the Nineteenth Century American Lutheran Scene'' (Lutheran Historical Conference, Bibliography of Writings on Lutheranism in America, Essays and Reports, Vol. 17, 1996)

External links

August Weenaas House, Marshall WI.Faculty at Augsburg Seminary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weenaas, August 1835 births 1924 deaths American Lutheran theologians 19th-century American Lutheran clergy Norwegian emigrants to the United States 19th-century Norwegian Lutheran clergy 20th-century Norwegian Lutheran clergy