N. F. S. Grundtvig

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Reverend
N. F. S. Grundtvig
Grundtvig in pastoral garments
Born(1783-09-08)8 September 1783
Udby, Zealand, Denmark–Norway
Died2 September 1872(1872-09-02) (aged 88)
Copenhagen, Denmark
Occupation(s)Lutheran minister, teacher, author, poet, philosopher, historian
ChildrenSvend Grundtvig

Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig (Danish: [ˈne̝koˌlɑjˀ ˈfʁeðˀˌʁek ˈse̝vəˌʁiˀn ˈkʁɔntvi]; 8 September 1783 – 2 September 1872), most often referred to as N. F. S. Grundtvig, was a Danish pastor, author, poet, philosopher, historian, teacher and politician. He was one of the most influential people in Danish history, as his philosophy gave rise to a new form of nationalism in the last half of the 19th century. It was steeped in the national literature and supported by deep spirituality.[1][2]

Grundtvig holds a unique position in the cultural history of his country. Grundtvig and his followers are credited with being very influential in the formulation of modern Danish national consciousness. He was active during the Danish Golden Age, but his style of writing and fields of reference are not immediately accessible to a foreigner, thus his international importance does not match that of his contemporaries Hans Christian Andersen and Søren Kierkegaard.[3][4]

Early life and education

N. F. S. Grundtvig (1831)

Called Frederik rather than Nikolaj by those close to him. N. F. S. Grundtvig was the son of a Lutheran pastor in Udby, Johan Ottosen Grundtvig (1734–1813) and was born there. He was brought up in a very religious atmosphere, although his mother also had great respect for old Norse legends and traditions. He was schooled in the tradition of the European Enlightenment, but his faith in reason was also influenced by German romanticism and the ancient history of the Nordic countries.[5]

In 1791 he was sent to Thyregod in

Icelandic Sagas.[8]

Career

Bronze statue of Grundtvig by Vilhelm Bissen at Frederik's Church

In 1805, Grundtvig took a position as tutor in a house on the island of

Adam Oehlenschläger opened Grundtvig's eyes to the new era in literature.[10]
His first work, On the Songs in the Edda, attracted no attention.

Returning to Copenhagen in 1808, Grundtvig achieved greater success with his Northern Mythology, and again in 1809 with a long drama, The Fall of the Heroic Life in the North. Grundtvig boldly denounced the clergy of the city in his first sermon in 1810.[11] When Grundtvig published the sermon three weeks later it offended the ecclesiastical authorities, and they demanded him punished.[11][12]

In 1810, Grundtvig underwent a religious crisis and converted to a strongly held Lutheranism. He retired to his father's country parish in Udby as his chaplain.[13] His new-found conviction was expressed in his The First World Chronicle (Kort Begreb af Verdens Krønike i Sammenhæng) of 1812, a presentation of European history in which he attempted to explain how belief in God has been viewed throughout human history and in which he criticized the ideology of many prominent Danes.[14][15] It won him notoriety among his peers and cost him several friends, notably the historian Christian Molbech.[15] Upon his father's death in 1813, Grundtvig applied to be his successor in the parish but was rejected.[16]

In the following years his rate of publication was staggering: aside from a continuing stream of articles and poems, he wrote a number of books, including two more histories of the world (1814 and 1817); the long historical poem Roskilde-Riim (Rhyme of Roskilde; 1813); and a book-sized commentary, Roskilde Saga.[17] From 1816 to 1819 he was editor of and almost sole contributor to a philosophical and polemical journal entitled Danne-Virke, which also published poetry.[14]

From 1813 to 1815, he attempted to form a movement to support the

Norway in 1814. His sermon was met by an enthusiastic congregation in Copenhagen. Grundtvig withdrew from the pulpit because he did not have a parish of his own and was being barred by other churches.[18] In 1821, he resumed preaching briefly when granted the country living of Præstø
, and returned to the capital the year after.

N. F. S. Grundtvig by Constantin Hansen

In 1825, Grundtvig published a pamphlet, The Church's Rejoinder (Kirkens Gienmæle), a response to

Anglo-Saxon.[16]

In 1832, Grundtvig obtained permission to again enter active ministry. In 1839, he was called as pastor of the workhouse church of Vartov hospital in Copenhagen, a post he held until his death. Between 1837 and 1841 he published Sang-Værk til den Danske Kirke (Song Work for the Danish Church), a rich collection of sacred poetry; in 1838 he brought out a selection of early Scandinavian verse; in 1840 he edited the Anglo-Saxon poem "The Phoenix", with a Danish translation. In 1843 he visited England for a fourth time.[22][23]

From 1844 until after the

Lutherans. In all Grundtvig wrote or translated about 1500 hymns, including "God's Word Is Our Great Heritage" and "Det kimer nu til julefest".[citation needed
]

Christian thinking

Grundtvig's theological development continued over his lifetime, and took a number of important turns. He moved from his "Christian awakening" of 1810 to believing in a congregational and sacramental Christianity in later years. He was most notable for the latter thinking. He always called himself a pastor, not a theologian, reflecting the distance between his ideas and academic theology. The chief characteristic of his theology was the substitution of the authority of the "living word" for the apostolic commentaries. He desired to see each congregation act as a practically independent community.[citation needed]

Even though he was a staunch Christian, Grundtvig's obsession with the pre-Christian Scandinavian faith lasted throughout his life. At the time this faith had no official name, but were merely known as "Forn Siðr" - "the old customs". Therefore as part of his studies and works on this old faith, he coined the name "Asatro" or "Asetro", a name which holds a double meaning. The meaning can either be interpretated as "the Aesir faith" or "loyal to the Aesir".[citation needed]

Thought on education

Sculpture of Grundtvig in Vartov (Grundtvigsk Forum) by Niels Skovgaard

Grundtvig is the ideological father of the

Kristen Kold, had already established the first folk high school.[citation needed
]

Grundtvig's ambitions for school reform were not limited to the popular folk high school. He also dreamed of forming a Great Nordic University (the School for Passion) to be situated at the symbolic point of intersection between the three Scandinavian countries in Gothenburg, Sweden. The two pillars of his school program, the School for Life (folk high school) and the School for Passion (university) were aimed at quite different horizons of life. The popular education should mainly be taught within a national and patriotic horizon of understanding, yet always keeping an open mind towards a broader cultural and intercultural outlook, while the university should work from a strictly universal, i.e. humane and scientific, outlook.[24]

The common denominator of all Grundtvig's pedagogical efforts was to promote a spirit of freedom, poetry and disciplined creativity, within all branches of educational life. He promoted values such as wisdom, compassion, identification and equality. He opposed all compulsion, including exams, as deadening to the human soul. Instead Grundtvig advocated unleashing human creativity according to the universally creative order of life. Only willing hands make light work. Therefore, a spirit of freedom, cooperation and discovery was to be kindled in individuals, in science, and in the civil society as a whole.[25]

Beowulf and Anglo-Saxon literature

In 1815,

Anglo-Saxon literature, Grundtvig quickly discovered a number of flaws in Thorkelin's rendering of the poems. After his heated debate with Thorkelin, Johan Bülow (1751–1828), who had sponsored Thorkelin's work, offered to support a new translation by Grundtvig — this time into Danish. The result, Bjovulfs Drape (1820), was the first full translation of Beowulf into a modern language (previously, only selections of the poem had been translated into modern English by Sharon Turner in 1805).[26]

Grundtvig went on to explore the extensive literature of the Anglo-Saxons which survived in Old English and Latin. In both poetry and prose, it revealed the spirituality of the early Church in

Junius 11 in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Although he thought to publish them, the project was never realized. Beowulf and Anglo-Saxon literature continued to be a major source of inspiration to Grundtvig. It had a wide-ranging influence upon his work.[27][28][29]

Marriage and family

Grundtvig was married three times, the last time in his 76th year. His first wife, Elisabeth Blicher (1787–1851), was a clergyman's daughter. They were married in 1818 and had three children. His second wife, Marie Toft (1813–1854) was the daughter of a landowner. She died a few months after giving birth to a son. In 1858, he married Asta Reedtz (1826–1890) of an old aristocratic Danish family. His son Svend Grundtvig (1824–1883) collected and edited Danish ballads.[30]

Legacy

Grundtvig's Church

Veneration

Grundtvig is commemorated on 2 September as a renewer of the church in the

Calendar of Saints of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.[32]

Bibliography

Editions

No comprehensive foreign language edition of his work exists. A three-volume edition in German, however, is under preparation and projects for an English edition are in progress as well. Grundtvig's secular poetical works were published in a nine-volume edition, the first seven volumes by his second son, the philologist Svend Grundtvig. The philological practice of this work, however, is not up to the standards of modern philology. His hymns have been collected in the philologically more stable five-volume edition Grundtvigs Sang-Værk.

The best overall collection of his writings in print is the ten-volume edition Grundtvigs udvalgte Skrifter edited by Holger Begtrup (1859–1937). His enormous oeuvre is presented in Steen Johansen: Bibliografi over N.F.S. Grundtvigs Skrifter (I-IV, 1948–54).[33]

The most important editions are:

  • Grundtvigs Værker. Center for Grundtvigforskning (editors), Aarhus Universitet. 2010-.
  • Grundtvigs Sang-Værk 1–6. Magnus Stevns (and others, editors). Copenhagen: Det danske Forlag. 1948–64.
  • Poetiske Skrifter 1–9. Udgivet af Svend Grundtvig (and others, editors). Copenhagen: Karl Schönberg og Hyldendal. 1880–1930.
  • Udvalgte Skrifter 1–10. Holger Begtrup (editor). Copenhagen: Gyldendal. 1904–09.
  • Værker i Udvalg 1–10. Hal Koch and Georg Christensen (editors). Copenhagen: Gyldendal. 1940–46.

English translations

  • N.F.S. Grundtvig - A Life Recalled. An Anthology of Biographical Source-Texts.Edited and translated by S.A.J. Bradley. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press. 2008.
  • The School for Life. N.F.S. Grundtvig on Education for the People. Translated by Edward Broadbridge. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press. 2011.
  • Living Wellsprings. The Hymns, songs and Poems of N.F.S. Grundtvig. Translated by Edward Broadbridge. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press. 2015.
  • Human Comes First. The Christian Theology of N.F.S. Grundtvig. Translated by. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press. 2018.
  • The Common Good. N.F.S. Grundtvig as Politician and Contemporary Historian. Translated by Edward Broadbridge. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press. 2019

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ Mogens Brøndsted. "Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig". Store norske leksikon. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  2. ISBN 9780773596320
  3. ^ "Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig". Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. Archived from the original on 13 September 2018. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  4. ^ "Grundtvig Sought a Transformed Denmark". Christianity.com. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  5. ^ Allchin 1997, pp. 30–31.
  6. ^ Abrahamowitz 2000, pp. 20–25.
  7. ^ Reich 2000, p. 33.
  8. ^ Pia Andersen (2005). "N.F.S.Grundtvig". Forfatterweb. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  9. ^ Allchin 1997, pp. 31–32.
  10. ^ Reich 2000, p. 35.
  11. ^ a b Allchin 1997, p. 33.
  12. ^ Reich 2000, p. 48.
  13. ^ Allchin 1997, pp. 33–36.
  14. ^ a b Allchin 1997, p. 39.
  15. ^ a b Abrahamowitz 2000, pp. 115–117.
  16. ^ a b Lundgreen-Nielsen, Flemming, NFS Grundtvig (Biografi) (in Danish), DK: Arkiv for Dansk Litteratur, archived from the original on 3 July 2007, retrieved 8 August 2007
  17. ^ Abrahamowitz 2000, pp. 125–133.
  18. ^ Reich 2000, pp. 55–57.
  19. ^ Allchin 1997, p. 105.
  20. ^ Allchin 1997, pp. 105–106.
  21. ^ Grundtvig, Nikolaj Frederik Severin (1825), Kirkens Gienmæle (in Danish), DK: Arkiv for Dansk Litteratur, archived from the original on 16 July 2011, retrieved 9 August 2007
  22. ^ "Vartovs historie". Grundtvig. dk. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  23. ^ "Vartov kirkes bygningshistorie" (PDF). Grundtvig. dk. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  24. ^ S.A.J.Bradley. "N.F.S.Grundtvig – A Life Recalled" (PDF). University of Aarhus. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  25. ^ "N. F. S. Grundtvig, folk high schools and popular education". YMCA George Williams College. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  26. ^ "Hofembedsmand – Bülow, Johan, 1751–1828". Dansk biografisk Lexikon. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  27. doi:10.7146/grs.v57i1.16495
  28. doi:10.7146/grs.v55i1.16461
  29. doi:10.7146/grs.v50i1.16337
    and various other related articles by this author in the same journal.
  30. ^ "Biografi – Nik. Fred. Sev. Grundtvig". Arkiv for Dansk Litteratur. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  31. ^ "Litteratur: Lyrikantologi" (PDF). Kulturkanon (in Danish). DK: Ministry of Culture. 2006. p. 47. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
  32. ^ "Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig, Renewer of the Church". Field Guide To Lutheran Saints. 2 September 2010. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  33. ^ "Grundtvig Tekstoplysninger Tekstbeskrivelse". danske litterære tekster efter 1800. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.

Further reading

In English

Important, too, are the numerous articles in English published in the yearbook Grundtvig-Studier (Grundtvig Studies) from 1948 and onwards. Danish is the main language of the journal, but the English articles are prominent and increasing in recent years.

In other languages

The most important works on Grundtvig are a series of dissertations published since the founding of Grundtvig-selskabet (The Grundtvig Society). All of them contain summaries in major languages, most of them in English. This series includes:

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=N._F._S._Grundtvig&oldid=1217470572"