Tuesday, June 2, 2026

It is the 2nd of June 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

Today, we head back in time to Early Modern Denmark and Norway (they were a united kingdom at the time) and a poet, Anders Arrebo, whom you may have never heard of- but he gives us insight into the country, the Danish Reformation, and how a pastor and poet used the Old Testament to help teach Reformation doctrines.

 

Anders Arrebo was born on the 2nd of June in 1587 in Årøsund on the Danish island of Årø. His father was a pastor in those early years of the Scandinavian Reformation- this was largely a “top-down” Lutheran Reformation. The Augsburg Confession of 1530 and Luther’s Catechisms were translated into Scandinavian languages and became popular with the ruling class which saw the Reformation as politically useful - the large percentage of rural Scandinavians- the Danes and Norwegians under a united crown and the Swedes on their own do not seem especially keen to change centuries of tradition- but over the 16th and 17th century they would come to embrace the Reformation especially as it developed a distinct culture in the vernacular. Arrebo, who was a pastor, was especially significant because his two major works were Danish theological poetry.

 

We don’t know much about his early life, but by 1609, not yet 20, he is already a court preacher at Copenhagen. He earned his master's in 1610 at Copenhagen and was called to the Nicolai church in 1616 as pastor. By 1618, he was called to be a Bishop in Trondheim, Norway.

 

Two major events mark his life here in Trondheim. He begins to translate the Psalms into Danish using a new meter based on the English patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables. This brought him immediate attention as not only was he creating a “new form” of Danish poetry, he was also able to then pair these Psalms with popular tunes for singing. He would add to this, sadly lost, hymnal, translation of Reformation hymns into Danish. If the people could not be urged into the Reformation by way of confessions and catechisms, they could be by song.

 

But being in Norway, he was set against a fervent Catholic populace that would- it seems- have Anders defrocked for immoral behavior. Literature friendly to him points out that these were trumped-up charges, and the scant evidence against him fails to cite any details. By 1626, he was reinstated and became the pastor in the Danish town of Vordingborg.

 

In the years in between, he set up translating one of the most significant pieces of French Reformation literature- what he would call the “Hexameron,” which was a Danish translation of Guillaume de Saluste du Bartas “Ou, Creation du Monde”- that is, an epic poem describing the creation of the World from the first chapters of Genesis. That Bartas' work would be so popular and that a Danish translation would fundamentally change Danish poetry and thought is worth noting.

 

The subtext of the poem is that just as God has revealed himself in the written word so too has he revealed himself in creation. There are, in a sense, 2 Books- the book of Revelation and the Book of Nature. The examination of nature for its own sake became a popular Reformation rallying point against the supposed superstition of the old church. In this way, the creation account in Genesis became a license for exploring the natural world.

 

His book of Psalms would disappear- despite its popularity, the Danes did not continue the tradition of Psalm singing as the French and Scots did. But this, his Hexameron-rhytmico-Danicum, was not only a marker for the Danish Reformation but also for the rich tradition of scientists (or Natural philosophers as they were then known) coming out of the Northern European Peninsula.

 

Anders Arrebo would remain in Vordingborg until his death in 1637, while still finishing his translation of the Hexameron- his son would complete the work and publish it posthumously. Born on this, the 2nd of June in 1587, he died at the age of 49.

 

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and more spirit talk from 1st Corinthians:

7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 2nd of June 2026, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man whose favorite Danish is an Entemanns Bear Claw… Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who just saw we got Myles Garret? What?! Oh man…. Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.