Bethel Seminary (Stockholm)

Bethel Seminary Betelseminariet
Location
Stockholm Sweden
Information
School type	Seminary
Denomination	Baptist
Established	1866
Closed	1994

Bethel Seminary (Swedish: Betelseminariet) was the Baptist Union of Sweden's seminary for training pastors from 1866 to 1994.^[1]

History

Bethel Seminary buildings in Bromma, built in 1966 according to architect Börje Stigler's [sv] plans.

The 1866 conference of the Swedish Baptists, which would eventually lead to the creation of the Baptist Union of Sweden in 1889, decided to found a seminary for the new and growing movement, calling it Bethel Seminary (Betelseminariet). It opened in 1866 and Colonel Oscar Broady of the Union Army was the seminary's first rector.^[2] Swedish Baptist pioneer Anders Wiberg helped raise funds through the American Baptist Missionary Union to support the seminary in its early years.^[1] In 1905, the seminary had four years with about 40 students each and four regular and two adjunct professors. During the first 40 years, 400 students had attended classes. The seminary had its own library with primarily English theological literature.^[3]

In the beginning, Bethel Seminary was located in Bethel Chapel [sv], Stockholm First Baptist Church's chapel, on Malmskillnadsgatan 48 in central Stockholm, but as of 1883 the school's address was Engelbrektsgatan 18^[4] and in 1966 the seminary moved to Bromma. From 1994, Betel folkhögskola [sv] (Bethel folk high school) was located in the later premises of Bethel Seminary in Bromma, Stockholm, which became Bromma folkhögskola [sv] on 1 February 2014. Enskilda Högskolan Stockholm (University College Stockholm) has been located next to Bethel Seminary's old premises since 2002.^[5]

University College Stockholm is a kind of successor to the Bethel Seminary. It was founded in 1993 as a merger of the Bethel Seminary in Bromma and the then-Mission Covenant Church's counterpart Theological Seminary (Teologiska Seminariet) on Lidingö.^[6][7] In the first year the activities were divided between Bromma and Lidingö, after which the entire school was located in Lidingö. After the college outgrew the premises there, new premises were built next to the old Bethel Seminary premises in Bromma, which were inaugurated at the start of the autumn term in 2002. In 2008, the then-Methodist Church Theological Seminary [sv] (which until then had been located in Gothenburg) was also added.

Notable students

• 1869–1873 – Jonas Stadling [sv]^[8]

• 1878–1882 – Jakob Byström [sv]^[9]

• 1888–1890 – Johan Alfred Rinell

• 1890–1893 – John Wahlborg [sv]^[10]
• 1904–1906 – Lewi Pethrus^[11]
• Unknown years – Ingemar Olsson [sv]^[12]

Rectors

• 1958–1971 – David Lagergren [sv]^[13]

References

1. Larsson, Mats (2007). De "riktigt kristna", deras "wänner" och "motståndare": en lokal- och frikyrkohistorisk studie av Askers baptistförsamlings identitet och mentalitet, 1858-1887 (PDF) (in Swedish). LiU-Tryck. Linköping: Linköping University Electronic Press. ISBN 978-91-85831-24-1. OCLC 277196809. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 August 2018.
2. Westin, Gunnar. "Knut Oscar Broady". Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon – National Archives of Sweden (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 12 February 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
3. Linder, Nils; Rosén, John; Westrin, Theodor; Olsson, Bror Ferdinand; Meijer, Bernhard, eds. (1905). Nordisk familjebok; konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi, innehållande upplysningar och förklaringar om märkvärdiga namn, föremål och begrepp (in Swedish). Expeditionen af Nordisk familjebok. OCLC 3577084. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021.
4. Lundin, Claës (1890). "X. I kyrkan och bönesalen". Nya Stockholm (in Swedish). p. 222. Archived from the original on 24 May 2021.
5. "Kungaparet tar hjälp av blivande pastorer". Bli pastor (in Swedish). 31 March 2014. Archived from the original on 21 January 2022. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
6. Riksdagsförvaltningen. "Den planerade teologiska högskolan i Stockholm Motion 1991/92:Ub525 av Rose-Marie Frebran (kds) och Birgitta Carlsson (c) - Riksdagen". www.riksdagen.se (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 1 February 2022. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
7. "Högskolans historia". Enskilda Högskolan Stockholm (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 21 January 2022. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
8. Svahn, Willy (7 March 2001). "Jonas Stadling var vän till Leo Tolstoj". Dagen (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 21 January 2022. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
9. Jacobson, G. "Jakob Jakobsson Byström". Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon - National Archives of Sweden (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 23 February 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
10. Svahn, Willy. "John Wahlborg skildrade den undre världen". Dagen (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 21 January 2022. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
11. Carlsson, Carl-Gustav. "P Lewi Pethrus". Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon - National Archives of Sweden (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 22 November 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
12. "Ingemar Olsson vill leda Gemensam framtid". www.varldenidag.se (in Swedish). 16 November 2011. Archived from the original on 21 January 2022. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
13. Uddling, Hans; Paabo, Katrin, eds. (1993). Vem är det: svensk biografisk handbok (in Swedish). Stockholm: Norstedt. p. 619. ISBN 91-1-914072-X. OCLC 186372886. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021.

External links

• Jakobsson Byström, Jakob; Hedvall, Fredrik Emanuel (1926). Betelseminariet 1866-1926; porträtt och kortfattade biografiska uppgifter över lärare och elever samt ledamöter av styrelseutskottet, utg. till sextioårsjubileet den 7 juni 1926 (PDF) (in Swedish)
• Cousins: Betelseminariet Sweden & Bethel Seminary St. Paul
• Photo of instructors and students 1906–1910
• Photo of instructors and students 1918–1922