Hans Nielsen Hauge

Norwegian religious leader

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June 29, 2026

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Hans Nielsen Hauge was a Norwegian religious leader who spearheaded a significant Pietistic revival in Norway from 1797 to 1804. Born to a peasant family, Hauge experienced a religious conversion at age 25. Despite laws prohibiting laypeople from preaching, he traveled extensively, sharing his faith and establishing religious study and prayer groups. His activities faced opposition from some clergy, and he was imprisoned multiple times. Nevertheless, Hauge and his followers remained within the Church of Norway, profoundly influencing its religious landscape.1

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Church of Norway
…to 1804 was led by Hans Hauge, a peasant’s son who experienced a religious conversion when he was 25 years old. Although laymen were legally forbidden to preach, Hauge did so throughout the country and established brotherhoods that met for religious study and prayer. Despite being opposed by some of…
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…to 1804 was led by Hans Hauge, a peasant’s son who experienced a religious conversion when he was 25 years old. Although laymen were legally forbidden to preach, Hauge did so throughout the country and established brotherhoods that met for religious study and prayer. Despite being opposed by some of…
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Protestantism
North America
…extremely legalistic lay follower of Hans Nielsen Hauge (1771–1824), a Norwegian Pietist who criticized the established church and stressed daily work as a divine calling. The Danish immigrants, fewer in number, eventually split over the question of Pietism. The anti-Pietists were known as “the Happy Danes,” while the Pietists were…
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…extremely legalistic lay follower of Hans Nielsen Hauge (1771–1824), a Norwegian Pietist who criticized the established church and stressed daily work as a divine calling. The Danish immigrants, fewer in number, eventually split over the question of Pietism. The anti-Pietists were known as “the Happy Danes,” while the Pietists were…
Read More