FROM TO LEIDEN: THE NORWEGIAN CAREER OF W. BREDE KRISTENSEN*

SIGURD H.JELDE

On Sunday, 30 September 1888 an article appeared in the Kristiania newspaper Dagbladet entitled "Noget gammelt, som er blet nyt" ("Something old that has become new"). This may have been the first time that modern science of , or rather history of reli• gions, was introduced into .' The author, W. Brede Kristensen, refers to the very promising beginnings of this academic subject both in England and on the European continent; he mentions by name and also cites such distinguished initiators as Max Muller in Oxford and Maurice Vernes in Paris. He particularly stresses the Dutch con• tribution; not only could one find in this "industrious and gifted people" the greatest number of scholars within the field, but pro• fessorships in history of religions had been established at every uni• versity in the country. Looking at his own country, Kristensen could not see the same possibilities; first one had to awaken a public inter• est in the subject. However, there was reason to be optimistic. "It is just a matter of time until this science also makes its entry into our country." When William Brede Kristensen wrote this article, he was a young student at the University of Kristiania, only 21 years old. Yet his youthful optimism was not to deceive. Eight years later, on 18 June

* This article is based to a large extent on private letters held in the manuscript collections of the National Library of Oslo (e.g., letters addressed to Bjomstjeme Bjomson) and in the university libraries of Uppsala (e.g., letters addressed to Nathan Soderblom) and Leiden (primarily non-catalogued letters to family and friends). The autobiographical notes Herinneringen 1921-1950, in which Bjame Kristensen of Amhem gives important information about his father's life, are another important source. Conversations with Kristensen and his sister, Gunhild Volkenbom-Kristensen of Osterbeek, have in various ways helped to complete the picture. 1 This does not mean that contemporary-minded Norwegians were not already aware at this time of the growth of modem science of . In his weekly news• paper Folketidende (21 July 1875) the liberal politician Smen Jaaba:k ironises about 's lack of science and refers to developments in Holland, where theology was in the process of developing into an academically legitimate science of religion. 206 SIGURD HJELDE

1896, he became the first Norwegian student to obtain the doctor• ate of philosophy in history of religions, and two years later he was granted the first fellowship within this field of study at his univer• sity. Kristensen did not, however, become the first prifessor in his• tory of religions in Norway. Such a chair was not established in Kristiania until 1914,2 and by then Kristensen had already held a more respected position for some years. In 190 I he had responded to an invitation from the University of Leiden to succeed the world famous scholar Cornelis Petrus Tiele (1830-1902).

I. CHILDHOOD, SCHOOL YEARS, AND PREPARATORY STUDIES IN KRISTIANIA

William Brede Kristensen3 was born on 21 June 1867 in Kristiansand, a medium-sized town by Norwegian standards, where his father, Kristen Nicolai Kristensen (1838-1916), was a chaplain.4 His mother, Karoline Emilie (1848-1929), was a sister of Bj0rns~erne Bj0rnson, who was not only the most important Norwegian writer after Henrik Ibsen, but also a leading cultural figure in Norway in the second half of the 19th century. Brede was the second child, with an elder brother, Ingvar (b. 1865), a younger brother, Bj0rn (b. 1869),5 and two younger sisters, Ragna (b. 1871) and Dagny (b. 1876).6 A fourth son, born between the two sisters, died in infancy.

2 This chair was then given to Wilhelm Schencke (1869-1946) who had taken over the fellowship when Kristensen went to Leiden. 3 Of his two Christian names, normally the latter was used; his first name was originally spelled Villiam (cf. certificate of baptism, Kristiansand, 6 March 1916). He was baptised on 5 July 1867 and confirmed in Holum on 9 October 1881. 4 In Norwegian, "personelkapellan", an assistant minister clirecdy beneath a bishop. Kristensen received his degree in theology in 1862, was personellkapellan from 1863 for Peder Bjornson (his father-in-law) in Sogne, and arrived in Kristiansand in 1866. 5 Bjorn became the editor of the newspaper Moss Avis, which Brede submitted articles to for many years on different academic and cultural subjects; he also sent two "travel letters" from his stay in Paris in 1893 (cf. newspaper cuttings kept in the university library in Leiden). 6 Dagny Kristensen founded the "Maria-ordenen" (Order of Maria) in 1916, a closed order for women which on a Christian ethical basis aims "to promote self• realisation amongst its members and support their work for personality develop• ment". In 1999 the order had around 6,000 members, with most groups in Norway, some in Sweden and Denmark, and one in Germany. In autobiographical recol• lections (from 1956 and 1957) Dagny Kristensen leaves behind impressions of fam• ily life at the parsonage in Holum. About a dozen letters from Brede to Dagny (from the 1930s and 1940s) are kept in the university library in Leiden.