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Fall 1997, Vol. 60, No. 1

The Life of Hans Nielsen Hauge

Hans Nielsen Hauge was born on April 3, 1771, on the Hauge farm in the Tune parish of Østfold and he died March 29, 1824, on the Bredveit farm in Aker. His life corresponded with a time in Norway that was filled with suffering, war, need and great changes -- a situation which was also true for his own life. He was born as a lower-class person in the Danish/Norwegian kingdom; he died as a respected middle-class man in a new Norway. His associates, the Haugians, were good farmers, craftsmen, and merchants who came to play an important part in the building up of life after 1814.

Hauge's life falls into four parts:

1) 1771-1776: he was at home
2) 1796-1804: he traveled around as a lay preacher, wrote religious books and took initiative for a new order
3) 1804-1814: He sat in prison for most of this time, while his case went forward. His final judgment came down on December 23, 1814.
4) 1811-1824: He farmed first Bakkehaugen and then Bredveit

Hauge's childhood home and his adolescence were strongly marked by the pietism which dominated Norwegian church life in the first half of the 18th century. Through his confirmation instruction, devotional books and hymns, the lay folk learned to know what true Christianity was. In addition to this, Tune had an extreme pietist, that is, a Herrnhuter, as pastor. He was influenced by a sentimental piety, believed in conversion and dwelt upon Jesus' suffering and blood. The pastor realized that Hauge had promise and let him use his own private library. In addition to his bookish interests, Hauge was handy, shrewd and rich in initiative.

Two features characterized Hauge's life before 1796: Pietistic Christianity and enterprise. After 1796 each of these strengthened the other. At the same time there was a necessary opposition to 1) the Age of Reason and Enlightenment theory and rationalism, which at the end of the 18th century was strong among pastors, officials and a large number of the middle class, and 2) the restrictive boundaries the upper class gave to personal initiative and social movement.

April 5, 1796, was the soul-changing day in Hauge's life. While he was working in the fields, he was singing "Jesus for Thee and Thy Blessed Communion." When he came to the second stanza, he later wrote, "My mind was so lifted up to God, that I didn't know myself." This is not the language of a classic conversion from the awakening of Christian faith, but an ecstatic experience with parallels in mysticism. The experience filled him with certainty that he had a call to witness others. He began that same day, first to his family, then to those in his home village, and then to the neighboring villages. In 1797 he began to travel around a large part of the country.

Hauge's meetings conflicted with the current Lutheran understanding of the pastor's office and with a declaration from 1741, the Conventicle Act. Its purpose had been to bring the pietistic lay meetings under control of the state. The pastor was to be informed beforehand and preferably be at the meeting to assure that the preaching was not sectarian or attached to the spiritual or secular authorities.

Hauge was not deterred by the Conventicle Act. Late in 1797 he was arrested for the first time while he was holding a meeting in Glemmen; and from that time on, until the fall of 1804, he was imprisoned 10 times. During these years, he traveled over a great part of the country, often on foot, holding meetings and winning converts so effectively that we can speak of this as the first Norwegian folk movement. It shows, not least, the sensational spreading of the self-taught peasant's son's writing at the time.

Hauge's practical sense and his enterprising ways saw all the unused possibilities around him. He thought it was wrong that only the worldly minded should harvest the earnings from merchants, factories and the like. For him wealth was an expression of God's blessing. The correct Christian understanding was not to let the material bind one but to be a faithful and wise steward over what God had given one.

He began a business in Bergen in 1801, and for him the work of running a business and preaching went hand in hand. With such ideas he not only opposed the pastor's station, he also threatened the merchant's patrimony. The result of this was a reputation for economic success and growth among his followers.

In the meantime, Copenhagen was following Hauge's work with rising discomfort, and in 1804 the officials sent in a report on him. With that the case began and that same fall an order for his arrest was issued. The case was serious. He was accused, among several things, of leading people astray and awakening mistrust of the state's laws. At the same time the English blockade of Norway during the Napoleonic Wars made communication between Copenhagen and Norway difficult. The blockade also caused an acute need for salt, which was vital to preserve food. Therefore, the regime's commission that ruled the land found that they needed Hauge's expertise. In 1809 he was freed in order to build salt mines.

Later his case was examined and finally dropped to a fine. Hauge's relatives, after his death, fought to get rid of the Conventicle Law, and in 1842 it was repealed.