The Immigration of Ideas
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Augustana College Augustana Digital Commons Augustana Historical Society Publications Augustana Historical Society 1968 The mmiI gration of Ideas: Studies in the North Atlantic Community, Essays Presented to O. Fritiof Ander J. Iverne Dowie J. Thomas Tredway Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/ahsbooks Part of the History Commons, and the International and Intercultural Communication Commons Recommended Citation "The mmiI gration of Ideas: Studies in the North Atlantic Community, Essays Presented to O. Fritiof Ander" (1968). Augustana Historical Society Publications. https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/ahsbooks/9 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Augustana Historical Society at Augustana Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Augustana Historical Society Publications by an authorized administrator of Augustana Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Immigration Of Ideas Studies in the North Atlantic Community Essays Presented to 0. Fritiof Ander $5.95 The Immigration of Ideas Studies in the North Atlantic Community Essays Presented To 0. Fritiof Ander "In the western tradition wondering and wandering have frequently arisen in company with one another. Whatever the cause-effect relationship between them, geographical and intellectual exploration and expansion seem to have been bound together, whether in Homeric Greece, the Renaissance, or the Space Age. Over the bodies of the Athenian dead, Pericles told his fellow citizens that 'our adventurous spirit has forced an entry into every land and sea,' and it does no injustice to the other great cultural traditions of the world to inscribe that statement over the entire history of the West. It is one part of the restless movement of men and ideas in the Occident to which the Au gustana Historical Society devotes this volume The editors of this book want to make it clear that the essays here presented do not in any sense exhaust the theme suggested by "The Immigration of Ideas." The essays focus only on facets, chosen by the contributors them selves, of the movement of people and thought. Some are concerned primarily with individuals who had a part in the epic history of immigra- C ontinued on back fiap AUGUSTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Rock Island, Illinois THE IMMIGRATION OF IDEAS 0. FRITIOF ANDER The Immigration of Ideas Studies in the North Atlantic Community Essays Presented to 0. FRITIOF ANDER Edited by J. !VERNE DOWIE and J. THOMAS TREDWAY AUGUSTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY ROCK ISLAND, ILLINOIS 1968 AUGUSTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Publication No. 21 Copyright 1968 by AUGUSTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Augustana College Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 68-28713 PRINTED IN U.S.A. Published June 1968 Reprinted October 1970 W AGNERS PRINTERS DAVENPORT, IOWA Foreword Augustana College is itself a product of the "immigration of ideas." At the outset the College sought to serve its people by preserving the tra ditions of the old world. However, pioneers from Scandinavia became part of a wider and more diverse community when they came to America. Their children and their children's children have moved again, not geo graphically so much as culturally, into the main stream of American life. The story of the College reflects this movement. Now the perimeter of influence of the College marks the wider world of contemporary American society. Several of the essays in this volume focus upon persons who came to live in a new world intellectually as well geographically. Others are concerned directly with the movement of ideas across the Atlantic. Here tofore the Augustana Historical Society has devoted its publications almost exclusively to the Scandinavian-American milieu. This volume enlarges the field of the society's concern by including certain aspects of English and German intellectual history. The writers have responded to contemporary trends in immigration historiography with its emphasis upon the role of the immigrant in the intellectual as well as the social history of Europe and America. The roster of contributors to this volume clearly indicates the esteem in which 0. Fritiof Ander is held by historians. These forms of recognition seem most appropriate for a scholar whose teaching and research have been largely in the field to which this book is devoted. Now, four decades after Professor Ander began to teach and write history, his friends and colleagues present these essays to him with the hope that the happiness which comes from a productive life in the company of those who respect him may con tinue in the days and years to come. C. W. SORENSEN, President Augustana College V Introduction In the western tradition wondering and wandering have frequently arisen in company with one another. Whatever the cause-effect relationship between them, geographical and intellectual exploration and expansion seem to have been bound together, whether in Homeric Greece, the Renais sance, or the Space Age. Over the bodies of the Athenian dead, Pericles told his fellow citizens that ''Our adventurous spirit has forced an entry in to every land and sea," and it does no injustice to the other great cultural traditions of the world to inscribe that statement over the entire history of the West. It is one part of the restless movement of men and ideas in the Occident to which the Augustana Historical Society devotes this volume, the twenty-first in a series begun in 1931. The title of the volume is perhaps pretentious, and the editors want to make it clear at the outset that this book makes no claim to being ex haustive; a glance at the Table of Contents will make that plain enough. _ These essays focus only upon facets, chosen by the contributors themselves, of the movement of people and thought from northern Europe to North America. Some are studies of individuals whose lives as well as their ideas witness to the relationship between the immigration of the body and that of the spirit. Others are concerned with those strands which bind intel lectual movements in Europe and America together. But all are studies in the "Immigration of Ideas," and thus the title. Few other themes would have been as appropriate to honor 0. Fritiof Ander, we think. His own life represents that movement from Europe to America which we have asked our essayists to examine. His professional career has been spent in an institution whose life has been nourished by the transplantation of men and ideas. And at Augustana for thirty-five years Professor Ander' s teaching and research were focused upon the areas of intellectual and immigration history. And so the theme. In all frankness the editors of this volume must report that the intel- vii The Immigration of Ideas V111 lectual concerns of the members of the Augustana Historical Society are more impressive than the modest resources of the organization. We are fortunate in having a roster of friends who have supported us in this pub lication, particularly the Swedish Pioneer Historical Society. We acknowl edge with special appreciation the counsel and tangible support of President C. W. Sorensen and Augustana College. Ernest Espelie has assisted us in this enterprise at many important points. We recognize the careful prepara tion which Kathy Milton gave to manuscripts and galley proof on their way to the press. The editors wish to thank Ben Jasper for his design of the jacket for this book. J. I. D. and J. T. T. Table of Contents PAGE Foreword V C. W. SORENSEN Introduction vu On the Meaning of Faith in the Great Awakening and the Methodist Revival . 1 Ross PAULSON Jacob Letterstedt and Nordic Cooperation . 15 FRANKLIN SCOTT High Churchmen in a Hostile World 29 THOMAS TREDWAY 0. E. Hagen, A Pioneer Norwegian-American Scholar . 43 THEODORE C. BLEGEN The Role of Augustana in the Transplanting of a Culture Across the Atlantic 67 CONRAD BERGENDOFF Ernst Skarstedt: A Unique and Free Spirit 85 EMORY LINDQUIST Edward Price Bell-Anglo-American Spokesman, 1914-1917 . 101 BENEDICT KARL ZoBRIST Wilson and Gladstone: Perils and Parallels in Leadership 127 JAMES lVERNE Dowrn Fissures in the Melting Pot 143 URL WITTKE 1X X Table of Contents Sweden in the American Social Mind of the 1930s 159 MERLE CURTI Recollections of a Childhood and Youth 185 0. FRITIOF ANDER One Does Not Say Goodbye to Gendalen . 193 BETSEY BRODAHL Bibliography of the Published Writings of Dr. 0. Fritiof Ander 197 ERNEST M. ESPELIE Index 201 On the Meaning of Faith in the Great Awakening and the Methodist Revival Ross p AULSON The existence of a transatlantic triangle of influence among the leaders of the great pietistic revivals of the 1730s and 1740s has been noted fre quently by historians interested in the development of American cultural and intellectual patterns. 1 From this fact has sprung the truism that the Great A wakening was not a unique colonial phenomenon but · 'merely one variant of a universal occurrence in Western culture.'' At the same time, th5:! Great A wakening is viewed as a "turning point, a 'crisis,' in the history of American civilization" and the beginning of a new era in the evolution of the American Mind. 2 While attention has been focused on the role of transatlantic influences in determining the revivalistic form of the Great Awakening and of the Methodist movement, it is equally important to determine the contribution of transatlantic influences in shaping the evan gelical content of revival theology. On both sides of the Atlantic the initial spark that ignited the fires of revival was the proclamation of the doctrine of justificationby faith in bold and dramatic new ways by key figures: Jonathan Edwards, George White .field, and John Wesley. 3 The phrase "justification by faith" is deceptively simple, however, and lends itself to various interpretations depending on the signification of the last term.