Lars Oftedal (born 1838)

Lars Oftedal
Lars Oftedal drawn by Hans Christian Olsen
Born	(1838-12-27)27 December 1838 Stavanger, Norway
Died	2 May 1900(1900-05-02) (aged 61) Stavanger
Nationality	Norwegian
Occupation	revivalist, priest, social reformer, politician, publicist and newspaper editor
Known for	Founder of social institutions Editor of Vestlandsposten Founding editor of Stavanger Aftenblad Member of the Storting
Notable work	Basunrøst og Harpetoner (1870)
Children	Lars Oftedal
Relatives	Sven Oftedal (grandson) Christian Oftedal (grandson)
Awards	Order of St. Olav

Lars Svendsen Oftedal (27 December 1838 – 2 May 1900) was a Norwegian revivalist, priest, social reformer, politician, publicist and newspaper editor.

He was born in Stavanger as the son of teacher Svend Oftedahl and Gunhild Ommundsdatter Stokke. He was married to Olava Mathilde Olsen from 1865. He was the father of Lars Oftedal, and grandfather of Sven Oftedal and Christian Oftedal. He died in Stavanger in 1900.

Oftedal passed his examen artium in 1859, and graduated as cand.theol. from the Royal Frederick University in Christiania in 1864. His first working position was as a travelling revivalist for Bergens Indremisjon. He was a seamen's priest in Cardiff from 1866 to 1868. From 1869 he worked for the home mission of the Arendal district. His collection of psalms, Basunrøst og Harpetoner from 1870 was met with great popularity and was printed in 200.000 copies over the years. In 1870 he was appointed priest in Kristiansands stift. From 1874 he was a priest in Hetland outside Stavanger. His own chapel Bethania in Stavanger opened in January 1875. He founded several social institutions in Stavanger, including an orphanage for boys in 1877, and a home for women (the Magdalena institution). He bought the Storhaug farm Berge, renamed Emmaus, which was included in the group of institutions. He acquired the island Lindøy, where he established an institution for the most difficult boys. The fundings for his charity work came from volunteer work, including large lotteries ("bazaar") in Bethania. The first Waisenhus bazaar was arranged in 1876, and became a tradition which lasted more than hundred years, until the 1980s. Oftedal edited the newspaper Vestlandsposten from 1878 to 1891. He was a vicar in Stavanger from 1885 to 1891.

Oftedal was a deputy representative from Stavanger to the Parliament from 1877 to 1879. He was elected to the Stavanger City Council from 1881. He was elected to the Parliament of Norway from 1883 to 1885, representing the Liberal Party, and from 1889 to 1891, when he represented the Moderate Liberal Party. In 1891 he was elected for the period 1892 to 1894, but did not meet due to the scandal in November 1891.