Hans Gerhard Stub

Background

Hans Gerhard Stub was born on February 23, 1849 in Muskego, Wisconsin, United States. His parents were Lutheran Pastor Hans Andreas Stub (1822–1907) and Ingeborg Margrethe Arentz (1815–1892), both immigrants from Norway.

Education

At the age of twelve Stub accompanied his father to Bergen, Norway, where he attended the Cathedral School from 1861 to 1865. Upon their return he attended Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, for one year and received the A. B. degree in 1866. From 1866 to 1869 he attended Concordia College, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and then for three years the Concordia Theological Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri.

Career

Stub was ordained in 1872 and for the next five years was a pastor in Minneapolis, Minneapolis. He was professor in Luther Seminary at Madison, Wisconsin, and later at Robinsdale, Minnesota, from 1878 to 1896, with the exception of one year of study at the University of Leipzig (1881 - 82).

He served as pastor in Decorah, Iowa, from 1896 to 1900, doing part-time teaching in Luther College, and from 1900 to 1916 was again professor in Luther College. He was vice-president of the Norwegian Synod, 1905-11, and president, 1911-17.

In 1906 he was a member of a group of Norwegian-Americans who made a voyage to Norway to attend the coronation of King Haakon VII and while there was decorated Knight of the Order of St. Olav. Stub's name is linked with two achievements especially notable in the eyes of his constituents: the raising of an endowment fund of $250, 000 for Luther College, and the merging of the Norwegian Synod, the Hauges Synod, and the United Norwegian Lutheran Church into the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America in 1917.

He was president of the new body until 1925, when he resigned to become president emeritus. He, more than any other, was the effecter of this union, negotiations for which had been going on for eleven years.

In 1914 he made another visit to Norway, this time bringing along a "memorial gift" gathered among Norwegians in America for presentation at the Centennial.

Royalty again favored him in 1914 when he became Commander of the Order of St. Olav, and, in 1922, wearer of the Grand Cross, a decoration which he was wont to display. From 1918 to 1920 he was president of the National Lutheran Council, a temporary concession of ecclesiastical sectionalism in the East to the West.

He preached the opening sermon at the Lutheran World Convention held in 1923 at Eisenach. He was joint or sole editor of Evangelisk Luthersk Kirketidende, 1889-1902, and of Theologisk Tidsskrift, 1899-1908, both uncompromisingly confessional-orthodox periodicals. He was the author of Naadevalget (1881); Udvelgelsen (1882), a defense of the Missourian doctrine of predestination and election; Mod Frimureriet (1882), an attack on Freemasonry; and Kristofer Jansen og Ludvig Helger (1894). He wrote on pioneer days, "Fra Fars og Mors Tid, " for the periodical Symra in 1907.

He died in 1931.

Achievements

• Hans Gerhard Stub was the president of the Norwegian Synod (Evangelical Lutheran Church). He also helped form the Norwegian Lutheran Church in America (Evangelical Lutheran Church), serving as its president. During that same time he was President of the National Lutheran Council. Besides, Stub received honorary degrees from Capitol University and St. Olaf College. Stub was the recipient of the first honorary degree granted by Luther College (Doctor of Laws) on his 75th birthday, February 23, 1924.

Personality

Stub was the image of the aristocratic clergyman of Norway a century ago. His ways were gently condescending, his actions studied. He moved with ease and dignity in admiring circles who yearned for the authority and splendor of an ecclesiastical age gone by. He was a pulpit orator of ability, a theological professor reproductive but not creative, an organizer too prone to identify his doings with those of the Lord.

Connections

Stub was married three times. His first wife, Diderikke Aall Ottesen, to whom he was married on August 11, 1876, bore him two sons and died in 1879.

He was married to Valborg Hovind, of Christiania, Norway, on July 31, 1884, and they had one son. She died in 1901, and, on August 8, 1906, he was married to Anna Skabo, also of Christiania, who, with the three sons by former marriages, survived him when he died in St. Paul.

Father:

Hans Andreas Stub

Mother:

Ingeborg Margrethe (Arentz) Stub

Wife:

Diderikke Aall Ottesen

Wife:

Valborg Hovind

Wife:

Anna Skabo

References

• Luther College Through Sixty Years, 1861-1921
• Den norsk lutherske Kirkes Historie i Amerika