The Conventicle Act () was a Swedish law, in effect between 21 January 1726 and 26 October 1858 in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and until 1 July 1870 in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. The act outlawed all

conventicle A conventicle originally meant "an assembly" and was frequently used by ancient writers to mean "a church." At a semantic level, ''conventicle'' is a Latinized synonym of the Greek word for ''church'', and references Jesus' promise in Matthew 18: ...

s, or religious meetings of any kind, outside of the Lutheran

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden () is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.5 million members at year end 2023, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest List ...

, with the exception of family prayer or worship. The purpose was to prevent

freedom of religion Freedom of religion or religious liberty, also known as freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice ...

and protect religious unity, as such unity was regarded as important to maintain the control of the Crown over the public through the Church. The law only applied to Swedish citizens, while the religious freedom of foreigners was protected by the Tolerance Act.

History

The law was initiated in 1726 to prevent the popularity of

Pietism Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christianity, Christian life. Although the movement is ali ...

, which was spreading rapidly in Sweden in the first half of the 18th century, and used against early proponents such as Thomas Leopold, Johan Stendahl, and

Peter Spaak Peter Spaak (6 June 1696 – 2 December 1769) was a Swedish Protestant Reformer. Challenging the Lutheran orthodoxy as an early proponent of freedom of religion in Sweden, he founded the society of Pietists based in the Diocese of Gothenburg, a ...

. During the 19th century, the Conventicle Act was used as a tool against the Shouter movement and the spread of

free church A free church is any Christian denomination that is intrinsically separate from government (as opposed to a state church). A free church neither defines government policy, nor accept church theology or policy definitions from the government. A f ...

es. Free church preachers, such as Baptist Fredrik Olaus Nilsson, were exiled. This law was one reason for emigration from

to the USA in the 1840s and 1850s. During the 19th century, the law became controversial and was constantly debated in parliament. It was finally abolished in 1858. The new law stipulated that conventicles were not to take place in parallel with the services of the Lutheran Church without prior dispensation. This condition was abolished in 1868 and replaced with the condition that such gatherings were not to take place in the close surroundings of a

Lutheran church Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...

. The Conventicle Act was also in effect in Finland, until 1809 the Eastern part of Sweden. The Russian

Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland was the predecessor state of modern Finland. It existed from 1809 to 1917 as an Autonomous region, autonomous state within the Russian Empire. Originating in the 16th century as a titular grand duchy held by the Monarc ...

kept her laws from the Swedish time until changed by the

Diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

, which abolished the Conventicle Act from 1 July 1870.

Notes

{{Reflist

References

* Frängsmyr, Tore (2004). Svensk idéhistoria: Bildning och vetenskap under tusen år, Part II 1809–2000. Stockholm:

Natur & Kultur Natur & Kultur is a Swedish publishing foundation with its head office in Stockholm. It is known for an extensive series of teaching materials, and its logotype is an apple tree. Overview The publishing house was founded in 1922 by Johan H ...

, p. 91f. * "Konventikelplakatet" in ''

Nordisk familjebok (, 'Nordic Family Book') is a Swedish language, Swedish encyclopedia that was published in print from between 1876 and 1993, and that is now fully available in digital form via Project Runeberg at Linköping University. The public domain edit ...

'' (first edition, 1884) 1726 in law 1858 in law 1870 in law 1726 in Sweden 18th century in Finland 18th century in Sweden 19th century in Finland 19th century in Sweden 1858 in Sweden Sweden during the Age of Liberty 1726 in religion Legal history of Sweden History of Lutheranism in Sweden History of the Church of Sweden Christianity and law in the 18th century Christianity and law in the 19th century

History

See also

Notes

References