Lars Paul Esbjörn

Lars Paul Esbjörn (October 16, 1808 – July 2, 1870) was a Swedish-American Lutheran clergyman, academic and church leader. Esbjörn was a founder of the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church and of Augustana College. He served as the first president of Augustana College from 1860 until his resignation in 1863.

Background Lars Paul Esbjörn was born to tailor Esbjörn Paulsson and Karin Lindström in Delsbo and schooled in Hudiksvall, both in Hälsingland, Sweden. His last name was originally Esbjörnsson, which he later shortened to Esbjörn. He grew up poor, and after his parents died when he was young, he was taken in by a neighbor. He was educated in Gävle and with the help of a patron, vicar , studied theology at Uppsala University. He was ordained at Uppsala Cathedral in 1832, became curate at Östervåla parish in Uppsala County, then chaplain at the Swedish Oslättfors Iron Works and schoolteacher and curate at Hille parish in Gävleborg County. In 1836 he married Lovisa Amalia Maria Planting-Gyllenbåga. In 1840, after having been a priest for several years, he would experience what he called his conversion through one of Scott's revival meetings, in which he came to "living faith". He formed a close friendship with Scott. At one point, he had to face the court due to "quite resolutely" taking barrels of brännvin from people. Being denied for several posts furthered his resolve to emigrate. Through Baird he learned of the potential for work in the United States.

Ministry

Esbjörn and a group of 146 Swedish immigrants sailed from Gävle to New York City in 1849; two of his children died on the journey. Only Esbjörn and a handful of his followers arrived in Andover, Illinois. The next year, the church he had founded in Galesburg needed a priest, and he convinced Gustaf Palmquist to take on the role. Palmquist, however, soon left for the Baptist church. Esbjörn then requested the help of Readers Tuve Hasselquist and Erland Carlsson, who came to the United States. The three were significant in the later founding of the Augustana Synod.

Esbjörn was a professor of theology at Illinois State University in Springfield, Illinois, from 1858 to 1860. After a disagreement over doctrinal issues with many of the faculty, Esbjörn resigned and moved to Chicago. Along with other church leaders including Hasselquist, Carlsson, and Jonas Swensson, he organized the independent Augustana Synod of the Lutheran church at Jefferson Prairie Settlement in Wisconsin in 1860.

He was also fundamental in the beginnings of Augustana College. The college and seminary started in Chicago during 1860, moved to Paxton, Illinois, in 1863, and finally to Rock Island, Illinois, in 1875. Esbjörn served as the first president of Augustana College and Theological Seminary from 1860 to 1863, when it was based in Chicago. He opposed its move to rural Paxton, and the move, combined with an appointment in the Church of Sweden in his home diocese of Uppsala led Esbjörn to tender his resignation from the college.

Esbjörn then returned to Sweden in 1863 where he succeeded as vicar of Östervåla. A relief of Esbjörn and his first wife Amalia carved and painted by Bror Hjorth hangs in Östervåla Church. When Esbjörn went to America, he introduced the psalmodicon, which facilitated the singing of hymns.

He died on July 2, 1870, and was buried in the cemetery of the Lutheran Church in Östervåla. On June 13, 1948, after remodeling, Jenny Lind Chapel was dedicated as a shrine of the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church. In 1975, Jenny Lind Chapel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.