Lars Olof Jonathon (known as Nathan) Söderblom was born on 15 January 1866 in Trönö, Sweden. A Lutheran archbishop and theologian, he was the first member of clergy to receive a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts on behalf of Christian unity. Ordained in 1893, Söderblom served seven years as Chaplain to the Swedish Embassy in Paris before becoming Professor of Theology at the University of Uppsala in 1901. From 1912 to 1914, he was Professor of Religious Studies at Leipzig University, and he was appointed Archbishop of Uppsala in 1914.
Elected to the Swedish Academy in 1925, that same year, he led the first Universal Conference on Life and Work in Stockholm, which eventually formed the World Council of Churches. Notable works include Gudstrons uppkomst (1914), ‘The Church and International Good Will’ in Contemporary Review 116 (1919), Christian Fellowship: The United Life and Work of Christendom (1923), ‘Why I Am a Lutheran’ in Twelve Modern Apostles and Their Creeds (1926), The Church and Peace (1929), Tal och skrifter (1933), The Nature of Revelation (posthumously published in 1966).
