Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1943, Page 118

I 12
LE NORD
got away from natural life. On the question how one is to find
the way to a vital synthesis between body and soul Gronbech
only offers vague hints, and he is stronger in his ironical criticism
of the existing state of things than in his preaching of the new.
Thus he has supported the feeling of estrangement towards the
Church found in the academic world.
The dissociation of the educated classes from personal Chris-
tianity has weakened the position of the Church in Denmark,
and at present there is no theologian who has proved able to coun-
teract this development effectively. There is, however, one man,
who without identifying himself with any definite trend
succeeded in enforcing a new respect for Christianity, viz. Kaj
Munk, the vicar, famous both as a preacher and a dramatist,
who was murdered under tragical circumstances in the beginning
of 1944. His remarkable dramas have been frequently performed
both in Denmark and in other countries. There he always at
some point introduces Christianity and in this way has made
secularized educated people discover that there is a living Chris-
tianity. His best known drama, The Word, in a modern setting
makes the miracle happen that a dead woman in the name of
Christ is recalled to life. Kaj Munk’s preaching during the last
years of his life got a strongly national character and attracted
a greater and greater attention. A still greater name he has made
through his death, through which he has become a martyr both
for his patriotism and his Christian faith.
The development which in Denmark has made large circles
foreign to Christianity, even though formally they remain within
the framework of the church, is not without a parallel in Sweden.
Here, too, the time about the turn of the century on the whole
shows a defection from the church both within educated circles
and among common people, where the labour movements in
both countries have developed an anti-church tendency. Still, the
front lines in Sweden have not been drawn so sharply as in Den-
mark. Sweden has not had anybody who in the same way as
Kierkegaard sharpened the demands of Christianity, nor any-
body who as fiercely as Brandes rushed to the attack, and the
influence from these two conspicuous Danish figures has been
quite slight. Sweden instead has had a number of prominent
Christian educated personalities, who created a typically Swedish