Aesthetics of Protestantism in Scandinavia from the 19th to the 21st Century

 Summary

This project aims to analyze the significance of Protestantism for Nordic cultures. Its hypothesis is that the Reformation not only informed the political, social, and ecclesiastical history of Scandinavia, but that it also, in establishing Protestantism as the State religion, has had a deep and lasting impact on cultural life in all its forms – in literature, the visual arts, music, high and popular culture, cultural practices and performances. Its presence can be sensed beyond the aesthetic production found within religious contexts or that which addresses questions of faith. This has not been sufficiently researched: literary and cultural studies have been “religion-blind” (I. Hammar). We will explore how the following prominent characteristics of Scandinavian aesthetics relate to Protestantism:

1. simplicity;

2. logocentrism;

3. a tension between collectivism and a pronounced individualism;

4. a specific relatedness to the world;

5. a commitment to a Protestant ethic. 

Involved

Principal Investigators

• Prof. Dr. Joachim Grage, Freiburg
• Prof. Dr. Thomas Mohnike, Strasbourg

Postdocs

• Dr. Pehr Englén, Freiburg
• Dr. Emmanuel Reymond, Strasbourg

PhD students

• Rodrigo Edvard Araujo Silva, Strasbourg
• Diane Chateau-Alaberdina, Strasbourg
• Hanna Rothmund, Freiburg

Subprojects

• "Pietism, Modernity, Bildning and the Aesthetics of Nature", Thomas Mohnike
• "Self-exploration and Self-justification in Writing – Diaries and Autofiction", Joachim Grage
• "Apparatus of Longing: Engagement and Transcendence in Scandinavian Modernist Poetry", Emmanuel Reymond
• "Occultism in a Time of Shifting Orthodoxies", Pehr Englén
• "Swedish workers’ literature in the early 20th century in the context of the Protestant revivalist movement and Protestant aesthetics",Rodrigo Edvard Araujo Silva
• "The Aesthetics of Protestantism in Karin Boye's Poetry", Diane Chateau-Alaberdina
• "A Protestant Imagination in Film", Hanna Rothmund

Publications

•  Hjortshøj, Søren Blak, et Thomas Mohnike. « En sekulær munk ». Atlas, 2020.
• Mohnike, Thomas. « Nature, Work, and Transcendence. Christian Intertexts in Selma Lagerlöf’s Nils Holgersson’s Marvelous Journey through Sweden and the Modern Swedish Welfare State ». European Journal of Scandinavian Studies 52, no 1 (2022): 6‑25.
• « Pietist Nostalgia. Aesthetization of Faith and the Nordic Revival Movements in Scandinavian Post-WWII Literature ». In Aesthetics of Protestantism in Northern Europe - Exploring the Field, édité par Joachim Grage, Lena Rohrbach, et Thomas Mohnike, 215‑32. Turnhout: Brepols, 2022.

Important Dates 

 21st to 23rd March 2024: Answering the Call: Aesthetic Expressions of Vocation and Responsibility in Nordic Cultures since 1750