Hans Gerhard Stub

Hans Gerhard Stub (23 February 1849 - 1 August 1931) was an American Lutheran theologian and church leader. He served as Bishop of the Norwegian Lutheran Church in America.

Background

Hans Gerhard Stub was born in Muskego, Wisconsin. His parents were Lutheran Pastor Hans Andreas Stub (1822–1907) and Ingeborg Margrethe Arentz (1815–1892), both immigrants from Norway. Hans Stub was born in an immigrant cabin in Wisconsin. He was shaped from childhood by the life within the Norwegian Synod, which his father had help found in 1853. He studied for a time in Norway at the Bergen Cathedral School.

Stub later attended Luther College and belonged to the first class that graduated from there in 1866. He was a theological candidate at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri in 1872 and became a pastor in Minneapolis during 1878. He was a professor of theology and from 1879 head of Luther Seminary, first in Madison, Wisconsin, later in St. Paul, Minnesota. From 1881-82, he studied at the Leipzig University.

Ministry

He was a pastor position in Decorah, Iowa (1896–1900) and later became a professor at Luther College (1898–1900). In 1900 he was a professor and head of the Luther Seminary. He was editor of several journals, including the Norwegian language Teologisk tidsskrift (1899–1908). Stub was also the author of numerous books and articles.

Stub was head of the Norwegian Synod from 1911. On June 9, 1917, the United Norwegian Lutheran Church of America, the Hauge Synod, and the Norwegian Synod merged. From 1917-25, Stub served as the first Bishop of the Norwegian Lutheran Church in America, which resulted from the church unification. He was also a founder and later president (1918–21) of the National Lutheran Council in the United States.

Hans G. Stub was appointed a Knight of the 1st Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1908, Commander in 1912, and received the Grand Cross in 1926. Stub was the recipient of the first honorary degree granted by Luther College (Doctor of Laws) on his 75th birthday, February 23, 1924. He also received honorary degrees from Capitol University and St. Olaf College. The papers of Hans Gerhard Stub are contained within the Luther College Archives.

Personal life

Hans Stub was married three times. In 1876 with Didrikke Aall Ottesen (1855–1879), daughter of Luther Church leader, Jacob Aall Ottesen (1825–1904). In 1884 with Valborg Charlotte Amalie Hovind (1860–1901), and in 1906 with Anna Skabo (1867–1960). Through his second wife, he was the brother -in-law of Norwegian publisher, Hagbard Emanuel Berner.

Selected works

• Om Naadevalget (1881)
• Foredrag mod det humanistiske og saakaldte kristelige Frimureri (1882)
• Hr. Kristofer Jansons prædiken (1893)
• Fra fars og mors liv (1907)
• Hvad staar iveien for det kirkelige enighedsarbeide blandt os? (1911)
• Foreningssagens Gang (1916)
• Interchurch World Movement (1920)
• Reminiscenses from Bygone Days (1922)

Other sources

• Norlie, O. E. Norske lutherske prester i Amerika 1843–1913 (Minneapolis, 1914)
• Norlie, O. E. Luther College through sixty years, 1861-1921 (Decorah, Iowa. 1922)
• Stub, Jacob Aal Ottesen Some Memories of My Father (in Lutheran Almanac, Minneapolis, 1932)
• Nelson, E. Clifford The Lutheran Church Among Norwegian-Americans (Minneapolis, 1960)

External links

• Bust of Hans Gerhard Stub (Paul Fjelde. 1926)