This article offers a survey of Swedish church history 1840-1900. This was a period of significant change in the history of Swedish Lutheranism. With influence from British evangelical circles, numerous churchmen began organizing independent bodies aimed at the reform and the amelioration of the religious life of the nation. Considerable political developments and a growing unrest within the low-church phalanx of the Lutheran church eventually led to the formation of free churches, effectively challenging the national church for the allegiance of the population. Leading ecclesiastics responded to these changes by adopting a stalwart conservatism of a ‘high church’ brand. They not only stressed the importance of a confessional orthodoxy, but also espoused an organic view of society very much at odds with contemporary liberal tendencies.