Augsburg Seminary in the Minnesota Supreme Court: 1898

 

Augsburg Seminary
Augsburg Seminary

Augsburg Seminary in the Minnesota Supreme Court: 1898

Our conclusion is that, the relators having failed to show any title to the offices in themselves, the order appealed from should be reversed, and the proceedings remanded, with directions to the court below to quash the information. It is so ordered.[i]

With those final words issued on June 9, 1898, the Minnesota Supreme Court preserved Augsburg Seminary from those persons who would have changed the course of study at its divinity school from the program designed by Sven Oftedal and Georg Sverdrup.

This is the story of conflict between opposing groups of Norwegian-American Lutherans for control of Augsburg Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

[i] State Ex Rel. Brun, et al v. Oftedal, et al, 72 Minn. 498, 515 75 N.W. 692, 698 (1898).

Copyright, 2019 – Gary C. Dahle

Table of Contents

19th Century Norwegian Immigration

Augsburg Seminary – 1871

The United Norwegian Lutheran Church of America

The Oftedal Trustees

The United Church Competing Trustees

Augsburg Seminary and the Minnesota Attorney General – 1896

Augsburg Seminary Hennepin County Minnesota District Court Action – 1897

The 1898 Augsburg Seminary Minnesota Supreme Court Decision

The 1898 Augsburg Seminary Minnesota Supreme Court Settlement Agreement