The Nordic Household State: Variations upon a Theme by Luther
Sweden-Finland and Denmark-Norway were characterized by an unusually high degree of mono-confessionalism. Later these Scandinavian countries became advanced welfare democracies. As the household, characterized by mutual obligations, was such an important theme in early modern Lutheranism, it is remarkable that we are still waiting for a solid empirically-based analysis of the Nordic model as an expression of the Lutheran household. This project wants to deliver such a contribution. We are searching for explanations in the period where Lutheran theology was essential in the creation of strong household states in both countries during the 17th Century.
Two sub-projects aim to reveal how imaginaries of the household worked in education and legal disputes. Two other sub-projects focus upon the two household states from a more overarching theological and ideological point of view. The project analyzes the household as a synchronizing force at different levels of society.
The project has further significance in that it highlights the Evangelical-Lutheran form of society in a dialogue with international research in the footsteps of Weber and his interest in the Calvinist form of Protestantism. By systematically comparing two mono-confessional states we explore the significance of the Lutheran heritage in a new way.
Final report
PURPOSE AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROJECT
The project aimed to analyze how Lutheran theology and practices at different levels acted formatively in the creation of two states in the early modern Nordic region. Here, the concept of the household state has been launched as a way to highlight and study how theologically and religiously anchored ideas about the household influenced state formation and the maintenance of order on a macro and micro level. With the concept, ties between different levels have been clarified. Through a focus on Nordic comparison, this Swedish project has built on and developed lines in the Danish project "Lutheranism and societal development in Denmark" (Det Frie Forskningsråd 2016 – 2022). The connections between theology and social construction exposed in the Danish project have been developed and implemented through analysis of the corresponding Swedish history, where the Nordic comparative approach has been central. The Danish project has shown how the Lutheran Reformation further developed notions of kingship with roots in Stoic monarchical thinking, and how these notions shaped the actual perceptions of kingship in Scandinavia, where the king i.a. became responsible for the eternal as well as temporal welfare of subjects. However, our Swedish project has also shown striking differences between Denmark and Sweden, which to some extent can be attributed to significant differences in the introduction of the Reformation in the countries concerned. Other differences can rather be linked to fundamental economic and social differences between Denmark and Sweden. The established lines in the Danish project have also in our Swedish project been complemented and developed by using educational historical perspectives on early modern teaching of the household, as these have been developed within the Swedish research tradition.
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROJECT
The project's overall framework is thus made up of the concept of the household state, where Danish research perspectives on households meet Swedish research traditions. The religious dimension of households has been central. The household state was analyzed based on perspectives from legal history, social history, cultural history, gender history, educational history, church history, history of preaching, history of dogma, political science and history of ideas and learning. The researchers have used established methods in their respective subjects, such as historical analysis of theology and ideas, historical source criticism, legal historical analysis, political science analysis of power and educational historical analysis of textbooks. The researchers have thus collaborated to analyze the household state at different levels. Two sub-projects have analyzed the two Nordic states comparatively on an overall level in terms of theological influence on ideas about the king as parent from pre-reformation and ancient thought, together with political science comparisons with these Nordic ideas in contemporary continental early modern power constellations. Two other sub-projects, with a particular focus on legal sources and teaching materials, have focused on how norms and practices about households and parenting have worked and been mediated in regional and local everyday life.
THE PROJECT'S MOST IMPORTANT RESULTS
1. The household became hegemonic by being a starting point for constant struggles
In this project, the research tradition arguing for the strong position of household beliefs in the Nordic early modern period is confirmed, partly in line with the Swedish church historian Hilding Pleijel. The project results underpin Pleijel's thesis about the early modern hegemony of the household against later critics. Unlike Pleijel's perspective of harmonious unity under a strong housefather, however, the project establishes new perspectives of conflicts. The struggle over how the household should function takes the center stage. The household as practice and thought was hegemonic but not static. It was rather a constant struggle about what it meant to rule and be cared for. The project nuances the understanding that has existed so far within Scandinavian historiography, where the household doctrine and doctrine of the three estates one-sidedly often have been interpreted as an expression of the authorities' will to discipline their subjects. Analysis of legal sources also clarifies the obligations that various authorities had in connection with the duty of obedience.
2. Surprisingly large variation in the frame of a common theme
In new ways the project highlight variety and flexibility in early modern Nordic perceptions of the household. This is pursued in contrast to previous research that mainly has assumed a Lutheran doctrinal uniformity. Various Nordic diocesan traditions were established which led to different textbooks framing the household in theologically different ways. These variations go beyond national frameworks of analysis. In some dioceses, for example, the child of the household was highlighted in the textbook, while different developments of the catechism in other dioceses emphasized the role of the active parent.
3. Two different household states based on evangelical Lutheran theology
The project establishes the concept of the household state as a fruitful analytical tool for future research. With the help of the concept, we draw pictures of two different household states in the Nordic region. Compared to how the Lutheran doctrine of the three estates in Denmark moved towards a fusion of the three estates and a very clear collection of church, state and household under the king, the project clarifies how a different distribution of tasks and responsibilities was created in Sweden within the framework of a Lutheran basic understanding, especially regarding education and poor relief.
In the cases where household authority was challenged, our investigations point to the fact that the Swedish state generally strengthened the functioning of the small local household, while the Danish state instead stepped in more quickly and replaced local household authority with state authority. In terms of Lutheran social thinking, it seems that the state as an overarching household has been a stronger norm in Denmark compared to Sweden.
REASONING ABOUT THE PROJECT'S CONCLUSIONS
On an overall level, the project results have the potential to highlight continuity in new ways, where the modern Nordic nation-building with welfare states will be able to be linked to expressions of older Lutheran household concepts with a strong caring dimension, where both care and obedience come into focus.
POSSIBLE NEW RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The project shows an overall need for further comparative Nordic research based on issues where religion is seen as an important starting point for shaping political and social conditions. Our studies on the household should also be able to be developed in a larger European project to be compared with other regions characterized by other denominations in terms of maintaining order.
HOW THE PROJECT MEMBERS HAVE INFORMED ABOUT THE THEIR RESEARCH
In the project application the following was promised: three internationally published articles that presented sub-projects, a Scandinavian anthology with all project participants as authors, an internationally published summary of the project and a smaller monograph that presented the educational historical sub-project that complemented the Danish project. The three international articles have been published and the Scandinavian anthology is under ongoing review. The international article is ready and will be translated and published internationally in strategic connection with the publication of the Scandinavian anthology. The smaller monograph is in manuscript for publication in a scientific series planned for 2023.
Information about project results has been communicated in essays (for example: Falu-Kuriren 4th of September 2018) and on a blog (https://lumen.au.dk/). The project has been presented at conferences and seminars at our own universities. The project also enabled and early inspired an application for NOS-HS funds for three Nordic interdisciplinary workshops focusing on the household as a form of organization at different levels. Funds were granted with workshops at Uppsala University (on the congregation) November 2020, Århus University (on the household) December 2021 and at Oslo University (on the state) September 2022. The pandemic made this work difficult and delayed but the first two workshops were held online, while the workshop in Oslo became postponed in time and could be held in real life. The strongest contributions at these workshops will be published in an international anthology with Nina J Koefoed as editor-in-chief.
Other examples of dissemination of research results:
Reimagining Norden (ReNew) in an evolving World, conference organized by CENS, Helsinki 2018 (https://www.helsinki.fi/en/conferences/nordic-challenges) (Presentation of sub-project, Urban Claesson)
Kyrkohistoriska dagen (Church History Day), Uppsala 2018. (Presentation of two sub-projects, Karin H Jansson and Urban Claesson
Doing House, Kungliga Vitterhetsakademin, Stockholm 2018. (The project as a whole was presented, Nina J Koefoed, Gorm Harste, Karin H Jansson and Urban Claesson)
Presentation at the Fifth International Congress for Pietism Research, Halle a.d. Saale 2018. (Presentation of subproject, Urban Claesson)
Reimagining Norden (ReNew) in an evolving World, Frederiksberg 2019. (https://www.tilmeld.dk/thirdnordicchallenges) (Presentation of subprojects, Gorm Harste and Nina J Koefoed)
Seventh Nordic Educational History Conference, Trondheim 2019. (Presentation of sub-project, Urban Claesson)
Danish Conference for Political Science 2019. (Presentation of sub-project, Gorm Harste)
The conference "Teologi i Tiden", Uppsala 2019. (Presentation of sub-project, Urban Claesson)
American Academy of Religion (AAR) San Diego, USA 2019. (Presentation of both Danish “mother project” and this project, Bo K Holm & Nina J Koefoed)
In 2020, participation in conferences was planned due to the pandemic was inhibited, including participation in a session on the Lutheran household at the European Social Science Conference in Leiden (Nina J Koefoed and Karin H Jansson) as well as participation in the tenth RefoRC conference in Aarhus 2020, where several of the project participants would have been presenters and organizers . However, the latter conference was arranged in 2021 via internet arranged by Nina J Koefoed and Bo K Holm, with Urban Claesson as participating project presenter. The ESSHC conference was also organized online in 2021:
European Social Science History Conference (ESSHC). Online (Leiden) 2021 (Session: The Micro Practices of the Household State. Karin H. Jansson & Nina J. Koefoed)
COOPERATION
The Danish project has collaborated with Folkeuniversitetet and www.danmarkhistorien.dk, which has also benefited the current Nordic project. Collaboration with the Church of Sweden's Research and Analysis Unit has taken place through a more popular presentation of project results in the anthology: Samhällsteologi. Forskning i skärningspunkten mellan akademi, samhälle och kyrka. Jenny Ehnberg, Cecilia Nahnfeldt (ed). Verbum, 2019. Participation in the conference Teologi i Tiden 2019 was part of the same initiative.
The project aimed to analyze how Lutheran theology and practices at different levels acted formatively in the creation of two states in the early modern Nordic region. Here, the concept of the household state has been launched as a way to highlight and study how theologically and religiously anchored ideas about the household influenced state formation and the maintenance of order on a macro and micro level. With the concept, ties between different levels have been clarified. Through a focus on Nordic comparison, this Swedish project has built on and developed lines in the Danish project "Lutheranism and societal development in Denmark" (Det Frie Forskningsråd 2016 – 2022). The connections between theology and social construction exposed in the Danish project have been developed and implemented through analysis of the corresponding Swedish history, where the Nordic comparative approach has been central. The Danish project has shown how the Lutheran Reformation further developed notions of kingship with roots in Stoic monarchical thinking, and how these notions shaped the actual perceptions of kingship in Scandinavia, where the king i.a. became responsible for the eternal as well as temporal welfare of subjects. However, our Swedish project has also shown striking differences between Denmark and Sweden, which to some extent can be attributed to significant differences in the introduction of the Reformation in the countries concerned. Other differences can rather be linked to fundamental economic and social differences between Denmark and Sweden. The established lines in the Danish project have also in our Swedish project been complemented and developed by using educational historical perspectives on early modern teaching of the household, as these have been developed within the Swedish research tradition.
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROJECT
The project's overall framework is thus made up of the concept of the household state, where Danish research perspectives on households meet Swedish research traditions. The religious dimension of households has been central. The household state was analyzed based on perspectives from legal history, social history, cultural history, gender history, educational history, church history, history of preaching, history of dogma, political science and history of ideas and learning. The researchers have used established methods in their respective subjects, such as historical analysis of theology and ideas, historical source criticism, legal historical analysis, political science analysis of power and educational historical analysis of textbooks. The researchers have thus collaborated to analyze the household state at different levels. Two sub-projects have analyzed the two Nordic states comparatively on an overall level in terms of theological influence on ideas about the king as parent from pre-reformation and ancient thought, together with political science comparisons with these Nordic ideas in contemporary continental early modern power constellations. Two other sub-projects, with a particular focus on legal sources and teaching materials, have focused on how norms and practices about households and parenting have worked and been mediated in regional and local everyday life.
THE PROJECT'S MOST IMPORTANT RESULTS
1. The household became hegemonic by being a starting point for constant struggles
In this project, the research tradition arguing for the strong position of household beliefs in the Nordic early modern period is confirmed, partly in line with the Swedish church historian Hilding Pleijel. The project results underpin Pleijel's thesis about the early modern hegemony of the household against later critics. Unlike Pleijel's perspective of harmonious unity under a strong housefather, however, the project establishes new perspectives of conflicts. The struggle over how the household should function takes the center stage. The household as practice and thought was hegemonic but not static. It was rather a constant struggle about what it meant to rule and be cared for. The project nuances the understanding that has existed so far within Scandinavian historiography, where the household doctrine and doctrine of the three estates one-sidedly often have been interpreted as an expression of the authorities' will to discipline their subjects. Analysis of legal sources also clarifies the obligations that various authorities had in connection with the duty of obedience.
2. Surprisingly large variation in the frame of a common theme
In new ways the project highlight variety and flexibility in early modern Nordic perceptions of the household. This is pursued in contrast to previous research that mainly has assumed a Lutheran doctrinal uniformity. Various Nordic diocesan traditions were established which led to different textbooks framing the household in theologically different ways. These variations go beyond national frameworks of analysis. In some dioceses, for example, the child of the household was highlighted in the textbook, while different developments of the catechism in other dioceses emphasized the role of the active parent.
3. Two different household states based on evangelical Lutheran theology
The project establishes the concept of the household state as a fruitful analytical tool for future research. With the help of the concept, we draw pictures of two different household states in the Nordic region. Compared to how the Lutheran doctrine of the three estates in Denmark moved towards a fusion of the three estates and a very clear collection of church, state and household under the king, the project clarifies how a different distribution of tasks and responsibilities was created in Sweden within the framework of a Lutheran basic understanding, especially regarding education and poor relief.
In the cases where household authority was challenged, our investigations point to the fact that the Swedish state generally strengthened the functioning of the small local household, while the Danish state instead stepped in more quickly and replaced local household authority with state authority. In terms of Lutheran social thinking, it seems that the state as an overarching household has been a stronger norm in Denmark compared to Sweden.
REASONING ABOUT THE PROJECT'S CONCLUSIONS
On an overall level, the project results have the potential to highlight continuity in new ways, where the modern Nordic nation-building with welfare states will be able to be linked to expressions of older Lutheran household concepts with a strong caring dimension, where both care and obedience come into focus.
POSSIBLE NEW RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The project shows an overall need for further comparative Nordic research based on issues where religion is seen as an important starting point for shaping political and social conditions. Our studies on the household should also be able to be developed in a larger European project to be compared with other regions characterized by other denominations in terms of maintaining order.
HOW THE PROJECT MEMBERS HAVE INFORMED ABOUT THE THEIR RESEARCH
In the project application the following was promised: three internationally published articles that presented sub-projects, a Scandinavian anthology with all project participants as authors, an internationally published summary of the project and a smaller monograph that presented the educational historical sub-project that complemented the Danish project. The three international articles have been published and the Scandinavian anthology is under ongoing review. The international article is ready and will be translated and published internationally in strategic connection with the publication of the Scandinavian anthology. The smaller monograph is in manuscript for publication in a scientific series planned for 2023.
Information about project results has been communicated in essays (for example: Falu-Kuriren 4th of September 2018) and on a blog (https://lumen.au.dk/). The project has been presented at conferences and seminars at our own universities. The project also enabled and early inspired an application for NOS-HS funds for three Nordic interdisciplinary workshops focusing on the household as a form of organization at different levels. Funds were granted with workshops at Uppsala University (on the congregation) November 2020, Århus University (on the household) December 2021 and at Oslo University (on the state) September 2022. The pandemic made this work difficult and delayed but the first two workshops were held online, while the workshop in Oslo became postponed in time and could be held in real life. The strongest contributions at these workshops will be published in an international anthology with Nina J Koefoed as editor-in-chief.
Other examples of dissemination of research results:
Reimagining Norden (ReNew) in an evolving World, conference organized by CENS, Helsinki 2018 (https://www.helsinki.fi/en/conferences/nordic-challenges) (Presentation of sub-project, Urban Claesson)
Kyrkohistoriska dagen (Church History Day), Uppsala 2018. (Presentation of two sub-projects, Karin H Jansson and Urban Claesson
Doing House, Kungliga Vitterhetsakademin, Stockholm 2018. (The project as a whole was presented, Nina J Koefoed, Gorm Harste, Karin H Jansson and Urban Claesson)
Presentation at the Fifth International Congress for Pietism Research, Halle a.d. Saale 2018. (Presentation of subproject, Urban Claesson)
Reimagining Norden (ReNew) in an evolving World, Frederiksberg 2019. (https://www.tilmeld.dk/thirdnordicchallenges) (Presentation of subprojects, Gorm Harste and Nina J Koefoed)
Seventh Nordic Educational History Conference, Trondheim 2019. (Presentation of sub-project, Urban Claesson)
Danish Conference for Political Science 2019. (Presentation of sub-project, Gorm Harste)
The conference "Teologi i Tiden", Uppsala 2019. (Presentation of sub-project, Urban Claesson)
American Academy of Religion (AAR) San Diego, USA 2019. (Presentation of both Danish “mother project” and this project, Bo K Holm & Nina J Koefoed)
In 2020, participation in conferences was planned due to the pandemic was inhibited, including participation in a session on the Lutheran household at the European Social Science Conference in Leiden (Nina J Koefoed and Karin H Jansson) as well as participation in the tenth RefoRC conference in Aarhus 2020, where several of the project participants would have been presenters and organizers . However, the latter conference was arranged in 2021 via internet arranged by Nina J Koefoed and Bo K Holm, with Urban Claesson as participating project presenter. The ESSHC conference was also organized online in 2021:
European Social Science History Conference (ESSHC). Online (Leiden) 2021 (Session: The Micro Practices of the Household State. Karin H. Jansson & Nina J. Koefoed)
COOPERATION
The Danish project has collaborated with Folkeuniversitetet and www.danmarkhistorien.dk, which has also benefited the current Nordic project. Collaboration with the Church of Sweden's Research and Analysis Unit has taken place through a more popular presentation of project results in the anthology: Samhällsteologi. Forskning i skärningspunkten mellan akademi, samhälle och kyrka. Jenny Ehnberg, Cecilia Nahnfeldt (ed). Verbum, 2019. Participation in the conference Teologi i Tiden 2019 was part of the same initiative.