Revival and Society

REVIVAL AND SOCIETY An examination of the Haugian revival and its influence on Norwegian society in the 19th century. Magister Thesis in Sociology at the University of Oslo, 1978. By Alv Johan Magnus Grimerud 2312 Ottestad, Norway. Hans Nielsen Hauge, painted in 1800 Contents page Chapter 1: Introduction 3 Chapter 2: Hauge and his times 14 Chapter 3: Hauge and his message 23 Chapter 4: Hauge's work 36 Chapter 5: Revival in focus 67 Chapter 6: Social consequences of the revival 77 Chapter 7: The economic institution 83 Chapter 8: The political institution 95 Chapter 9: The religious institution 104 Chapter 10: Summing up 117 Literature 121 Foreword As I submit this thesis, it remains for me to give a special thank to my two supervisors, associate professor Sigurd Skirbekk and rector Otto Hauglin, for their personal involvement in my work. Our many talks and discussions have influenced this thesis. I also want to thank my fellow students for their constructive criticism during the writing periode. Rev. Einar Huglen has red the material on church history and given valuable corrections. A special thank goes to him. Elisabeth Engelsviken har accurately typed the whole manuscript, and Gro Bjerke has been of great help in drawing the figures. Thanks to both of you. Oslo, April 1, 1978. Alv J. Magnus PS: The painting above shows the only known original portrait of Hans Nielsen Hauge, probably made in Copenhagen in 1800. The English translation is done by Jenefer E. Hough, and the digital version by Steinar Thorvaldsen at Tromsø University College. A final part (Chapter 11-14) is only available in Norwegian, and is not included in this English version. A popularized Norwegian edition of parts of the thesis has been published in the book Veirydder med gnagsår. Hans Nielsen Hauge og vekkelsen som forandret Norge (Alv J. Magnus, Prokla Media 1996). 2 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 The subject under examination This thesis is a study of the revival centred around Hans Nielsen Hauge, and the influence it had on Norwegian society in the last century. In addition, the final part of the thesis contains an analysis of Karl Marx', Emile Durkheim's and Max Weber's concept of religion, together with an examination of their views in the light of the Haugian revival as an empirical phenomenon. (The final part is only available in Norwegian, and is not included in this English version.) 1.2 The purpose of the examination The purpose behind this work is to track down the influence of "spiritual" forces on social change through a study of the Haugian revival. (Our approach will be outlined later). We are under the impression that today's sociology is little interested in the possible influence on society of religion and the religious life. This is most likely related to the fact that such influence has hardly been great in recent years here in Norway. There can be many reasons for this. Religious life does not develop to the same extent at every point in history. Church history witnesses an ebb and flow also in the religious area. But the fact that it has been relatively quiet on the religious front in recent years should not fool us into thinking that religious forces do not have an influence on the development and welfare of society. From our own history we know of periods of great upheaval where religion played a central part. There is an increasing, often dramatic, return to religion in many parts of the world today, not least in the third world. In many places extensive social changes are occurring as a result of this religious awakening. 1) We are perhaps about to experience a religious awakening and renewal also here in Norway. We believe therefore that our approach will soon show itself to be topical if it is not already so. Classic sociological theory covers religious approaches to a much greater extent than today's sociology. The theoretical traditions from the founders of the discipline can, on the whole, be said to be pertinent even today. However, we experience their viewpoints as unsatisfactory in many ways. These viewpoints are given a comprehensive validity which is way above what can be reasonably defended when one considers the narrow empirical foundations upon which they are built. It can possibly be maintained with a certain amount of truth that the theorists have considered religion from a special viewpoint which satisfies their own paradigm. It can therefore be of a certain amount of interest to see how much our data on the Hauge revival will contradict the theorists. 2) Thus it could be said that we have a double purpose in this thesis, firstly to test the supposition that revival is a driving power in a process of social change, and secondly to ascertain the validity of the central classic theorists' view of religion's role in society. Seen from the narrower viewpoint of Norwegian religious research, this thesis can be of interest both sociologically and in the context of church history. In a review article on the 3 future of religious sociology, Olaf Aagedal expresses the necessity of making a start on a study of the lay movements. In the anthology "Religious Norway" he puts it in this way: "Significant research projects are to be found in the development of the lay movement as a religious and popular social movement. A more detailed religious and sociological analysis of this movement should give an increased understanding of the democratisation process in Norwegian society". 3) More specifically for Haugian research, a need has been expressed for a more sociologically orientated examination of the Haugian revival. Andreas Aarflot points to this need when, in the introduction to his doctoral thesis on Hauge's understanding of Christianity, he says: "There is also a pressing need to evaluate anew the influence Hauge's actions had on the life of society and the church. It would certainly be fruitful to work on the historical material from a sociological viewpoint". 4) 1.3 The theoretical perspective We have already mentioned in the introduction that it was the assumed connection between revival and social change which formed the basis of our interest for this survey. After enlarging on how we interpret that connection, we will try to arrive at a more precise expression of the hypothesis which will lead us in the examination. Arnold Toynbee, the historian, is among those who have maintained that every culture is built around a religion. 5) That every nation has a religion has now to be acknowledged as proved by religion researchers and anthropologists. This is confirmed in a in a recent article of Professor Åke Hultkranz 6) where he says, among other things, the following: "Religion researchers acknowledge the presupposition that all ethnical groups in the past has a religion. This point of view finds support in the fact that no known people, or folk group isolated in the jungle or mountain area, has been found to be without some form of religious life. Mans spiritual talents, his psychological needs and his symbol thinking, makes it probable that religion is as old as mans own existence." J.D. Unwin 7), the English anthropologist and historian, has made an important analysis and classification of a number of different religions and has studied in what way these coincide with various behaviour within the sexual area. He believes he can prove a clear inner relation between religion and the practical and institutional organization of reproduction and socialization. His survey also shows how religion fixes the shape of other institutions in society. In his book "Revival and social life in Sweden", E.H. Thornberg, the Swedish sociologist states: "Revival and free churches started the history of "folk movements" in Sweden. In many ways the whole "folk movement" is inspired by the religious revivals. (…) In the political life of our country, the free religious movements have without doubt, had a strong forming and colouring influence." (page 33) The former Swedish prime minister, Tage Erlander, has stated in his memoirs, and more recently in a newspaper interview, that it was "the revival movement which paved the way for democracy, the labour movement and nykterhetsrørelsen" (Hemmets Vän 17.7.75). 4 These quotations are a small, representative selection of viewpoints which illustrate the perspective of our own analysis. They give expression to the interpretation that the religion of a group of people has an independent influence on society as a whole. Or, to put this line of thought slightly differently: "People's attitudes decide people's actions and these in their turn have a decisive influence on the structural appearance of society." As the book of Proverbs has it: For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. 8) The philosopher Alfred Whitehead 9) echoes this thought: "We live in the way we think. It is actually only a matter of time and opportunity before a person lives out in action that with which he fills his thoughts." Therefore, when it is necessary to explain the reasons behind a process of change, we must point to a preceding change of mentality as the primary cause. C.T. Jonassen supports this supposition in his article "Etiske systemer og økonomisk atferd" when he maintains: "Conditions in Norway seem to support Weber rather than Marx. The orientation of ideas seems to be more connected to the development of a capitalistic way of thinking than "production conditions" seem to do. It can be shown that the production resources which characterize capitalism were lacking in Norway. They could not therefore form the vital conditions for the superstructure of ideas which constitute "the spirit of capitalism"".

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