Kallsetikk, alkohol og økonomisk modernisering

Abstract

Economic modernization in coastal Norway. A comparison of Haugianism and the later Christian lay movement The consequences of Haugianism – the impact of the early followers of the Christian reformer and preacher Hans Nielsen Hauge (1771–1824) – have been well documented, not only for the Norwegian church and for Christian life, but also for entrepreneurship and economic development. The question discussed in this article is whether these consequences were followed up later, from the middle of the 19th century onwards. The geographic focus is coastal Norway, where the low church lay movement was particularly strong and where there was an impressive economic modernization of the fisheries including the rapid transition into mechanized fishing. Despite clear differences between the early Hauge followers and the later movement, the conclusion is that there was a quite strong continuity, both in «theory», theological thinking and ethics, and also in industrial practice and economic behaviour. The early followers of Hauge, at least those who stood out as entrepreneurs, no doubt had a more conscious calling than the «coastal Pietists» of the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. However, we also find factors which count in favour of the latter. The Christian lay movement had a much broader appeal than the early Hauge followers. To a large extent, this lay movement constituted a framework for both everyday coastal life and Holy Days, not only in the life of those who were active in the movement, but also for the whole coastal community.