# Johannes Wilhelm Christian Dietrichson

Part of a series on :
Lutheranism :
Background
Christianity
Start of the Reformation
Reformation
Protestantism :
Doctrine and theology
Bible
Old Testament
New Testament
Creeds
Apostles' Creed
Nicene Creed
Athanasian Creed
Book of Concord
Augsburg Confession
Apology of the Augsburg Confession
Luther's Small / Large Catechism
Smalcald Articles
Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope
Formula of Concord
Distinctive theological concepts
Theology of Martin Luther
Justification
Law and Gospel
Sola gratia
Sola scriptura
Christology
Sanctification
Two kingdoms
catholicity
Two states of the Church
Priesthood of all believers
Divine Providence
Marian theology
Theology of the Cross
Sacramental Union
Other relevant topics
Homosexuality :
Sacraments and worship
Baptism
Eucharist
Confession
Confirmation
Matrimony
Anointing of the Sick
Holy Orders
Divine Service
Matins
Vespers
Liturgical calendar
Calendar of saints
Lutheran hymn
Lutheran hymnwriters
Normative principle
Lutheran art :
Organization
Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference
Global Confessional & Missional Lutheran Forum
International Lutheran Council
Lutheran World Federation
Denominations
Lutheranism by region :
Movements
History of Lutheranism
Crypto-Lutherans
Gnesio-Lutherans
Lutheran orthodoxy
Pietists
Radical Pietism
Haugeans
Laestadians
Finnish Awakening
Old Lutherans
Neo-Lutherans
High church Lutherans
Confessional Lutheranism :
Key figuresMissionaries
John Campanius
Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg
Hans Egede
Johann Heinrich Callenberg
Johann Phillip Fabricius
Paul Henkel
John Christian Frederick Heyer
Karl Graul
Martti Rautanen
Wilhelm Sihler
F. C. D. Wyneken
Hans Paludan Smith Schreuder
Lars Olsen Skrefsrud
Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen
Onesimos Nesib
Paul Olaf Bodding
Johann Flierl
Christian Keyser
Jens Christensen
Bible Translators
Martin Luther
Casiodoro de Reina
Kjell Magne Yri
Onesimos Nesib
Aster Ganno
Kristian Osvald Viderø
Jákup Dahl
Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg
Johann Phillip Fabricius
William Tyndale
John Rogers
George Constantine
Jozef Roháček
Johannes Avetaranian
Guðbrandur Þorláksson
Ludvig Olsen Fossum
Hans Egede / Paul Egede
Otto Fabricius
Nils Vibe Stockfleth
Olaus Petri / Laurentius Petri
Martti Rautanen
Primož Trubar
Jurij Dalmatin
Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen
Sebastian Krelj
Mikael Agricola
Norwegian Bible Society
Swedish Bible Society
Samuel Ludwik Zasadius
Stanislovas Rapolionis
Laurentius Andreae
Hans Tausen
Olaf M. Norlie
Jonas Bretkūnas
Hans Paludan Smith Schreuder
Antonio Brucioli
Mikołaj Jakubica
Matthias Bel
Johann Ernst Glück
William F. Beck
Theologians
Martin Luther / Katharina von Bora
Philip Melanchthon
Johannes Bugenhagen
Johannes Brenz
Justus Jonas
Hans Tausen
Laurentius Petri
Olaus Petri
Mikael Agricola
Matthias Flacius
Martin Chemnitz
Johann Gerhard
Abraham Calovius
Johannes Andreas Quenstedt
Johann Wilhelm Baier
Philipp Spener
David Hollaz
August Hermann Francke
Henry Muhlenberg
Lars Levi Laestadius
Charles Porterfield Krauth
C. F. W. Walther
Søren Kierkegaard
Albrecht Ritschl
Wilhelm Herrmann
F. W. Stellhorn
Rudolf Otto
Ernst Troeltsch
Rudolf Bultmann
Paul Tillich
Hermann Sasse
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Wolfhart Pannenberg
Robert Jenson :
vte :
Johannes Wilhelm Christian Dietrichson (April 4, 1815 – October 15, 1883) was a Norwegian Lutheran minister who played an important role in the initial establishment of the Synod of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which eventually became the Evangelical Lutheran Synod.

## Personal life

Dietrichson was born in Fredriksstad in Smaalenenes Amt, Norway, as a son of Fredrik Dietrichson (1787–1866) and Karen Sophie Henriette Radich (1794–1867). Through his sister he was an uncle of Johan Scharffenberg, and he was a distant relative of Norwegian politician and labor leader, Wilhelm Dietrichson (1880-1949).
In November 1839, he married Jørgine Laurentze Broch (1816–1841). She was a daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Johan Jørgen Broch (1791–1860) and a sister of Ole Jacob Broch and Jens Peter Broch. His wife died in childbirth in 1841, and Johannes Dietrichson then married Charlotte Josine Omsen Müller (1819–1903) in June 1846.

## Career

He grew up and attended school in Fredriksstad where his teachers includeds Hans Riddervold. He took his examen artium in 1832 and graduated from the Royal Frederick University in Christiania in 1837. He worked in Christiania from 1839, and was present at the Norwegian Missionary Society national convention in 1843. He was ordained a Lutheran minister on February 26, 1844, immigrating to the United States in July that same year.
Dietrichson arrived in Staten Island on July 8, 1844. After finding little interest in New York in organizing a Lutheran congregation, he continued to Muskego, WI. He preached his first two sermons at the Wisconsin settlements in Koshkonong Prairie on September 1 and 2, 1844. The preparatory address for the second service was from Psalm 78:19, "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?" This service was held under two oak trees, in which Holy Communion was celebrated. Dietrichson organized the settlers into two churches and was called by each church to be their pastor during 1845.
A log church was built on a half acre of land purchased by Dietrichson. The first home to the East Koshkonong Lutheran Church was dedicated on January 31, 1845. After a stay in Norway between 1845 and 1846, during which he married, Dietrichson organized Koshkonong, Luther Valley, and eight other congregations in the state and served as pastor at Koshkonong from 1846 until 1850. He held his post until his return to Norway. At Koshkonong, Dietrichson left in his parish journals and church records of parish membership and ministerial acts, an important written legacy.
Dietrichson experienced a clash of interest with Lutheran laity leader Elling Eielsen. Although seeds of controversy were sown when Dietrichson questioned the validity of clergymen who had been ordained in America, he laid a strong foundation for Norwegian Lutheranism in the United States and encouraged other Lutheran clergymen from Norway to migrate to this country.
Dietrichson returned to Norway in 1850 where he subsequently held two pastorates. He was stationed in Nedstrand from 1850 to 1862 and Østre Moland from 1862 to 1876. This entire period was marked by disagreements with local parishioners. He then served as postmaster at Porsgrund from 1876 until 1882. He was the author of Travels among the Norwegian Emigrants in The United North American Free States (Norwegian: Reise blandt de norske emigranter i “De Forenede nordamerikanske fristater) which was published in Stavanger in 1846. He died in October 1883 in Copenhagen