THE DEEP COINHERENCE: A CHINESE APPRECIATION OF N.F.S. GRUNDTVIG’S PUBLIC THEOLOGY BY WEN, GE AUGUST 2013 Table of Contents Abbreviations Glossary 1. Introduction /1 1.1. Motivation /1 1.2. Key Themes and Concepts /3 1.3. Methods, Structure, and Language /4 1.3.1. Methods /4 1.3.2. Structure /5 1.3.3. Language /5 2. A Note on Public Theology /6 2.1. The Origin and General Development of Public Theology /6 2.2. A Brief and ad hoc Definition of Public Theology /7 2.2.1. The Theological Dimension of Public Theology /7 2.2.2. The Public Dimension of Public Theology /8 2.2.3. The Interaction Between Theology and the Public /9 2.2.4. Civil Society and Public Theology /12 2.3. The Distinction of Public Theology from Political Theology, Civil Religion, Social Ethics, and Social Theology /13 2.4. Summary /17 3. Grundtvig’s Life and Work /18 3.1. Love of Christianity /19 3.2. Love of Family /22 3.3. Love of People /23 3.4. Summary /25 4. The Background of the Nineteen-Century Denmark /26 4.1. Politics /26 4.2. Economics /27 4.3. Culture /27 4.3.1. Cultural Crisis as Perceived by Grundtvig /28 4.3.2. The Dominance of Enlightenment Ethos /28 4.3.3. The Influence of Romanticism /30 4.3.4. The Widespread Use of Foreign Languages /31 4.3.5. Summary /34 4.4.Church /35 4.4.1. The Challenge of Rationalism /35 4.4.2. The Declining Church Life /35 ii 4.4.3. The Emergence of Pietistic Groups /36 4.4.4. The Danish Church-State Relationship /37 4.5. Summary /38 5. Grundtvig’s Ecclesial Perspective /39 5.1. The Christian Point of Departure /40 5.2. True Christianity in Response to Modernity /40 5.2.1. Grundtvig’s Biblicist Christianity (1810-1824) /41 5.2.2. The Matchless Discovery /42 5.2.2.1. The Discovery of the Apostles’ Creed /42 5.2.2.2. The Apologetic and the Didactic Functions of the Ecclesial Perspective /44 5.2.2.3. The Deep Coninherence of the Divine and the Human in the Word /45 5.2.3. In Continuity with Martin Luther /48 5.2.4. Some Criticism of the Ecclesial Perspective /49 5.3. True Church as the Living Congregation /52 5.3.1. A Community of the Living Word /53 5.3.2. A Non-Institutional Community Established by the Spirit /55 5.3.3. Not a Castle in the Air, but a Historical Reality /55 5.3.4. Not Being Sectarian, but Ecumenical /56 5.3.5. A Fellowship of Corporate Christ-like Life /57 5.4. Summary /59 6. Grundtvig’s Social Philosophy /61 6.1. The Anthropological Presupposition of Grundtvig’s Social Philosophy /61 6.2. Grundtvig’s Concept of Folkelighed /65 6.2.1. Folkelighed in Relationship to People and the National Spirit /65 6.2.2. Folkelighed as a Historical Cultural-Ethnic Reality /68 6.2.3. Folkelighed Associated with Equality and Freedom /69 6.2.4. Folkelighed as a Communal Reality /69 6.2.5. Folkelighed as a Dynamic Unfinished Reality /70 6.2.6. Folkelighed and People’s High School /71 6.2.7. Summary /71 6.3. Civil Society as the Plausibility Structure of Folkelighed /72 6.3.1. Civil Society and Folkelighed /72 6.3.2. Civil Despair in Terms of State, Church and School /73 6.3.3. Grundtvig’s Vision of Civil Society /75 6.3.3.1. Grundtvig’s Concept of Society /75 6.3.3.2. Semantic Analyses of Grundtvig’s Use of “Civil Society” /75 6.3.3.3. Grundtvig’s Distinction of Civil Society from State /76 6.3.3.4. Civil Society as the Natural Human Ideal /78 6.3.3.5. Civil Society as a Historical Reality /79 iii 6.3.3.6. Civil Society as a Spiritual Organic Unity /81 6.3.3.7. Civil Society as an Expansion of Family Life /82 6.3.3.8. The Common Good as the Foundation of Civil Society /85 6.3.3.9. Civil Society versus Liberal Individualism /86 6.3.3.10. Civil Society as a Folkelig Society /88 6.3.4. Civil Society and the State /90 6.3.4.1. The Transformation of the State in the Light of Civil Society /90 6.3.4.2. The State and Constitution /94 6.3.4.3. The State and Freehold Rights /96 6.3.4.4. The State and Freedom of Trade /96 6.3.4.5. The State and Charity /97 6.3.5. Civil Society and the Church /99 6.3.5.1. The Civil Aspect of Christianity /99 6.3.5.2. The Rejection of Both the State Church and the Church State /100 6.3.5.3. Creating a Free and Spacious National Church /104 6.3.5.4. The Non-Intervention of Church in School Education /110 6.3.5.5. Summary /112 6.3.6. Civil Society and School /113 6.3.6.1. The Necessity of the People’s High School /113 6.3.6.2. The School Situation at Grundtvig’s Time /113 6.3.6.3. People’s High School and Civil Society /115 6.3.6.3.1. Folkelig Education in the People’s High School /116 6.3.6.3.2. Folkelighed as the Educational Focus /118 6.3.6.3.3. The Abolition of Class Difference in the People’s High School /121 6.3.6.4. Summary /123 6.4. Folkelighed and National Salvation /124 6.4.1. Folkelighed and Territory /124 6.4.1.1. The Two Stages of Grundtvig’s Plan for National Salvation /125 6.4.1.2. The Relationship of National Salvation to the North and the Whole of Humanity /128 6.4.1.3. Inter-Folkeligt and Inter-National Relationship /129 6.4.2. Grundtvig’s Theology for the Nation /132 6.5. Summary /135 7. Grundtvig’s Public Theology /137 7.1. The Uniqueness of Grundtvig’s Public Theology /137 7.2. The Deep Divine-Human Coinherence in Grundtvig’s Public Theology /137 7.3. The Feature of Grundtvig’s Public Theology: The Humanity of God /139 7.4. The Contents of Grundtvig’s Public Theology /140 7.4.1. Internal Renewal of Christianity /140 7.4.1.1. The Rediscovery of the Free Christianity /140 iv 7.4.1.2. The Folkelig Enlightenment of the Living Congregation /141 7.4.2. External Influence upon the People and the Public Life /143 7.4.2.1. Creating a Free Folkelighed for the Public Discourse /143 7.4.2.2. A Christian Enlightenment of Human Life /147 7.5. Summary /153 8. A Chinese Appreciation of Grundtvig’s Public Theology /154 8.1. A General Chinese Appreciation /154 8.2. A Chinese Apperception of the Deep Coninherent Divine-Human Relationship in the Light of the Chinese Yin-Yang Paradigm /162 8.2.1. Different Expositions of Grundtvig’s Divine-Human Dynamic in the Danish Grundtvig Scholarship /162 8.2.1.1. A Possible Natural Theology? /163 8.2.1.1.1. The Inner Human Cognitive Triadic Structure /163 8.2.1.1.2. The Poetic Symbolic Language /164 8.2.1.1.3. The Human Experience of Love /165 8.2.1.1.4. Summary /165 8.2.1.2. The Objection of Kaj Thaning’s Secular Reading of Grundtvig /165 8.2.1.2.1. Ander P. Thyssen /166 8.2.1.2.2. Theodor Jørgensen /166 8.2.1.2.3. Helge Grell /167 8.2.1.2.4. Hans. R. Iversen /167 8.2.1.2.5. Regin Prenter /170 8.2.1.2.6. Niels H. Gregersen /174 8.2.1.3. Human Beings as Microcosmos to Mediate Spirit and Nature /176 8.2.2. The Divine-Human Relationship in the Light of Yin-Yang Philosophy /177 8.2.2.1. The Explication of the Yin-Yang Diagram /178 8.2.2.2. The Divine-Human Circulation /182 8.2.3. Summary /191 8.3. A Chinese Appraisal of Grundtvig’s Public Theology /192 8.3.1. The Interaction between Christianity and the Folkelig Life /192 8.3.2. The Relationship between Heart and Hand in Grundtvig’s Public Theology /194 8.3.3. Challenges /195 9. Conclusion /199 Danish Resumé /205 English Resumé /207 Bibliography /209 Appendix: N.F.S. Grundtvig and China /238 v Abbreviations and Frequently Quoted Resources 1. US Nik.Fred.Sev. Grundtvigs Udvalgte Skrifter I-X. Edited by H. Begtrup. København: Gyldendalske Boghandel-Nordisk Forlag, 1904-09. 2. VU N.F.S. Grundtvig, Værker i udvalg I-X. Edited by G. Christensen and H. Koch. København: Gyldendalske Boghandel-Nordisk Forlag, 1940-49. 3. HB Ernst J. Borup og Frederik Schrøder, eds. Haandbog i N.F.S. Grundtvigs Skrifter. 3 vols. København: H. Hagerups Forlag, 1929-31. 4. GSV K. E. Bugge ed. Grundtvigs Skoleverden i tekster og udkast. 2 vols. København: G.E.C Gads Forlag, 1968. 5. SL N.F. S. Grundtvig, The School for Life: N. F. S. Grundtvig on Education for the People. Edited by Edward Broadbridge, Clay Warren and Uffe Jonas. Translated by Edward Broadbridge. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2011. 6. GDK Holger Begtrup, Grundtvigs Danske Kristendom. 2 vols. København: G. E. C. Gads Forlag, 1936. vi Glossary of Key Danish Phrases in the Works of N.F.S. Grundtvig 1. Christeligehed: Christ-likeness or Christianness. In this study I choose the translation of Christ- likeness.