From the dust jacket: As we scan the history of the Swedish Baptists of America we meet the name of John Alexis Edgren at various points where important issues were at stake. For his own day he was the peerless leader. There was none to challenge his place among his people. Dr. Edgren's life story tells of a man of rare attainments and, better yet, of a sacrificial spirit. Finding a scattered folk with neither ministerial education nor a denominational press he supplied both, in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. For his age he was truly a man sent by God. We can think of no more fitting memorial than this book, or a man whose life and labors have brought many blessings to the people among whom he elected to cast his lot.

[L. J. Ahlstrom] was intimately acquainted with Dr. Edgren, as a student, fellow-worker and intimate associate. Hence, he knows whereof he writes. At the time of writing this volume Mr. Ahlstrom is the oldest living alumnus of the school for which Dr. Edgren suffered and toiled. His retentive memory supported by intensive and painstaking research has preserved a cherished picture of his teacher of sixty-odd years ago, and his facile pen has done an excellent job at reproducing the image of the man and interpreting his life. This volume may serve not only as a memorial of its subject, Dr. Edgren, but also of the writer, whose journalistic accomplishments and effective labors in the field of denominational history has done much to preserve the historical records of the Swedish Baptists of America and give them the proper setting in several important works on denominational history.