[3] The term also later came to refer to revivalists such as Mårten Thunberg, a priest whose meetings featured ecstatic fits and prophesying.
The Bible is read as well as other religious books written by Luther, Arndt, Roose, Rambach, &c. No one person is leader, but each who has any edifying matter to advance is at liberty to give his thoughts and experiences, which it is desired should be done in the most simple and artless manner.However, as also noted in the London Quarterly Review in 1869, there was a "great diversity in sentiment and practice obtained amongst Läsare.
[9][10] Among its leaders were Pehr Brandell (1781–1841), Olof Palmgren (1783–1814), Anders Larsson [sv] in Norrlångträsk (1794–1876) and Gerhard Gerhardsson (1792–1878).
Larsson was known to express himself forcefully, stating: He who believes what the priests teach will surely fall into hell!The movement's leaders faced problems with the authorities.
Despite his lack of official schooling, Gerhardsson brought a statement of faith he had written expounding on the New Readers' beliefs, consisting of 22 articles on 24 pages, based on the format of the Augsburg Confession.
Almqvist, while politically supporting fines for the Readers, maintained a conciliatory tone and opposed stronger measures against them.
[5][9] On 9 January 1822, King Charles XIV John decreed that the provisions of the Conventicle Act were no longer to apply to the Readers in Västerbotten.
[9] She was a close friend of Carl Olof Rosenius, who would later become one of the leaders of the Evangeliska Fosterlands-Stiftelsen (EFS, Swedish Evangelical Mission), and had a great impact on his spiritual development.
A number of spiritual sayings and advice in his book Nytt och Gammalt från Nådens Rike, eller Några Guds ord och Wishetens goda ordspråk Samlade af C. O. Rosenius 1838 are attributed to her, as well as an excerpt printed in the February 1844 edition of his publication Pietisten.
[citation needed] A dramatic performance by Greger Ottosson entitled Stor-Brodren, about Reader preachers Gerhard Gerhardsson and Anders Larsson, was presented in 2011.