Janson's address to IARF conference in Berlin 1910

The Unitarian pastor Kristofer Janson is honored in history as the founder of the first Norwegian Unitarian church. As often in history no single person can take all credit for major achievements. Several people assisted Janson in his work and without their help there would probably not have been a Unitarian church in Norway as early as 1895. One of these persons supporting Janson was the Norwegian writer Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. It is much thanks to Bjørnson that Janson was ordained Unitarian minister in the USA in the beginning of the 1880-ties.

To day when looking for something else (as it often is) I stumbled upon Janson's address to the Fifth Universal Congress for Free Christianity and Religious Freedom held in 1910 in Berlin (organized by The International Association for Religious Freedom, IARF, I would suppose). His address is titled "The Religious Views of Bjørnson and Ibsen". You find the document for reading online or/and for download here http://openlibrary.org/details/religiousviewsof00jansiala

From the point of understanding the history of Unitarianism in Norway it is an interesting document even if it neither Bjørnson nor Ibsen were Unitarians - but never the less high profile Norwegian freethinkers. The document is also interesting seen from the history of the first Norwegian Unitarian movement. Janson was forced to leave his Unitarian church in 1898 and a major group of members also left the church in 1900. From 1900 to 1906 there existed two different Unitarian groups in Norway which did not have much in common and probably did not cooperate very much. One was lead by Janson and the other was his former church, now lead by Herman Haugerud.

At the IARF conference Janson was no more a leading Unitarian figure in Norway but more occupied with a small Unitarian church in Denmark (not the one to day in Copenhagen). Reading Janson's selfbiography, his novel "Ensom" ("Alone") and not published letters it is clear that he at the time of the conference was a bitter person that felt betrayed by the Norwegian Unitarian movement and his former church in Norway. Janson died in 1917.

Unitarian Pastor installed in Norway according to Transylvanian tradition.

More than hundred years ago - on Monday July 23 1906 - the Norwegian Unitarian pastor Herman Haugerud (1864-1937) gave a lecture on Unitarianism in the Norwegian town Skien. He reported in the periodical "Unitaren" that many people attended and that he hoped to organize a Unitarian society in this town. Before he left he baptized four children. This is the earliest known attempt for organized Unitarianism in this town. What happened later we do not know. The history is silent and nothing is known about any Unitarian society in Skien and the four Unitarian children.

To day - April 9 2009 - 103 years later another attempt to establish a Unitarian group in Skien takes place. Kjell Morten Bråten was installed as Unitarian pastor to The Bét Dávid Unitarian Association (The Norwegian Unitarian Church) following the Transylvanian Unitarian tradition. The ceremony took place in Kapitelberget Church Ruins in Skien overlooking the town and in front of an altar decorated with the former church flag of Bela Bartok Unitarian Church in Budapest to symbolize the now hundred years old and close connection between Unitarians in Hungary and Norway. To see photos and videos of the ceremony please visit http://morgenstierne.org/kjellemann/index.html