Norsk Tidsskrift for Misjonsvitenskap (Oct 2019)
Vekkelser i et samfunnsperspektiv
Abstract
Revivals in a political-cultural perspective. The pietistic revivals in Norway, beginning with the lay preacher Hans Nielsen Hauge just before the 19th Century, were structured by the religious policy of the king of Denmark-Norway. He intended to strengthen the piety in the people without losing control over the religious life. Therefore, he passed the “Konventikkelplakaten”, an ordinance to regulate the religious piety among the laypeople. The Norwegian revivals modernized this structure, when they were organised as democratic movements with local societies as members of national associations. In the Norwegian Established Church they represented at the same time a liberating force and loyal tridents of the old biblical message of salvation. At the beginning of the 20th Century the revivalist movements synthesised their religious liberalism and their conservative traditionalism, trying to rechristianise the Norwegian society by the social and cultural effects of a nationwide revival.
