The Bridge Volume 27 Number 1 Article 17 2004 Danish Lutheran Churches in America: Contributions of the United (Danish) Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1896-1960 Edward A. Hansen Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/thebridge Part of the European History Commons, European Languages and Societies Commons, and the Regional Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Hansen, Edward A. (2004) "Danish Lutheran Churches in America: Contributions of the United (Danish) Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1896-1960," The Bridge: Vol. 27 : No. 1 , Article 17. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/thebridge/vol27/iss1/17 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Bridge by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. Danish Lutheran Churches in America: Contributions of the United (Danish) Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1896-1960 by Edward A. Hansen The most noteworthy contribution of the UELC was its people. The laity and clergy of this church brought a willingness to change their old ethnic ways in order to convey their faith, their energy, and their insights to the broader body of Lutherans in America. The Situation in the UDELC at the close of World War II The United Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church was formed in 1896 by a merger of two Danish immigrant groups. One group, the "Blair Synod" had been excluded from the Danish Lutherans organized in America in 1872, in a controversy mainly involving the Bible as the Word of God. The second group, the "North Church," had been organized in 1884 by Danish members of the Norwegian Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church (founded in 1870).