Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1943, Blaðsíða 111

SWEDISH AND DANISH CHRISTIANITY xo5
a middle course between Roman splendour and Calvinistic
bareness.
The position held by the Church in the community is also
nearly the same. Both countries have established churches, the king
and the government thus having the highest authority. Internal
church affairs are directed by bishops. In Sweden there is further
an ecclesiastical representation, the convocation (kyrkomötet),
composed of clergymen and laymen, who assemble at least every
fifth year in order to decide on the affairs of the Church in
general, while the authority of the bishops is restricted to their
respective dioceses.
Church and school are closely connected, and instruction in
Christianity is obligatory. Here, however, the connexion is closer
in Sweden than in Denmark. In the latter country the expression
“instruction in religion” is used, not “instruction in Christianity”
as in Sweden, and teachers of religion and clergymen are trained
for instruction separately, not together as in Sweden. The school
in Denmark is also subordinate to a particular department, while
in Sweden one of the King’s ministers is leader of both Church
and school.
Swedish and Danish Christianity thus may show a similar
face to the world. But within the uniform framework national
characteristics have developed in both countries in the course
of time. This does not least apply to the last century, and the
ideas and forms of belief which then took form, generally
characterize church life of today. In both countries Christian
life is under the influence of the dominant figures of the i9th
century.
* *
The most peculiar of the spiritually great men of Scandinavia
of the I9th century was Grundtvig. N. F. S. Grundtvig was
the son of a Danish rector. He was born in 1783 and died as
a rector in Copenhagen in 1872, 89 years old. During this long
period he lived through the French Revolution and the large
number of revolutions of the i9th century down to the Danish-
German War of 1864 and the new period which began in Den-
mark after this war, and may be said to have continued down
to the occupation in 1940.
This very long life was filled with a restless activity. The
bulk of Grundvig’s writings is enormous, not least his works in
Le Nord, 1943, 2—4
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