Peter Laurentius Larsen

Background

Peter Laurentius Larsen was born at Christiansand, Norway, the son of Herman Larsen, an army officer, and Elen Else Marie (Oftedahl), daughter of a member of the Norwegian constitutional assembly held in 1814 at Eidsvold.

Education

When he was nine years old, the boy entered the Lancaster school at Christiansand, and in 1850, the university at Christiania (now Oslo), where he came under the influence of two of Norway's most celebrated theologians, Carl Paul Caspari and Gisle Johnson. He completed his studies there in 1855.

Career

Upon the graduation, Larsen remained in Christiania as teacher of German, French, and Hebrew. Hearing the Macedonian call from his recently emigrated fellow countrymen in America, he went over to help them, and preached his first sermon in the United States near Rush River, Wisconsin, on November 2, 1857.

Always a zealous missionary, he traveled far and wide, establishing congregations at such places as St. Paul and Red Wing, Minnesota. In 1859 the Norwegian Synod arranged for a theological professorship at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, and Larsen was called to fill the position.

When the Civil War broke out, he and the Norwegian students left St. Louis, whereupon the Synod established Luther College, presently located at Decorah, Iowa. Larsen was elected professor and president of the school, serving in the first capacity for fifty years and in the latter for forty-one. In 1913 he became professor emeritus. On Christmas Eve of that year he suffered a slight stroke, from which he rallied, but two years later one more severe brought on his death.

As president of a pioneer Norwegian Lutheran college, he faced many diffculties. His constituents had been in America in considerable numbers for less than twenty years when they were called upon to build a college in war times at a cost of $87, 000. This expense fell upon a group which at the outset numbered seventeen pastors and sixty-nine congregations, and the successful completion of the project rested largely on the shoulders of Larsen. When fire gutted the "Old Main" on May 19, 1889, he again had to step into the breach, but by this time the idea of Christian education had been too firmly established in the people's minds for them to permit the building to lie in ruins.

Other problems confronting the young American college with its somewhat European-minded constituency he met with tact and firmness. As a concession to American demands, he changed the curriculum from a six-year to an eight-year course, but the aim of the school to prepare men for the ministry always remained uppermost in his mind.

As a churchman he was a conspicuous figure. He became the center of two notable controversies, in which he himself contended that slavery is an evil rather than a sin (1861 - 1868) and that there is powerful impartation of the forgiveness of sins in absolution (1861 - 1906). As editor of Kirkelig Maanedstidende ("Church Monthly") from 1868 to 1873, and of its successor, Evangelisk Luthersk Kirketidende ("Evangelical Lutheran Church Times"), from 1874 to 1889 and from 1902 to 1912, he was called upon to voice the official opinion of the Norwegian Synod on many difficult questions, chief of which were those connected with the predestination controversy. Throughout it all, Larsen succeeded in maintaining his reputation for mental and spiritual honesty, his thorough hatred of sham and subterfuge removing him from the temptations to resort to "church politics" trickery.

Besides being editor and college president, he was vice-president of the Iowa district of the Norwegian Synod (1876 - 79), vice-president of the Norwegian Synod (1876 - 93), and chairman of the Lutheran Synodical Conference (1881 - 83). He served on many committees, being chairman of the Foreign Mission Committee for several years. From 1882 to 1884 he was also pastor of the Norwegian Lutheran congregation in Decorah. At many Luther College banquets he was guest of honor, and tributes in verse and prose have been offered him by prominent alumni. On October 22, 1884, and again in 1909, his students and fellow teachers celebrated his twenty-fifth and fiftieth anniversaries as teacher. The house which was his home for the last eighteen years of his life was a gift from former students.

Achievements

• Larsen was well-known as the founding president of Luther College. He supervised the construction of the college’s first Main building and its subsequent rebuilding after a devastating fire in 1889. He directed admissions, financial matters, curriculum, and fund raising of the college. In 1908 he was made knight of the first class of the Order of St. Olav by King Haakon VII of Norway.

Connections

Larsen was twice married: first, July 23, 1855, to Karen Neuberg; second, August 20, 1872, to Ingeborg Astrup; and he was the father of twelve children.

Father:

Herman Larsen

Army officer

Mother:

Elen Else Marie (Oftedahl)

Spouse:

Karen Neuberg

Spouse:

Ingeborg Astrup