Waldenstrom, Paul Petter

Swedish Luther an Church; b. at Lulea, a town in the northern part of Sweden, July 20, 1838; graduated as Ph.D. at the University of Upsala 1863; ordained 1864 became head master of gymnasium at Umea 1864, and of that at Gefie 1874. He came into conflict with Luther an Orthodoxy in 1872, upon the doctrine of the atonement, in regard to which he holds that the reconciliation through Christ is of us to God, not of God to us; not per gratiam propter Christum salvatio, but propter gratiam per Christum. The subject is God, the Father of Christ; the source is the love of God; the object is the whole world; the mediator is Christ, the only begotteu God, the Son of God; the end is the restitution of men to God, not the redemption of God to men. His subsequent writings in defence of his position have excited great interest, and stirred up a great controversy. He is also a leader in the Free- Church movement in Sweden, and in consequence frequently prosecuted by the Upsala Consistory. He resigned his clerical position in the State Church in 1880. For baptizing two children in September, 1884, he was prosecuted by the Consistory, but by appeal to the king he was cleared. He is a member of the Swedish Parliament. [His eloquence renders him an attractive and powerful preacher, and the Free-Church movement owes much to him. See M. W. Montgomery, A Wind from the Holy Spirit in Sweden and Norway, New York, 1884.] Of his numerous and highly popular writings, all in Swedish, may be mentioned, Sermons over the Neio Pericopes of the Swedish Church, Stockholm, 1868-80, 1 vols.; The Lord is Holy, 1875 (reprinted in Chicago, 111.), and translated into German (Leipzig, 1877); The Eternal Decree of Election, 1880 sqq., 3 vols.; The History of Infant-Baptism; The New Testa' ment, newly translated, ivith Notes, 1883 sqq.