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N. F. S. Grundtvig | |
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 Grundtvig in pastoral garments | |
| Born | (1783-09-08)8 September 1783 |
| Died | 2 September 1872(1872-09-02) (aged 88) Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Occupations | Lutheran minister, teacher, author, poet, philosopher, historian |
| Children | Svend Grundtvig |
Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig (Danish:[ˈne̝kolɑjˀˈfʁeðˀʁekˈse̝vəʁiˀnˈkʁɔntvi,-ˈfʁæðˀʁæk-]; 8 September 1783 – 2 September 1872), most often referred to asN. F. S. Grundtvig, was aDanish pastor, author, poet, philosopher, historian, teacher and politician. He was one of the most influential people inDanish history, as his philosophy gave rise to a new form of nationalism in the last half of the 19th century. It was steeped in the national literature and supported by deepspirituality.[1][2]
Grundtvig holds a unique position in thecultural history of his country. Grundtvig and his followers are credited with being very influential in the formulation of modern Danish national consciousness. He was active during theDanish Golden Age, but his style of writing and fields of reference are not immediately accessible to a foreigner, thus his international importance does not match that of his contemporariesHans Christian Andersen andSøren Kierkegaard.[3][4]
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Called Frederik rather than Nikolaj by those close to him. N. F. S. Grundtvig was the son of aLutheran pastor in Udby, Johan Ottosen Grundtvig (1734–1813) and was born there. He was brought up in a very religious atmosphere, although his mother also had great respect for old Norse legends and traditions. He was schooled in the tradition of the EuropeanEnlightenment, but his faith in reason was also influenced by Germanromanticism and the ancient history of theNordic countries.[5]
In 1791 he was sent to Thyregod in CentralJutland to live and study with pastor Laurids Svindt Feld (1750–1803). He subsequently studied at theAarhus Katedralskole, thecathedral school ofAarhus, from 1798 until graduation. He left forCopenhagen in 1800 to study theology and was accepted to theUniversity of Copenhagen in 1801.[6][7] At the close of his university life, Grundtvig began to studyIcelandic and theIcelandic Sagas.[8]
In 1805, Grundtvig took a position as tutor in a house on the island ofLangeland. The next three years he used his free time to study writersShakespeare,Schiller, andFichte.[9] In 1802, his cousin, the philosopherHenrich Steffens, returned toCopenhagen full of the teaching ofFriedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling. His lectures and the early poetry ofAdam Oehlenschläger opened Grundtvig's eyes to the new era in literature.[10] His first work,On the Songs in the Edda, attracted no attention.
Returning to Copenhagen in 1808, Grundtvig achieved greater success with hisNorthern Mythology, and again in 1809 with a long drama,The Fall of the Heroic Life in the North. Grundtvig boldly denounced the clergy of the city in his first sermon in 1810.[11] When Grundtvig published the sermon three weeks later it offended theecclesiastical authorities, and they demanded him punished.[11][12]
In 1810, Grundtvig underwent a religious crisis and converted to a strongly heldLutheranism. He retired to his father's country parish in Udby as his chaplain.[13] His new-found conviction was expressed in hisThe First World Chronicle (Kort Begreb af Verdens Krønike i Sammenhæng) of 1812, a presentation of European history in which he attempted to explain how belief in God has been viewed throughout human history and in which he criticized the ideology of many prominent Danes.[14][15] It won him notoriety among his peers and cost him several friends, notably the historianChristian Molbech.[15] Upon his father's death in 1813, Grundtvig applied to be his successor in the parish but was rejected.[16]
In the following years his rate of publication was staggering: aside from a continuing stream of articles and poems, he wrote a number of books, including two more histories of the world (1814 and 1817); the long historical poemRoskilde-Riim (Rhyme of Roskilde; 1813); and a book-sized commentary,Roskilde Saga.[17] From 1816 to 1819 he was editor of and almost sole contributor to a philosophical and polemical journal entitledDanne-Virke, which also published poetry.[14]
From 1813 to 1815, he attempted to form a movement to support theNorwegians against theSwedish government. Later he preached on how the weakness of the Danish faith was the cause of the loss ofNorway in 1814. His sermon was met by an enthusiastic congregation in Copenhagen. Grundtvig withdrew from the pulpit because he did not have a parish of his own and was being barred by other churches.[18] In 1821, he resumed preaching briefly when granted the country living ofPræstø, and returned to the capital the year after.
In 1825, Grundtvig published a pamphlet,The Church's Rejoinder (Kirkens Gienmæle), a response toHenrik Nicolai Clausen's work on the doctrines, rites, and constitutions ofProtestantism andRoman Catholicism. A professor of theology at the University of Copenhagen, Clausen argued that although the Bible was the principal foundation of Christianity, it was in itself an inadequate expression of its full meaning. He described the church as a "community for the purpose of advancing general religiousness".[19] In his reply, Grundtvig denounced Clausen as an anti-Christian teacher and argued that Christianity was not a theory to be derived from theHoly Bible and elaborated by scholars. He questioned the right of theologians to interpret the Bible.[20][21] Grundtvig was publicly prosecuted for libel and fined. TheChurch of Denmark forbade him to preach for seven years. During this time he published a collection of theological works, visitedEngland three times (1829–31), and studiedAnglo-Saxon.[16]
In 1832, Grundtvig obtained permission to again enter active ministry. In 1839, he was called as pastor of the workhouse church of Vartov hospital in Copenhagen, a post he held until his death. Between 1837 and 1841 he publishedSang-Værk til den Danske Kirke (Song Work for the Danish Church), a rich collection of sacred poetry; in 1838 he brought out a selection of early Scandinavian verse; in 1840 he edited the Anglo-Saxon poem "The Phoenix", with a Danish translation. In 1843 he visited England for a fourth time.[22][23]
From 1844 until after theFirst Schleswig War, Grundtvig took a prominent part in politics, developing from a conservative into an absolute liberal. In 1848 he was part of theDanish Constituent Assembly that wrote the firstconstitution of Denmark. In 1861 he received the titular rank of Bishop in theChurch of Denmark, but without asee. He continued to write and publish until his death. He spoke from the pulpit at Vartov Church every Sunday until a few days before his death. His preaching attracted large congregations, and he soon had a following. His hymn book effected a great change in Danish church services, substituting thehymns of the national poets for the slow measures of theorthodoxLutherans. In all Grundtvig wrote or translated about 1500 hymns, including "God's Word Is Our Great Heritage" and "Det kimer nu til julefest".[citation needed]
Grundtvig's theological development continued over his lifetime, and took a number of important turns. He moved from his "Christian awakening" of 1810 to believing in a congregational and sacramental Christianity in later years. He was most notable for the latter thinking. He always called himself a pastor, not a theologian, reflecting the distance between his ideas and academic theology. The chief characteristic of histheology was the substitution of the authority of the "living word" for the apostolic commentaries. He desired to see each congregation act as a practically independent community.[citation needed]
Even though he was a staunch Christian, Grundtvig's obsession with the pre-Christian Scandinavian faith lasted throughout his life. At the time this faith had no official name, but were merely known as "Forn Siðr" - "the old customs". Therefore as part of his studies and works on this old faith, he coined the name "Asatro" or "Asetro", a name which holds a double meaning. The meaning can either be interpretated as "the Aesir faith" or "loyal to the Aesir".[citation needed]
Grundtvig is the ideological father of thefolk high school, though his own ideas on education had another focus. He advocated reforming the ailingSorø Academy into a popular school aiming at another form of higher education than what was common at the university. Rather than educating learned scholars, he believed the university should educate its students for active participation in society and popular life. Thus practical skills as well as national poetry and history should form an essential part of the instruction. This idea came very close to implementation during the reign of KingChristian VIII, whose wifeCaroline Amalie was an ardent supporter of Grundtvig. The death of the monarch in 1848 and the dramatic political development in Denmark during this and the following years put an end to these plans. However, by that time, one of Grundtvig's supporters,Kristen Kold, had already established the first folk high school.[citation needed]
Grundtvig's ambitions for school reform were not limited to the popular folk high school. He also dreamed of forming a Great Nordic University (the School for Passion) to be situated at the symbolic point of intersection between the three Scandinavian countries inGothenburg, Sweden. The two pillars of his school program, the School for Life (folk high school) and the School for Passion (university) were aimed at quite different horizons of life. The popular education should mainly be taught within a national and patriotic horizon of understanding, yet always keeping an open mind towards a broader cultural and intercultural outlook, while the university should work from a strictly universal, i.e. humane and scientific, outlook.[24]
The common denominator of all Grundtvig'spedagogical efforts was to promote a spirit of freedom, poetry and disciplinedcreativity, within all branches of educational life. He promoted values such as wisdom, compassion, identification and equality. He opposed all compulsion, including exams, as deadening to the human soul. Instead Grundtvig advocated unleashing human creativity according to the universally creative order of life. Onlywilling hands make light work. Therefore, a spirit of freedom, cooperation and discovery was to be kindled in individuals, in science, and in the civil society as a whole.[25]
In 1815,Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin published the first edition of theEpic ofBeowulf titledDe Danorum rebus gestis secul. III & IV : Poëma Danicum dialecto Anglosaxonica in a Latin translation. Despite his lack of knowledge ofAnglo-Saxon literature, Grundtvig quickly discovered a number of flaws in Thorkelin's rendering of the poems. After his heated debate with Thorkelin, Johan Bülow (1751–1828), who had sponsored Thorkelin's work, offered to support a new translation by Grundtvig — this time into Danish. The result,Bjovulfs Drape (1820), was the first full translation of Beowulf into a modern language (previously, only selections of the poem had been translated into modern English bySharon Turner in 1805).[26]
Grundtvig went on to explore the extensive literature of the Anglo-Saxons which survived in Old English and Latin. In both poetry and prose, it revealed the spirituality of the early Church inNorthern Europe. Grundtvig was very influenced by these ancient models of Christian and historical thought (notably the 8th-centuryBede'sEcclesiastical History, written in Latin). Using the resources of theRoyal Library in Copenhagen and of the libraries at the universities ofExeter,Oxford, andCambridge in three successive summer visits to England (1829–1831), he went on to make transcriptions of two of the four great codices of Anglo-Saxon poetry: theExeter Book and the codex designatedJunius 11 in theBodleian Library at Oxford. Although he thought to publish them, the project was never realized.Beowulf and Anglo-Saxon literature continued to be a major source of inspiration to Grundtvig. It had a wide-ranging influence upon his work.[27][28][29]
Grundtvig was married three times, the last time in his 76th year. His first wife, Elisabeth Blicher (1787–1851), was a clergyman's daughter. They were married in 1818 and had three children. His second wife,Marie Toft (1813–1854) was the daughter of a landowner. She died a few months after giving birth to a son. In 1858, he married Asta Reedtz (1826–1890) of an old aristocratic Danish family. His sonSvend Grundtvig (1824–1883) collected and edited Danish ballads.[30]
Agranite statue by Niels Skovgaard was installed in the central courtyard of Vartorv in 1932. It depicts Grundtvig kneeling by the Spring of Life.
Grundtvig is commemorated on 2 September as a renewer of the church in theCalendar of Saints of theEvangelical Lutheran Church in America.[32]
No comprehensive foreign language edition of his work exists. A three-volume edition in German, however, is under preparation and projects for an English edition are in progress as well. Grundtvig's secular poetical works were published in a nine-volume edition, the first seven volumes by his second son, the philologistSvend Grundtvig. The philological practice of this work, however, is not up to the standards of modernphilology. His hymns have been collected in the philologically more stable five-volume editionGrundtvigs Sang-Værk.
The best overall collection of his writings in print is the ten-volume editionGrundtvigs udvalgte Skrifter edited by Holger Begtrup (1859–1937). His enormous oeuvre is presented in Steen Johansen:Bibliografi over N.F.S. Grundtvigs Skrifter (I-IV, 1948–54).[33]
The most important editions are:
Important, too, are the numerous articles in English published in the yearbookGrundtvig-Studier (Grundtvig Studies) from 1948 and onwards. Danish is the main language of the journal, but the English articles are prominent and increasing in recent years.
The most important works on Grundtvig are a series of dissertations published since the founding ofGrundtvig-selskabet (The Grundtvig Society). All of them contain summaries in major languages, most of them in English. This series includes:
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