Swedish-Finnish bishop and missionary Mikael Agricola completed first Finnish Bible translation (New Testament) in 1642, having begun work around 1635. Agricola created Finnish alphabet, wrote first Finnish grammar (1637), and compiled Finnish-Swedish-Latin dictionary. His missionary linguistics work included Finnish prayer books, religious texts, and liturgical translations. Agricola's work occurred during Swedish colonial rule over Finland, with Finnish language marginalized against Swedish. His translation established Finnish as literary language, crucial for Finnish cultural identity preservation.

Agricola's Finnish Bible translation established standardized literary Finnish, enabling Finnish poetic traditions including rune poetry (vanakalevala) recording and Christian poetry. His alphabet and grammar created foundation for 19th-century Finnish literary Renaissance including Elias Lonnrot's Kalevala compilation. The translation influenced Finnish religious poetry that preserved Finnish cultural identity through Christian literary expression during Swedish domination.