Gerhard Gerhardsson

Gerhard Gerhardsson (2 or 14 July 1792 – 3 or 9 March 1878) was a Swedish craftsman and religious leader.

Biography

Upbringing and spiritual awakening Gerhard Gerhardsson was born in Fällfors, Byske parish, Västerbotten, Sweden, to farmer Gerdt Nilsson and Cathrina Andersdotter. He was raised in a Pietist Old Reader (läsare) religious environment. Gerhardsson never attended school but learned to read and write on his own.

His confirmation left him feeling a spiritual calling and in late 1814, in his early 20s, he experienced a religious crisis. A booklet made him concerned, which had recently been published and was circulating in the area, entitled ('Serious admonition to all right-minded Christians to beware of false doctrine, but especially of the writings of Per Tollesson'). On New Year's Eve, he underwent a dramatic spiritual experience lasting nine days in which he read the Bible and believed he was alternately in heaven and hell. He later described himself during this time as "not crazy like other madmen."

Shift towards Schartauism, later life In the early 1820s, the Readers began to use the Moravian Brethren hymnals and . These hymnals, written partly in protest of the Church of Sweden's hymnal, were initially smuggled into the country in the late 1700s. The Moravians at the time had a strong emotional emphasis and focus on the wounds and blood of Jesus. The two hymnals contained songs of this nature and the latter a number of songs by radical Moravian preacher . Gerhardsson became critical of the sentimental aspect of the New Reader movement. He believed it led to a false Christianity due to a lack of focus on the struggle against sin. He struggled with the New Readers' "hyperevangelism" and instead placed a strong emphasis on repentance and sanctification. He eventually distanced himself significantly from the New Readers.

In 1828 Gerhardsson moved to Bygdsiljum in Burträsk. Pietist preacher Anders Rosenius worked in Burträsk as assistant vicar starting in 1834. His son, the later influential preacher Carl Olof Rosenius, met Gerhardsson at some point and spoke to him about spiritual matters.

He became a strong promoter in the region of Schartau's work and gained a number of new followers after having lost some of his previous followers. Carl Olof Rosenius would later lament Gerhardsson's turn towards Schartauism in a letter to Finnish priest Fredrik Gabriel Hedberg. Likewise, Gerhardsson felt Rosenius had gone in the wrong direction to some extent. However, the two remained on good terms personally.

Gerhardsson's "edifying or polemical" work , a collection of nine writings, was published in 1877. He died the following year in Burträsk parish, Västerbotten. His influence remained in the area for some time as well as in other parts of Sweden.