Lappmarkens kristendom og de førstefødtes menighet

Abstract

Early Læstadianism had a strong missionary profile. Within a couple of decades after its beginning in 1845, the movement had established numerous congregations not only in northern Sweden, Finland and Norway, but also in North America. Internal tensions, however, caused a split in which the movement separated into an Eastern and a Western branch. The mission work of the Western branch was based on a view of the congregations that emphasized their submission to the religious authority of its leaders in Swedish Lappland. The concept of «Lappland» thus took on a religious significance which became the hallmark of the Western Læstadian branch, also known as the Firstborn.