Luther in Finnish

The first texts of Martin Luther translated into the Finnish language were the morning and evening prayers from his Small Catechism.¹ The Finnish reformer Mikael Agricola used them in his primer for children, the “ABC-kiria” (1543), which was, practically speaking, a Catechism. The general history of Luther’s works as translated into Finnish begins in the second half of the sixteenth century, but the first translation of the Small Catechism by Bishop Paavali Juusten (1574) is no longer extant. For many years, the oldest known complete text of the Small Catechism in Finnish was the third edition (1614) of the translation by Jaakko Finno, director of the cathedral school in Turku. In 2015, an earlier translation of Luther’s Small Catechism, together with an old Finnish hymnal, was discovered by Suvi-Päivi Koski in the State and University Library of Dresden. It was published in 1607 in Rostock.² The translator, Pastor Simon Johannis Carelius, dedicated the work to the crown prince, Gustaf Adolf. Carelius was studying in Rostock when the work was printed.

Until the 1840s the only works of Luther available in Finnish were the two catechisms. The Small Catechism had appeared in many editions and was often equipped with explanations written by other authors. The Large Catechism, translated by Pastor Jacob Raumannus, was published in 1674 and then reprinted in two editions (1821 and 1831) in the nineteenth century.³ Those who wanted to read Luther’s other works had to content themselves with Swedish translations or purchase the books in the original languages. In 1984, the Finnish Society for Theological Literature first published the catechisms and the Smalcald Articles. In 1987 they were published together with other confessional writings of the Lutheran Church.⁴ The Catechisms remain available in separate editions as well.

Luther’s Small Catechism is his best-known and most-used text in Finland. Before the public elementary school system was established in the 1860s, the Evangelical-Lutheran Church supervised education, teaching reading and the fundamentals of the Christian faith. This work began when the Church in Finland was part of the Swedish Church and it continued in the nineteenth century under Russian rule. After the public elementary schools took over basic educational tasks, the church continued to use the Small Catechism in its confirmation programs. Almost all youngsters took part in them until the 1960s. Since then, the use of the Small Catechism has diminished so that it is no longer memorized. Yet, it still is part of the confirmation curriculum. So this book has been of enormous importance for people’s thinking and view of life in Finland, providing, as in the other Lutheran Nordic countries, one of the main sources of cultural uniformity.

The Revival Movement

In the beginning of the nineteenth century, a pietistic revival movement strongly influenced religious life in Finland. The history of Finnish Luther translations is closely connected with the history of this revival movement, which stood in clear tension with the established church. Since the revival movement was accused of sectarianism, it needed to prove its faithfulness to the Lutheran confession and tradition. Thus the pastors of this movement began to translate Luther’s works as well as the Lutheran Confessions.⁵ This revival movement, called “Heränneet” (the Awakened), divided in the mid 1840s into two branches. One reason for the split was Fredrik Gabriel Hedberg’s “Luther-awakening,” which he experienced when reading an eighteenth-century Swedish translation of Luther’s Church Postil.⁶ As a result of this split, two groups emerged: The Awakened and the Lutheran Evangelicals. Both groups produced translations of Luther’s works. However, the Evangelical Movement made this into one of its special tasks. For the other group, such work was not at the core of its efforts.⁷ Even now, most translations of Luther’s works are produced by the Lutheran Evangelical Association. The most comprehensive collection is called “Treasures of the Church.”⁸ It is an electronic assortment of Christian texts, among them almost all of Luther’s texts (about 240 titles) that have been translated into Finnish. So Luther’s writings...