Introduction

Biography

Rutström was a pri­vate teach­er in Stock­holm un­til 1745, when he was or­dained and be­came cur­ate at Stor­ky­kan, in Stock­holm. Soon he be­came active in the Mo­ra­vi­an cir­cle.

In 1756 he re­ceived a Doc­tor of Theo­lo­gy de­gree from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Greifs­wald, and two years lat­er he be­came a rec­tor in the Hed­vig El­eo­no­ra con­gre­ga­tion in Stock­holm.

He was ban­ished from Swe­den dur­ing the po­li­ti­cal con­flicts of the time, and lived for a while in Ham­burg, Ger­ma­ny, but in 1770 was al­lowed to re­turn to Swe­den.

Then he be­came an in­spect­or or om­buds­man for the na­tion­al bank’s mint in Tum­ba. In Au­gust 1772 he was ar­rest­ed and put in pri­son, where he died.

Works

His hymns were ga­thered in Si­ons Nya Sång­er (Co­pen­ha­gen, 1778) oft­en called Rut­ströms Sång­bok.