 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Laestadianism" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(April 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 | You can helpexpand this article with text translated fromthe corresponding article in Finnish. (June 2023)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Laestadianism (Swedish:Læstadianism;Finnish:Lestadiolaisuus;Meänkieli:Lestaatiolaisuus;Northern Sami:Lestadianisma), also known asLaestadian Lutheranism andApostolic Lutheranism, is apietisticLutheran revival movement started inSápmi in the middle of the 19th century.[1] Named afterSwedish Lutheran state church administrator andtemperance movement leaderLars Levi Laestadius, it is the biggest pietisticrevivalist movement in theNordic countries.[2] It has members mainly inFinland,Northern America,Norway,Russia, andSweden. There are also smaller congregations inAfrica,South America, andCentral Europe. In addition Laestadian Lutherans have missionaries in 23 countries.[3] The number of Laestadians worldwide is estimated to be between 144,000 and 219,000.
Most Laestadians in Finland are part of thenationalLutheranChurch of Finland (cf.Communion of Nordic Lutheran Dioceses); butin America, where there is no official Lutheran church, they founded their own denomination,[4] which split into three sub-groups in the mid-20th century. Subsequent splits in the American church later resulted in 19 branches, of which about 15 are active today.
The three large main branches, comprising about 90 percent of Laestadians, are:[5]
The other branches are small and some of them inactive.
In Finland, theElämän Sana ("the Word of life") group, as the most "mainline" of the different branches of Laestadianism, has been prominent within the hierarchy of theEvangelical Lutheran Church of Finland: two members have been elected bishops ofOulu, and one has served asChaplain General (head chaplain of theFinnish Defence Forces, the equivalent of aMajor General).
All branches share many essential teachings including a central emphasis on the Lutheran doctrine of justification (forgiveness andgrace).
Another core teaching concerns essential differences in lifestyle and beliefs between true believers on one hand, and false Christians and unbelievers (sometimes distinguished as of living faith versus dead faith), on the other.
The leaders of the two largest Laestadian sub-groups, theConservative Laestadians andFirstborn Laestadians, have for decades excluded each other and all other Laestadian sub-groups from the kingdom of Heaven even though the denominations' core doctrines are nearly indistinguishable.[6] The leadership of the smaller third main sub-group, theFederation, has continued to regard the other sub-groups as of living faith, after having unsuccessfully sought to preserve unity within Laestadianism when its larger counterparts' leaders in the 1930s called for, and later required, dissociation from the Federation and other Laestadian denominations.[7]
The church teaches that every believer has the authority to testify that others' sins are forgiven, sometimes referred to as the audible declaration of the forgiveness of sins. Laestadians usually proclaim the forgiveness of sins "in Jesus' name and blood".
Laestadianism holds that when a Christian has committed a sin, whether in thought or deed, she or he should confess the sin to another believer. Thus it is a common practice among Laestadians in or out of church at any time, but especially during the church service prior to the rite of holy communion, to be confessing their sins to one another or, occasionally, to one of the church ministers performing the sacrament. A common declaration is, "Believe your sin(s) forgiven in Jesus' name and (shed) blood." This procedure, ingrained in Laestadianism, differs fromabsolution in mainstream Lutheran churches in several aspects, including that the request for forgiveness need not be, and most often is not, to the minister; the confession is often made openly; confession is not by appointment but rather readily available to any believer from any other believer at any time; and the specific wording of the declaration states that the means ofatonement isChrist's shed blood.
Because a Laestadian takes very seriously the proposition that grace exists only for one whose sins have been specifically forgiven, there is scarcely another rite in this movement that would rival the importance of the declaration of forgiveness. This doctrine is a unique extension of thepriesthood of the believer doctrine.
Both in greeting one another and on parting, English-speaking Laestadians say "God's peace", while Finnish-speaking Laestadians greet one another withJumalan terve, meaning'God's greeting', and take leave of one another withJumalan rauhaa(n), meaning'God's peace'.
"Worldliness" is discouraged, and Laestadians frown on pre-marital sex, and onalcohol consumption except in the sacrament of holy communion. Conservative Laestadians frown upon worldly vices such as dancing, television, birth control,rhythmicmusic,make-up, earrings, movies,tattoos, and cursing. Some conservative elements within the church go even further in rejecting the ways of the world by, for example, refusing to buy insurance, prohibiting their children's participation in organized school sports, and removing their car radios. Simplicity in the home, including the prohibition of curtains and flowers, is also a common claim especially amongFirstborn Laestadians, but is not a church doctrine.[8]
Especially large numbers of Firstborn Apostolic Lutherans and many members of the most conservative congregations within the Word of Peace group do not use birth control because they believe that a child is a gift from God; therefore, many Laestadian families are large.[9]
The central activities of Laestadians are annual or more frequent church conventions, including theSummer Services ofConservative Laestadians, attended by members from congregations far and wide; and for the youth,haps (gatherings of teenagers and young adults to sing fromSongs and Hymns of Zion and visit), song services, bonfires, youth discussions, caretaking meetings andrevival meetings.
WithinFirstborn Laestadianism in Scandinavia, the most important yearly events are the Christmas services inGällivare and the Midsummer services inLahti, where thousands of Firstborn Laestadians from different countries gather each year.
Different branches publish their newspapers and magazines.
In Finland, the Bible version primarily used by Laestadians is theFinnish Bible of 1776 which, unlike newer translations, is based on theTextus Receptus. TheCentral Association of the Finnish Associations of Peace (SRK) publishes a triple Finnish translation[10] (1776, 1933/1938, and 1992) that is used as both a study and a service Bible by Conservative Laestadian preachers. American and Canadian Laestadianism uses theKing James Version, based as well on the Textus Receptus.
The name of the movement stems fromLars Levi Laestadius (1800–1861), aSwedishSámi preacher and administrator for theSwedish state Lutheran church inSápmi who was also a noted botanist. Laestadius started the movement when working as a pastor for theChurch of Sweden in northern Sweden in the 1840s. Laestadius met aSami woman namedMilla Clementsdotter from Föllinge in the municipality ofKrokom inJämtland during an 1844 inspection tour ofÅsele. She belonged to a revival movement within theChurch of Sweden led by pastorPehr Brandell of the parish of Nora in the municipality ofKramfors inÅngermanland and characterized bypietistic andMoravian influences. She told Laestadius about her spiritual experiences on her journey to a truly living Christianity, and after the meeting Laestadius felt he had come to understand the secret of living faith. He had had a deep experience of having entered a state of grace, of having received God's forgiveness for his sins and of at last truly seeing the path that leads to eternal life. His sermons acquired, in his own words, "a new kind of colour" to which people began to respond. The movement began to spread fromSweden toFinland andNorway, particularly among the Sámi and theKvens. He preferred his followers to be known simply as "Christians", but others started to call them "Laestadians."
Two great challenges Laestadius had faced since his early days as a church minister were the indifference of his Sámi parishioners, who had been forced by theSwedish government to convert from theirshamanistic religion to Lutheranism, and the misery caused them by alcoholism. The spiritual understanding Laestadius acquired and shared in his new sermons "filled with vivid metaphors from the lives of the Sami that they could understand, ... about a God who cared about the lives of the people" had a profound positive effect on both problems. An account from the Sámi cultural perspective recalls a new desire among the Sámi to learn to read and a bustle and energy in the church, with people confessing their sins, crying and praying for forgiveness—within Laestadianism this was known asliikutukset, a kind ofecstasy. Drunkenness and cattle theft diminished, which had a positive influence on the Samis' relationships, finances and family life.[11]
The rapid rise of Laestadianism among the Sámi was due to several factors. Laestadius proudly self-identified as Sámi through his Southern Sámi mother. He spoke and preached in two Sámi dialects. Further he chose uneducated lay preachers from the Sámi reindeer herders to travel year around with them and preach to the unrepented among them. Additionally, in the early days of the movement, Laestadius, in order to find common ground with his parishioners, borrowed the Sámis' own familiar pagan deities and concepts and adapted them to Christianity. Another factor in the rise of Laestadianism among the Sámi was that the state-mandated boarding schools soon came to be populated by Laestadian personnel. Next, the strict moral code including strict temperance of Laestadianism appealed to the Sámi. Whole communities that had been wrecked by alcoholism went sober virtually overnight. This had the added positive effect of improving the Sámis' social standing with the outside world. Finally, Laestadianism was a faith that the Sámi could identify as originating from within inasmuch as Laestadius himself professed to have come to know the true living faith only upon his encounter with the poor abused Sámi woman, Milla Clementsdotter.[12]
A faction within Laestadianism has believed that the movement is a contemporary descendant of an unbroken line of living Christianity viaLuther, theBohemian Brethren, theLollards, and theWaldensians all the way back to theprimitive Church.Martin Luther,Jan Hus,John Wycliffe, andPeter Waldo are seen as spiritual ancestors of Laestadianism.
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(January 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Members tend to have large families by Western standards. InFinland, their demographic advantage has grown as the national fertility rate has fallen: in the 1940s their fertility rate was twice the national average, while in the 1980s it was four times the average. "By 1985–7, the Laestadian and FinnishTFRs stood at 5.47 and 1.45 respectively. Even within the Laestadian TFR of 5.47, there is diversity, with a 'moderate' group preferring to stop at four [children] and practisebirth control while a conservative cluster engages in unrestrained reproduction.
No research has been done on Laestadians' level ofendogamy and membership retention [as of 2010]. However, they are residentially and occupationally integrated, so lose more members to assimilation. For example, in the small town ofLarsmo, despite some losses to outmarriage and emigration, their share of the population doubled over just thirty years to about 40% in 1991 and was predicted to be "a two-thirds majority of the town in a generation."[14]
Initially, Laestadius exercised his ministry mainly among the indigenous Sámi people, but his influence soon spread into areasa of northern Finland, and the Laestadian (or Apostolic Lutheran) movement became predominantly Finnish. Even though he was a university-trained pastor and scientist (he was a renowned botanist), his powerful preaching and spiritual example ignited a lay-awakening movement in the north, a movement that is known for its distinctive religious practices, including lay confession and absolution.
Finnish immigrants to Minnesota in the first two decades after 1864 were largely Laestadians or Apostolic Lutherans, followers of Lars Levi Laestadius, a Lutheran minister who led a pietistic revival that swept the northern regions of the Scandinavia.
