Elias Blix (24 February 1836 – 17 January 1902) was a Norwegian professor, theologian, hymn writer, and a politician for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

. Blix wrote numerous hymns and was largely responsible for translating the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

into the

Norwegian language Norwegian ( ) is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken mainly in Norway, where it is an official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelli ...

Biography

Born on Sandhornøy in

Gildeskål Municipality Gildeskål is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Bodø Region and the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipali ...

, in the

Salten Salten is a traditional district in Nordland county, Norway. It includes the municipalities of Gildeskål, Bodø, Beiarn, Saltdal, Fauske, Sørfold, Steigen, and Hamarøy. Salten covers an area of about and has a population (2016) of about ...

district of

Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...

County, Norway. He attended a teacher seminary in

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

(1853–1855). After some years as a teacher in Tromsø, he moved to Christiania for studies in 1859. He was a student of

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya language, Tigrinya, Aramaic, Hebrew language, Hebrew, Maltese language, Maltese, Modern South Arabian language ...

. Blix graduated in 1860 and received his theological degree in 1866 and earned a '' Dr. philos.'' in 1876. Blix worked as a teacher for 25 years at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

, where he taught

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

and Bible studies. Blix was Minister of Education and Church Affairs in the Cabinet of

Johan Sverdrup Johan Sverdrup (30 July 1816 – 17 February 1892) was a Norwegian politician from the Liberal Party. He was the first prime minister of Norway after the introduction of parliamentarism. Sverdrup was prime minister from 1884 to 1889. Early year ...

from 1884 to 1888, interrupted by a period as member of the Council of State Division in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

in 1885–86. Blix was also a proponent of the

Nynorsk Nynorsk (; ) is one of the two official written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language (''Landsmål''), parallel to the Da ...

language, as well as a composer of psalms and hymns. Among his best known hymns are ''Gud signe vårt dyre fedreland'' and ''No livnar det i lundar''. His collection of hymns in

, '' Nokre salmar'', published between the years 1869 to 1875, was in 1892 permitted for official use 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 ...

, alongside the official version. Together with

Johannes Belsheim Johannes Engebretsen Belsheim (21 January 1829 – 15 July 1909) was a Norwegian teacher, priest, translator and biographer. Johannes Belsheim was born in the village of Thorpegardane at Vang Municipality in Oppland county. He attended Aske ...

and Matias Skard, Blix was a major contributor to the Nynorsk translation of the

, which was published in 1890. Nordlendingenes Forening was founded in 1862 by Elias Blix together with educator, clergyman and engineer Ole Tobias Olsen (1830–1924). The society is a fraternal association of people who have emigrated from the counties of

Troms Troms (; ; ; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. It borders Finnmark county to the northeast and Nordland county in the southwest. Norrbotten Län in Sweden is located to the south and further southeast is a shorter border with ...

and

Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...

Northern Norway Northern Norway (, , ; ) is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the three northernmost counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the largest towns in Northern Norway (from south to no ...

. In honor of the society's 50th anniversary in 1912, a commemorative medal was first established in memory of

Petter Dass Petter Pettersen Dass (c. 1647 – 17 August 1707) was a Lutheran priest and the foremost Norwegian poet of his generation, writing both baroque hymns and topographical poetry. Biography Dass was born on the island of Dønna in what was the ...

, the clergyman and poet from

Helgeland Helgeland is the most southerly Districts of Norway, district in Northern Norway. Generally speaking, Helgeland refers to the part of Nordland county that is located south of the Arctic Circle. It is bordered in the north by the Saltfjellet moun ...

. The Petter Dass Medal (''Petter Dass medaljen'') is an award given annually by Nordlendingenes Forening, to people from

who have distinguished themselves in their work for the region's development.

Personal life

In 1871, Blix married Emma Alvilde Marie Hansen (1849–1927). They were the parents of several children including Marie Blix (1873–1920), Einar Blix (1880–1941) and illustrator Ragnvald Blix (1882–1958). Elias Blix died during 1902 and was buried at

Vår Frelsers gravlund The Cemetery of Our Saviour () is a cemetery in Oslo, Norway, located north of Hammersborg in Gamle Aker district. It is located adjacent to the older Old Aker Cemetery and was created in 1808 as a result of the great famine and cholera epidemi ...

in Oslo.

Blix Prize

The Blix Prize (''Blix-prisen'') is a literary prize awarded annually by the Norwegian publishing house

Det Norske Samlaget Det Norske Samlaget is a Norwegian publishing house founded on 24 March 1868 with the aim to promote and publish books in Landsmål, now known as Nynorsk. ''Det Norske Samlaget'' is now divided into two institutions: a literature organization, '' ...

to an outstanding author from

who writes in

. The award is a monetary amount from the Emma and Elias Blix Endowment. The endowment was established by Marie Blix and Einar Blix in memory of their parents, Emma and Elias Blix.

References

Other sources

*Olsen, Kurt-Johnny (1986) ''Elias Blix, mannen og verket'' (Bodø) *Aschim, Anders (2008) ''Ein betre vår ein gong: Elias Blix: Biografi''

External links

Elias Blix
at Salten Museum, Bodø
Elias Blix 175 year JubileumFamily Genealogy
(vestraat.net) {{DEFAULTSORT:Blix, Elias 1836 births 1902 deaths People from Gildeskål Norwegian Lutherans Liberal Party (Norway) politicians Nynorsk-language writers Norwegian male poets 19th-century Norwegian translators Academic staff of the University of Oslo Government ministers of Norway Translators of the Bible into Norwegian 19th-century Norwegian poets 19th-century Norwegian male writers Burials at the Cemetery of Our Saviour Lutheran biblical scholars 19th-century Lutherans Ministers of education of Norway