Koren has been called the “pa­tri­arch of Nor­we­gian-Amer­i­can Lu­ther­ans.” He grad­u­at­ed from the Un­i­ver­si­ty of Christ­i­a­na in 1852; helped found Lu­ther Coll­ege in Decor­ah, Io­wa, and Lu­ther Sem­in­a­ry in St. Paul, Min­ne­so­ta; and re­ceived a doc­tor­ate of di­vin­i­ty from Con­cor­dia The­o­lo­gic­al Sem­in­ary, St. Louis, Mis­sou­ri, in 1903. He served as pas­tor of the Wash­ing­ton Prair­ie con­gre­ga­tion in Io­wa, and pre­si­dent of the Nor­we­gian Syn­od (1894-1910). The king of Nor­way made him a Com­mand­er of the Or­der of St. Ol­af for his achieve­ments. His works in­clude:

• Synodens Salme­bog, 1874