View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by UCL Discovery ‘Hans Nielsen Hauge and The Prophetic Imagination’ Thesis submitted to the University of London for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, February 2007 by Alison Heather Stibbe, MA Department of Scandinavian Studies University College London Gower Street London WC1E 6BT Declaration I, Alison Heather Stibbe, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without prior permission from the author. 2 Abstract: Hans Nielsen Hauge and the Prophetic Imagination The Norwegian lay preacher Hans Nielsen Hauge (1771-1824) has been described as a prophet who brought religious, social, economic and political change to nineteenth-century Norway. This thesis examines Hauge’s first four texts as prophecy using the paradigm ‘prophetic imagination’ as an analytical model to provide a comprehensive explanation as to how his speech acted to ‘evoke consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture’ by means of the cooperative action of ‘prophetic criticism’ and ‘prophetic energising’ (Brueggemann 2001:13). A formal analysis of Hauge’s texts identified idiosyncratic ‘framing devices’ which act to indicate the presence of prophetic speech at both the general and the specific level. These devices, particularly the prophetic call narratives, were also found to act to legitimate Hauge’s prophetic speech. Formal elements of prophetic speech were identified in Hauge’s specific prophetic utterances, enabling these to be classified as forms of two major prophetic genres: announcements of judgement (criticising) or announcements of salvation (energising). Apocalyptic, the third major prophetic genre, was identified as playing a greater role in Hauge’s early texts than has been previously acknowledged. An analysis of Hauge’s apocalyptic thought indicated that his prophetic task was motivated by basic beliefs rooted in this idiosyncratic worldview. The supplementation of Brueggemann’s paradigm with Wright’s worldview schema permitted the scrutiny of Hauge’s use of prophetic narrative against this apocalyptic backdrop (Wright 2001). This subsequently permitted the identification of the symbols which were dismantled by Hauge’s prophetic criticism - the personnel, practice and place of institutional religion, and the symbols which were transformed or generated by his prophetic energising - ‘true shepherds’, ‘priests and kings’, and membership of ‘a prophethood of all believers’. The adoption of these symbols explains the self-confidence expressed by Hauge’s followers and their subsequent involvement in all areas of public life. 3 Acknowledgements This project was funded by an award from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and by a discretionary grant from the Department of Scandinavian Studies, University College London. I would also like to thank the following people and organisations for their support and encouragement: Dr. Marie Wells (supervisor) Dr. Tom Lundskær-Nielsen (supervisor) The staff and students at the Department of Scandinavian Studies, UCL The Inter-Library Loans Team, DMS Watson Library, UCL The Rare Books Room, The British Library Alan Lindberg, Senior Librarian, London School of Theology Turid Hansen, Curator, Museet Hauges Minde, Sarpsborg, Norway Elisabeth Jellestad, Folksbiblioteket, Trondheim Det teologiske Menighetsfakultetets Biblioteket, Oslo Universitetsbiblioteket, Bergen Adamstuen Antikvariat, Oslo Pastor Reidar Paulsen, Kristkirken, Bergen Prof. Ove-Conrad Hanssen, Misjonshøyskolen, Stavanger Kjetil Høybråten, Menighetsfakultetet, Oslo Tryggve Riiser Gundersen, Institutt for Nordistikk og Litterturvitenskap, Oslo Prof. Walter Brueggemann, Professor of OT, Columbia Theological Seminary Prof. David Aune, Professor of NT, University of Notre Dame Eiystein Wiig, Bergen Michelle Sinclair, Information Systems, UCL Helen Clark and the late Phil Clark and their team Very special thanks indeed to my family to whom this work is dedicated: Rev. Dr. Mark Stibbe, Phil, Hannah, John and Sam 4 Table of Contents Title page.………………………………………………………………….. 1 Declaration………………………………………………………………….2 Abstract……………………………………………………………………..3 Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………4 Table of Contents………………………………………………………….. 5 List of Tables and Figures…………………………………………………..10 Abbreviations used in the Text……………………………………………. 15 The Referencing of Quotations from Hans Nielsen Hauges Skrifter……… 16 Introduction: ‘Hans Nielsen Hauge’…………………………………….. 18 1. A biographical sketch…………………………………………………… 20 2. Two hundred years of literature…...….………………………………… 25 2.1 Hauge the author….…………………………………………… 26 2.1.1 A publishing phenomenon….……………………….. 26 2.1.2 Instruments for change ……………………………… 26 2.1.3 Hauge’s early texts….……………………………….. 29 2.1.4 ‘Daarlighed’ and ‘Viisdom’…………………………. 34 2.2 The early literature…………………………………………….. 36 2.3 Trends in twentieth-century Hauge research…………………... 37 2.3.1 Biography…………………………………………… 38 2.3.2 Theology…………………………………………….. 38 2.3.3 Politics……………………………………………….. 40 2.3.4 Economics…………………………………………… 41 2.3.5 Sociology…………………………………………….. 41 2.3.6 Project ‘Norsk sakprosa’…………………………….. 44 2.3.7 ‘Om å ta Ordet’……………………………………… 44 2.4 ‘Mind the gap’…………………………………………………. 49 3. Brief outline of the research project…………………………………….. 50 5 Chapter 1: Conceptualisations of Hauge the Prophet…………………53 1. Defining prophecy……………………………………………………… 53 2. Conceptions of Hauge the prophet……………………………………... 56 2.1 Hauge the foreteller of the future………….………………….. 56 2.2 Hauge the popular apocalyptic visionary……………………... 57 2.3 Hauge the charismatic leader………………………………….. 59 2.4 Hauge the proclaimer of the gospel…………………………… 61 3. Contextual perspectives on prophecy…………………………………... 63 3.1 The Word as ‘special revelation’……………………………… 64 3.2 Prophecy and ‘continuing revelation’…………………………. 65 3.3 Word and Spirit………………………………………………... 65 3.4 Prophecy becomes preaching………………………………….. 64 4. Hauge’s understanding of prophecy……………………………………. 70 4.1 Indirect and direct revelation………………………………….. 70 4.2 The voice of God, dreams and visions ……………………….. 73 4.3 Word and Spirit……………………………………………….. 74 4.4. Prophecy and proclamation…………………………………... 75 5. Prophetic imagination…………………………………………………... 79 5.1. Law and gospel………………………………………………. 79 5.2 ‘Formaning’ and ‘Opbyggelse’……………………………….. 81 5.3 Aspects of a dialectic tension…………………………………. 83 6. Conclusion………………………………………………………………. 84 Chapter 2: Brueggemann’s paradigm ‘Prophetic Imagination’…….. 87 1. Introduction…………………………………………………………….. 87 2. Brueggemann’s ‘Prophetic Imagination’……………………………….. 87 2.1 An alternative frame of reference……………………………… 88 2.2 An epistemological shift………………………………………. 90 3. The dominant or ‘royal’ consciousness…………………………………. 91 3.1 The revolutionary cycle………………………………………... 91 3.2 Danish absolutism – the ‘royal’ consciousness……………….. 93 3.2.1 The characteristics of ‘royal’ consciousness………… 94 3.2.2 Three aspects of ‘royal’ consciousness……………… 96 6 3.2.2a Economics of affluence…………………….. 97 3.2.2b Politics of oppression………………………. 97 3.2.2c Religion of a ‘captive’ God…………………. 98 3.2.3 Conclusion…………………………………………… 100 4. The alternative consciousness……………………………………………100 4.1. The alternative community of Moses………………………..... 100 4.2 Religion of ‘God’s freedom’……………………………………101 4.3 Secondary aspects of alternative consciousness……………….. 101 4.3.1 Economics of equality……………………………….. 102 4.3.2 Politics of justice………………………………………103 4.4 Conclusion…………………………………………………….. 105 5. Communities that nurture prophets and prophecy……………………….105 5.1 The ‘bondestand’ as a sub-community…………………………106 5.2 A long and available memory…………………………………. 107 5.3 An inherited mode of discourse……………………………….. 107 5.4 An expressed sense of pain……………………………………. 108 5.5 An active practice of hope…………………………………….. 108 5.6 Conclusion……………………………………………………... 109 6. The inner functioning of prophetic imagination………………………… 110 6.1 Prophetic criticism…………………………………………….. 110 6.2 Prophetic energising…………………………………………… 113 7. Looking for prophetic imagination in Hauge…………………………… 116 7.1 Looking for prophetic criticising and energising……………… 116 7.1.1 Cartledge’s description of contemporary prophecy…. 117 7.1.2 Aune’s description of biblical prophecy………………119 Chapter 3: The Identification of Hauge’s Prophetic Speech…………... 121 1. Introduction……………………………………………………………… 121 2. Brief description of framing devices……………………………………. 122 2.1 Messenger formulas…………………………………………… 122 2.2 Commission formulas…………………………………………. 123 2.3 Proclamation formulas………………………………………….123 2.4 Legitimation formulas…………………………………………. 123 2.5 Oath formulas………………………………………………….. 123 7 2.6 The ‘mystery’ formula…………………………………………. 123 3. Framing devices in Hauge’s early works……………………………….. 124 3.1 Location and distribution……………………………………… 124 3.2 Messenger formulas…………………………………………….126 3.2.1 God speaks……………………………………………126 3.2.2 Hauge speaks………………………………………… 131 3.3 Commission formulas………………………………………….. 132 3.3.1 Commission motifs………………………………….. 133 3.3.1a ‘det betroede Pund’………………………….133 3.3.1b ‘det himmelske Liggendefæe’………………. 135 3.3.2 Prophetic call narratives………………………………136 3.3.2a The ‘BVD-Fortale’ narrative……………….. 136 3.3.2b The ‘GV-Tilskrift’ narrative………………… 137 3.4 Legitimation formulas………………………………….