Building the Nation: N.F.S. Grundtvig and Danish National Identity

by John A. Hall, Ove Korsgaard, Ove K. Pedersen

Overview

Denmark became a nation amidst the turbulence of the nineteenth century, an era plagued by war, bankruptcy, and territorial loss. Building the Nation is an insightful study of this formation, emphasizing the crucial role of N.F.S. Grundtvig, the father of modern Denmark. Persevering through years of humiliation, internal conflict, and occupation, Denmark now boasts one of the world's most stable and democratic political systems, as well as one of its richest economies. From disaster to success, Building the Nation emphasizes the role of national icons and social movements in the formation of Denmark. The poet, political philosopher, clergyman, and founding father N.F.S. Grundtvig is compared to Rousseau and Durkheim in France, to Herder and Fichte in Germany, and to other great thinkers in the United States and Ireland. During his lifetime, the kingdom of Denmark transformed from monarchy to democracy and moved from agrarianism to a modern economy - evolutions to which Grundtvig himself contributed. He has become a fundamental and inescapable reference-point for discussions about nation, democracy, freedom, religion, and education in Denmark and abroad. Situating Grundtvig in both the history of Denmark and the intellectual history of nineteenth-century Europe, Building the Nation argues for the centrality of his influence in the making of modern Denmark, as well as the continuing influence of his work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780773544062
Publisher:	McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date:	03/20/2015
Pages:	464
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

John A. Hall is James McGill Professor of Comparative Historical Sociology at McGill University. Ove Korsgaard is professor of education at the University of Aarhus. Ove K. Pedersen is professor of comparative political economy at Copenhagen Business Sc

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction John A. Hall Ove Korsgaard 3

Part 1 Theoretical Groundwork

1 Nation Building and State Building Francis Fukuyama 29

2 Icons of Nationalism Anthony D. Smith 51

3 Between Tradition and Modernity: Grundtvig and Cultural Nationalism Michael Böss 79

Part 2 Enabling Conditions

4 Religious Revivalism in Sweden and Denmark Hanne Sanders 95

5 The Nation as Event: The Dissolution of the Oldenburg Monarchy and Grundtvig's Nationalism Uffe Østergård 110

6 Why Denmark Did Not Become Switzerland Jason O. Jensen John A. Hall 134

Part 3 Grundtvig and the People

7 "Hand of King and Voice of People": Grundtvig on Democracy and the Responsibility of the Self Tine Damsholt 151

8 On the Church, the State, and the School: Grundtvig as Enlightenment Philosopher and Social Thinker Uffe Jonas 169

9 How Grundtvig Became a Nation Builder Ove Korsgaard 192

Part 4 Comparison

10 Fichte and Grundtvig as Educators of the People Per Øhrgaard 213

11 Come Together: Thoughts and Theories on Social Cohesion in the Work of Nikolai Grundtvig and Émile Durkheim Katrine Baunvig 232

12 "The Gordian Knot": Grundtvig and British Liberalism Ole Vind 254

13 Grundtvig and the Slavic Awakening in East Central Europe: (Con)textual Parallels, Mutual Perceptions Peter Bugge 267

14 Crisis of Religion and Nineteenth-Century Spiritual Reform: Varieties of Nation Building in Grundtvig and Emerson Troels Nørager 284

15 Community and Individuality: Grundtvigian and Kierkegaardian Protestantism in Denmark Mattas Møl Dalsgaard 300

Part 5 Transmission

16 Grundrvig's Idea of a People's High School and Its Historical Influence Ove Korsgaard 315

17 Grundtvigianism as Practice and Experience Andrew Buckser 331

18 The Popular Voicing of Sport: Comparative Aspects of Grundtvigian Movement Culture Henning Eichberg 346

19 Windmills, Butter, and Bacon: The Circulation of Scientific Knowledge among Grundtvigians in the Decades around 1900 Hans Henrik Hjermitslev 362

20 An Ongoing Influence: The Political Application of Grundrvig's Ideas in the Debate on Danish Society, 2001-09 Esben Lunde Larsen 381

21 The Economic Consequences of the Size of Nations: Denmark in Comparative Perspective John L. Campbell John A. Hall 396

Conclusion Ove K. Pedersen 412

Contributors 427

Index 431