Johannes Uddin – Pastor, Pacifist, Spiritualist

American and British research has often emphasized the occasionally close ties between Christianity and Spiritualism in the U.S. and the U.K. (e.g., Braude 2001; Byrne 2010; Moreman 2013; Oppenheim 1985). This connection has, however, been overlooked by most scholars working on Spiritualism in Northern Europe; a gap that this paper wishes to fill. It will do so by considering the life and work of the Swedish clergyman and peace activist Johannes Uddin (1878–1970).

In November 1909, Uddin published a short book with the title “We Young Priests” (Sw. Vi unga präster). In the preface to the book, he concluded that the church had to gather “not around the doctrines, but around Jesus himself”. By sticking to antiquated and outmoded doctrines the church was, according to Uddin, responsible for social neglect and dechristianization. This brand of critique towards doctrinal Christianity was not new, it had been vindicated by liberal theologians in the Protestant world for decades; the short book could therefore hardly be described as groundbreaking. Nevertheless, Uddin’s critique is interesting as it also chimed in with views held by Spiritualists in Sweden since at least the 1890s.

Even if Spiritualism was discussed in the press already in the late 1850s, it was not until 1877 – a year before Uddin was born – that Sweden saw its first Spiritualist organization: The Spiritualist Library (Sw. Spiritistiska Lånebiblioteket). After visits from notorious British materialization mediums such as William Eglinton (1857–1933) and Mme. d’Esperance (1848–1919), the movement had by the end of the nineteenth century risen to some acclaim in Sweden. In a recent dissertation, historian of ideas Julia Falk (2024) has argued that Swedish Spiritualists in the 1890s had a dual stance towards Christianity. On the one hand, they acted in a Lutheran context and were eager to show that there were no contradictions between what the Bible taught and Spiritualist beliefs. The opposite case was often made, by claiming that Spiritualism was the key to the Bible and that Spiritualism once and for all proved what Christianity for a long time had claimed to be true. On the other hand, many Spiritualists voiced the same kind of critique that Uddin a few years later would do: The church was too dogmatic, or “orthodox”, and thereby confined in teachings that were no longer relevant for people, or even perceived as harmful. This was then juxtaposed with Spiritualism, which was depicted as a pragmatic and broad-minded movement that was ready to meet the modern developments in society.

Uddin combined his critique of what he saw as the stagnant orthodoxy of the Church of Sweden with a pacifist commitment. He soon joined the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society and at one of their meetings in Stockholm in 1910 he gave a speech about the demoralization that armament had on both the individual and social level. Soon this developed into a radical pacifism that he shared with other theologians of the time, for example Natanael Beskow (1865–1953), who was the headmaster of a school where Uddin taught for a few years. When Uddin in 1917 published his book “Three Years of Bestial Worship” (Sw. Tre års vilddjursdyrkan) – the title pertaining to the ongoing First World War – he did not mince his words regarding the church’s role in the atrocities. There were indeed individual members of the clergy, such as Beskow, who had worked for peace, but they were silenced by a majority who saw pacifism as unmanly and foolish wool-gathering. “The church wades in the spilled blood, with hands raised in blessing over those who shed it, thanking the idol for the success of the murdering and the victory of hatred,” wrote Uddin.

It was also during the First World War that Uddin’s Spiritualist convictions would blossom. Uddin was highly influenced by Oliver Lodge’s (1851–1940) book Raymond or Life and Death, which he commended in a 1917 review published in the journal “Help” (Sw. Hjälp), of which he was the editor. The journal, which started its publication life in 1916, was published by an organization established by Uddin that worked with prisoner reentry and helping “fallen” women using a model inspired by the Salvation Army. The journal published texts about social issues and the activities of the organization as well as antiwar articles, but this was combined with an increasing number of articles about Spiritualism, with the above-mentioned review being the first. As the twentieth century progressed, Uddin’s turn to the occult became more apparent, resulting in him being reported to the church authorities numerous times. Nevertheless, he was allowed to keep his collar and served as a vicar until his retirement in 1950.

Based on the rich material that Uddin has left behind in the form of books and journals, the paper will shed new light on the relationship between Christianity and Spiritualism in the Northern European context. It will do so by focusing on the radical pacifism expressed by Uddin and how his convictions are informed by traditional Christian theology on the one hand and modern Spiritualism on the other. Based on archival sources from the Church of Sweden, the paper will also investigate how they processed the accusations that were made against Uddin and how Spiritualism was allowed a place within the Swedish state church.

References

Braude, Ann. Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women’s Rights in Nineteenth-Century America. 2nd ed. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2001.

Byrne, Georgina. Modern Spiritualism and the Church of England, 1850–1939. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2010.

Falk, Julia. En andlig terra incognita: Spiritismen i det sena 1800-talets Stockholm. Umeå: Umeå University, 2024.

Moreman, Christopher M., ed. The Spiritualist Movement: Speaking with the Dead in America and around the World. 3: Social and Cultural Responses. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2013.

Oppenheim, Janet. The Other World: Spiritualism and Psychical Research in England, 1850–1914. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.