Luther in Swedish

The first texts of Martin Luther translated into Swedish were in an edition made by Olaus Petri (1493–1555), the most important Swedish reformer along with his brother Laurentius Petri (1499–1573). In February of 1526, Olaus Petri completed a book called A Useful Edification, including a translation of some parts of Luther's 1522 Betbüchlein, thus the first of Luther's works to appear in Swedish. Two years later, in 1528, Olaus Petri, probably with some help from his brother Laurentius, completed En nyttig postilla (A Useful Postil), containing sermons for the summer Sundays translated from Luther's 1526 Summer Postil. Here too, as with the Betbüchlein, Olaus Petri combined straight translations with a strategy to make Luther less complicated and less polemical. Some members of the clergy had found Luther's sermons hard to understand and offensive to the "weak ones" among the Swedish population, which was mostly rural. These two books of Olaus Petri reflect major aspects of the Swedish Reformation. Luther was used eclectically, for the king, Gustav Vasa, wanted to be "The Reformer" for the Swedish population.¹ Olaus Petri also used, rather than translated, some of Luther's hymns (such as Ein feste Burg) as a base for the first Swedish Lutheran hymns. He thus showed in a wide variety of works a clear inspiration from Luther. At the same time, Olaus Petri had his own agenda, with his focus as a historian and an educator for the agricultural people considerably different from the predominantly urban population to whom Luther appealed. He translated some short texts by Luther, but mostly he used the texts of Luther to create his own reform-minded works for a context which he thought was very different from the one Luther had in mind.

At the time of Olaus Petri, Luther's hymns started to appear in Swedish, such as Nun freut euch and Nun komm der Heiden Heiland. Otfried Czaika has recently published the Swedish hymn book from 1582 with commentary.² He concludes that the national-romantic period in nineteenth-century Sweden exaggerated the quantity of hymns by Luther in the Swedish hymn book. In the original 1582 edition, there are 114 hymns and 22 of those have a clear connection to Luther.³ Most of them are paraphrases or interpretations, but some are direct translations.⁴ For example, in 1536 Ein feste Burg was paraphrased as Vår Gud är oss en väldig borg.

In 1558, Laurentius Petri, who had been archbishop of Sweden for almost 30 years, was responsible for another translation, namely, Luther's Vermahnung zum Sacrament des leibs und bluts unsers Herren. As far as the present sources show, the first translation of the Small Catechism into Swedish was not made until 1600 by Petrus Johannis Gothus, a Swede with close connections to the German city of Rostock. Gothus, who translated many German devotional writings into Swedish as well as the Augsburg Confession (1581), has been called the "first Swedish publisher."

Lutheran Orthodoxy

In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, Europe and Sweden in particular went through a period of confessionalization. This can be seen in the titles of the Luther texts translated, not only both Catechisms but also the Smalcald Articles. At the same time, devotional writings continued to be translated and a new focus of consolation can be seen. The Betbüchlein and the Small Catechism turn up several times in new editions. Typical for the troubled and stormy times, Luther's text about how to avoid the plague is translated in 1623 by the bishop Laurentius Paulinus Gothus. In 1603, Petrus Johannis Gothus translated the Smalcald Articles for the first time into Swedish. King Karl IX is presented as the initiator of a 1606 collection of writings, with Luther and Melanchthon named as authors. In 1614, Bishop Johannes Bothvidi translated Luther's exhortation to build schools. The Large Catechism was first translated into Swedish in 1667. This was at the initiative of King Karl XI but Martin Luther is clearly presented as the author of the text.

Around the year 1700, some small bi-lingual...