In the organization and ideology of the Lutheran state churches, Tim Knudsen has identified the roots of universalism in the Nordic welfare states. This article applies a similar perspective to the aims and contents of early modern Nordic popular education. Historiographically, universalism was emphasized by Egil Johansson, who recognized the universal aim of Christian teaching as the prime mover of Swedish alphabetization. The present article tries to problematize this perspective by demonstrating the long-term divergence of Swedish bourgeois and popular print cultures, representing parallel processes of secularization and christianization, and by discussing particular meanings of parts of the alleged universal early modern reading culture, viz. reading as a vehicle of Swedishness in colonial America and religious identity in Northern Sweden, respectively. The elementary school is identified as a major instrument of homogenizing reading culture, and the article concludes by indicating universalism as a living legacy in Swedish educational policy.