Bethel Seminary (

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

: ) was the Baptist Union of Sweden's

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

for training pastors from 1866 to 1994.

History

The 1866 conference of the Swedish Baptists, which would eventually lead to the creation of the

Baptist Union of Sweden The Baptist Union of Sweden () was a Baptist union in Sweden. In 2011–2012, they merged to form a new denomination, Joint Future Church, now called Uniting Church in Sweden. The first known Baptist church in Sweden was organized on September 21 ...

in 1889, decided to found a seminary for the new and growing movement, calling it Bethel Seminary (). It opened in 1866 and Colonel

Oscar Broady Oscar Broady (May 28, 1832 – March 13, 1922) was a petty officer in the Swedish navy who emigrated to the United States. During the Civil War he rose to the command of a brigade in the Union Army. After returning to Sweden as a Baptist missiona ...

of the Union Army was the seminary's first rector. Swedish Baptist pioneer Anders Wiberg helped raise funds through the

American Baptist Missionary Union International Ministries is an international Baptist Christian missionary society. It is a constituent board affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. The headquarters is in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, United States. History The soc ...

to support the seminary in its early years. In 1905, the seminary had four years with about 40 students each and four regular and two adjunct professors. During the first 40 years, 400 students had attended classes. The seminary had its own library with primarily English theological literature. In the beginning, Bethel Seminary was located in , Stockholm First Baptist Church's chapel, on Malmskillnadsgatan 48 in central Stockholm, but as of 1883 the school's address was Engelbrektsgatan 18 and in 1966 the seminary moved to Bromma. From 1994, (Bethel

folk high school Folk high schools (also ''adult education center'') are institutions for adult education that generally do not grant academic degrees, though certain courses might exist leading to that goal. They are most commonly found in Nordic countries and i ...

) was located in the later premises of Bethel Seminary in

Bromma Bromma () is a Boroughs of Stockholm, borough (''stadsdelsområde'') in the western part of Stockholm, Sweden, forming part of the Stockholm Municipality. Bromma is primarily made up of Bromma Parish and Västerled Parish. The fourth largest airpo ...

, Stockholm, which became on 1 February 2014. Enskilda Högskolan Stockholm (University College Stockholm) has been located next to Bethel Seminary's old premises since 2002. University College Stockholm is a kind of successor to the Bethel Seminary. It was founded in 1993 as a merger of the Bethel Seminary in Bromma and the then- Mission Covenant Church's counterpart Theological Seminary () on Lidingö. In the first year the activities were divided between Bromma and Lidingö, after which the entire school was located in Lidingö. After the college outgrew the premises there, new premises were built next to the old Bethel Seminary premises in Bromma, which were inaugurated at the start of the autumn term in 2002. In 2008, the then- (which until then had been located in Gothenburg) was also added.

Notable students

* 1869–1873 – * 1878–1882 – * 1888–1890 – Johan Alfred Rinell * 1890–1893 – * 1904–1906 –

Lewi Pethrus Lewi Pethrus (born Pethrus Lewi Johansson; 11 March 1884 – 4 September 1974) was a Swedish Pentecostal minister who played a decisive role in the formation and development of the Pentecostal movement in his country. In 1964, he founded the ...

* Unknown years –

Rectors

* 1958–1971 –

References

External links

* Jakobsson Byström, Jakob; Hedvall, Fredrik Emanuel (1926)
''Betelseminariet 1866-1926; porträtt och kortfattade biografiska uppgifter över lärare och elever samt ledamöter av styrelseutskottet, utg. till sextioårsjubileet den 7 juni 1926''
(PDF)

Photo of instructors and students 1918–1922
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bethel Seminary (Stockholm) Educational institutions disestablished in 1994 Educational institutions established in 1866 Christianity in Stockholm Baptist Christianity in Sweden Seminaries and theological colleges in Sweden 1866 establishments in Sweden 1994 disestablishments in Sweden 19th-century establishments in Stockholm 20th-century disestablishments in Stockholm