Martin Luther in Finland and the Baltics

Author(s):  
Antti Raunio

Martin Luther’s thought has had strong influence on the religious and churchly life in the Baltic countries Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, as well as in Finland. Its impact has not been restricted just to the Church but also has had deep social and political aspects. However, the role of Luther’s theology has been quite different in the Baltics and in Finland, mostly because the Reformation occurred in a totally different ways in each area. In the Baltics, the biggest towns had already turned to the Reformation by the 1520s, but in Finland the change was part of King Gustav Vasa’s work for strengthening the state. In the Baltics, the Reformation took place in direct contact with Luther and his colleagues, whereas in Finland the first influences came through some of his writings and the theologians who had studied in Wittenberg. During the 17th century, almost the whole area, except Lithuania, belonged to the Swedish kingdom. Theologically, this was the time of the Lutheran Orthodoxy, which was based on the Confessional Books of the Lutheran Church. From Luther’s works, the catechisms were known and used. In the Baltics, the time of Confessional Lutheran theology lasted until the 1910s. In the 19th century, certain Baltic German theologians, especially Theodosius Harnack, practiced remarkable Luther research. Harnack opposed the Neo-Protestant Luther interpretation and strongly influenced the understanding of Luther’s theology of the cross. Only in the 1910s did the Neo-Protestant Luther interpretation of Albrecht Ritschl and Adolf von Harnack get some support. In the 20th century, the Baltic theology was not very much concentrated on Luther, though some presentations of his person and thought were published and a clear consciousness of his thought was present. The Soviet time from 1940 to the beginning of 1990s was difficult for all types of theology. Nevertheless, for example, Elmar Salumae managed to translate international Luther research into Estonian and maintain the knowledge of Lutheran theology. In Finland, the 19th century did not produce academic Luther research, but Luther’s theology was important for the pietistic revival movement, and it played a central role in the disagreement of the revival leaders, which led to a division of the movement. Academic research on the Reformation began in Finland at the end of the 19th century, first as a historical study of the Finnish reformer Mikael Agricola and the Reformation in Finland. Research on Luther’s theology followed the German Luther Renaissance and began in the 1920s. The fruits of this research were published in the 1930s by Eino Sormunen and Yrjö J. E. Alanen and some years later by Lennart Pinomaa. After Pinomaa, Finnish Luther research played some role at the international level. It was first attached especially to the Swedish Lundensian approach and later, from the beginning of the 1980s, became more distant from it. Today Finnish Luther research refers above all to the work of Tuomo Mannermaa and his pupils. This theology, which stresses the real presence of Christ in faith and the participation in the Divine love, is not only academic research but also it has been applied to many churchly and ecumenical questions.

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 799-819 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Marmo ◽  
Nicola Ruggieri ◽  
Ferdinando Toraldo ◽  
Luciano Rosati

Author(s):  
Kadri Tüür ◽  
Ene-Reet Soovik

      Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania often tend to be grouped together under the label of ’the Baltic countries’, yet they constitute a region characterised by a diversity which also manifests itself in the field of academic research. Still, it may be possible to detect some common elements in the ecocriticism-related activities that have been taking place in these states during the past couple of decades. The article maps the salient tendencies in the environmental humanities (including ecocriticism) of the region that recently gained an institutionalised platform in the form of the Baltic Conferences on the Environmental Humanities and Social Sciences (BALTEHUMS) that were started in 2018. A survey is given of the three countries’ most significant events and publications that have boasted an ecocritical component, ecocriticism’s institutional representation and inclusion of ecocritical issues in university syllabuses and theory textbooks, as well as some pertinent topics and sub-fields on which the scholars in these countries are currently working. Among these, various aspects of the connections of literature and the ecosystems of the forest (trees) and the mire can be noticed; while also animal studies, literary urban studies, bio- and ecosemiotics and environmental history appear to have entered a fruitful dialogue with ecocritical scholarship currently conducted in the Baltics.


2020 ◽  
pp. 266-271
Author(s):  
Marina M. Frolova ◽  

The article discusses the history of the Society of History and Russian Antiquities (SHRA,1804–1929), highlights its academic and publishing activities in the first half of the 19th century in relation to the study of Bulgarian issues. On the basis of this material it is concluded that the SHRA aimed at increasing the prestige and development of national historical academic research and contributed to the formation of an academic community of people passionate about the ideas of knowledge and national service: a “scholarly community”. Although Bulgarian research was not dominant in Slavic scholarship which was actively developed by the SHRA members from the 1830s, its emergence testified to increasing interest in the Bulgarian people. The work of the SHRA contributed to the accumulation of knowledge about and understanding of the Bulgarian people, their history and culture.


Nordlit ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Aschim

In most Protestant countries, the Reformation was closely connected to the development of vernacular languages and literatures. In Norway under Danish rule, this was not the case. Only in the 19th century, during the nation-building period of independent Norway, a Norwegian ecclesiastical language was developed. Some authors claim that this completed the Reformation in Norway – a protracted Reformation indeed. Particularly important were the hymns of Magnus Brostrup Landstad and Elias Blix. This study examines the role of Luther in the Norwegian 19th century national discourse, suggesting a three-phase development: Luther as text, as inspiration, and as argument. The full-blown use of Luther as argument was taken up by proponents of a nynorsk ecclesiastical language only during the final years of the Swedish-Norwegian union, just before its dissolution in 1905.


2008 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Holger Villadsen

This article examines the use of the Nicene Creed in the Church of Denmark from 1514 to 1992 when a new Service Book, Den Danske Alterbog, was authorized for use in the Evangelical LutheranChurch of Denmark. The Reformation replaced the Nicene Creed with a Danish hymn, but until 1640 the Latin Nicene Creed was sung in some cases. The Latin text was the same as in the medievalmissals and was printed 1573 in the Gradval edited by Niels Jesperssøn. From 1640 to the 19th century the creed was sung only in the hymnal form. In the 19th century the creed as a hymn graduallydisappeared. In 1949 the Danish bishops edited a new Service Book with an order for High Mass, where the creed was the Apostles’ Creed, and where the Nicene Creed in Danish translation was placedin a footnote. In the Service Book from 1992 the two creeds are in principle placed at the same level. The article ends with the proposal of a new Danish translation of the Nicene Creed based on theGreek version known from the Council of Chalcedon 451.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Metten

AbstractThe article focuses on the founding narratives of Kulturwissenschaft/en in Germany (studies of culture) that have been addressed in the last decades. According to these narratives, Kulturwissenschaft/en are either described as the result of a fundamental crisis of the humanities or as the result of a radical transformation of the lifeworld since the 19th century. These narratives, however, have not lead to an epistemological foundation of German Kulturwissenschaft/en. Against this background, the article outlines in which ways Kulturwissenschaft as a discipline can be understood as an academic reflexion based on experiences of otherness and difference. Therefore, it will be argued that an epistemology of Kulturwissenschaft may provide a broader framework reflecting the complex and conflictual relation of academic research and culture as well as media as essential conditions of cultural knowledge.


Menotyra ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rimantas Gučas

For Lithuania, the 19th century was marked by the symbol of the Russian Empire – Lithuania became a province of a foreign empire. Farming suffered a severe general downturn. As the Church’s powers began to be restricted, there was almost no opportunity for new significant instruments to emerge. The monasteries, which until then had been the initiators of the best organ building, were closed. Eastern Catholic (Unitarian) churches, which also had organs in Lithuania, became part of the Russian Orthodox Church, and the organs were ordered to be liquidated. The Catholic Church itself, unlike evangelicals, also had little regard for music and especially for organ matters. From the beginning of the 15th century, the development of Lithuanian organ culture was closely associated with Königsberg. Once the import customs were imposed, significant contacts which had taken place almost disappeared. The industrial revolution in Lithuania was delayed, and for half a century small artisan workshops still prevailed. Almost exclusively small, single-manual organs without pedals or positives were built. A large three-manual organ at Vilnius University St John’s Church was rather an exception. It was built by the Tiedemanns. This family, which originated in East Prussia, worked in the Baltic States throughout the first half of the 19th century. Only in the middle of the century did the new European organ building trend, the so-called organ romanticism, reach Lithuania. A particularly important role in this period was played by the experience of organ building of the neighbouring Curonia. Very few impressive examples were created, and in this respect Lithuania is hardly able to compete with the major countries of Central Europe. Lithuania is characterized by the fact that in the 19th century local masters and companies ( J. Rudavičius, M. Masalskis, F. Ostromensky), as well as masters from neighbouring Curonia (Herrmann, Weissenborn) and Poland (Blomberg) worked there. In western Lithuania, then part of Prussia, Terletzki was active. Meanwhile, large factories (Walcker, Rieger) reached Lithuania only in the first half of the twentieth century and only in a few instances. At that time, more work started to be focusing on the construction of two-manual with pedal instruments. At the end of the century, J. Rudavicius built some three-manual organs. His 63-stop organ built in 1896 for a long time was the largest in Lithuania. Although the 19th century Lithuanian organs are relatively modest compared to other countries, they have the value that is only growing in the context of present-day Europe, since the “progressive ideology” of more economically powerful European countries affected the art of organ building and few small romantic instruments are left.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 120
Author(s):  
Jean-Louis Halpérin

<p><strong>RESUMÉ:</strong></p><p>La réflexion sur la diversité des approches méthodologiques en droit comparé n’a guère porté, au cours de ces dernières décennies, sur le droit pénal. Cette relative lacune de la littérature tient à une conception d’un droit pénal universel qui connaîtrait seulement quelques variations dans la sévérité plus ou moins grande de la répression. Il apparaît pourtant utile pour les comparatistes d’identifier de manière historique les développements de la discipline du droit pénal et de considérer que le champ pénal n’est pas identique à lui-même à travers le temps et l’espace. Cette contribution s’attache à montrer comment la spécialisation des pénalistes, à partir du XIXe siècle, s’est accompagnée longtemps d’une démarche comparative avant que ne s’installe une sorte de désintérêt pour la comparaison des infractions reconnues ou non par les différents ordres juridiques étatiques. Or, la prise en compte des phénomènes de criminalisation et de décriminalisation montre à quel point ces droits étatiques sont susceptibles de converger ou de diverger, en présentant des configurations beaucoup plus complexes que les traditionnelles familles de droit. En recourant à la théorie du droit, le droit pénal comparé alimente la réflexion sur la place des lois prohibitives, leur éventuelle relation avec des normes culturelles et le recours à des interdits dans des domaines qui font l’objet dans d’autres pays à des lois permissives.</p><p> </p><p><strong>RESUMO:</strong></p><p>A discussão sobre a diversidade de abordagens metodológicas em direito comparado, no decorrer das últimas décadas, pouco se debruçou sobre o direito penal. Esta lacuna se deve à uma concepção de direito penal universal que admitiria apenas variações no grau de severidade da repressão. Contudo, para os comparatistas mostra-se útil identificar historicamente o desenvolvimento da disciplina de direito penal e considerar que o campo não se mantém inalterado através do tempo e do espaço. Este trabalho visa mostrar como, a partir do século XIX, a especialização de penalistas foi acompanhada por muito tempo de uma abordagem comparativa, antes de que se instalasse um desinteresse pela comparação de infrações reconhecidas -ou não- por diferentes ordenamentos jurídicos estatais. A compreensão dos fenômenos de criminalização e descriminalização mostra até que ponto os direitos estatais são suscetíveis de convergir ou divergir, apresentando configurações muito mais complexas que as tradicionais famílias de direito. Assim, utilizando-se da teoria do direito, o direito penal comparado incita a reflexão sobre o papel das leis proibitivas, sua eventual relação com normas culturais e a possibilidade de proibições em determinadas matérias serem objetos de leis permissivas em outros países.</p><p> </p><p><strong>ABSTRACT:</strong></p><p>The discussion about the methodological diversity in Comparative Law has barely touched upon criminal law. This gap in the literature is due to a conception of universal Criminal Law in which only variations regarding the severity of crime’s repression would be admitted. Nonetheless, the historical study of Criminal Law along with the reflection on changes in the discipline through time and space has proven to be useful for comparatists. The aim of this study is to show how the specialization of scholars of Criminal Law, since the 19th century, had been accompanied by a comparatist approach before a pervasive disinterest in comparing infractions under different legal systems came to be the rule. The phenomena of criminalization and decriminalization reveal to what point legal systems converge or diverge in a more elaborated way than those depicted by the traditional division of legal systems. Thus, Comparative Criminal Law, using the insights from Legal Theory, stimulates reflections on the role of prohibitive laws, their relation with cultural norms, and the possibility of a prohibition being permitted elsewhere – i.e. other countries.</p><p> </p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 85-150
Author(s):  
Juhan Maiste

The goal of this article is to examine the role of the new Russian rulingpower as it related to cultural policy in the Baltic provinces betweenthe Great Northern War (1700–1721) and the Russian Revolution (1917),in order to engender a discussion about the Russian influence inEstonia’s architectural history – its content and meaning – based onprimary sources in the archives of Estonia, St Petersburg and Moscow.The historiography of this topic dates back nearly a century; as aneighbouring country and an important centre of political power andculture, the influence of St Petersburg as the main Russian metropolishas been always been taken into consideration and studied in thehistory of Estonian art history. The articles by Sergey Androsovand Georgy Smirnov that appear in this volume have provided theinspiration to try and re-examine the entire spectrum of Estonia’sposition between East and West, and to point out the main subjectsin this new context and the relationship to the new geography ofarchitecture in the Age of Enlightenment and the stylistic changesof the 19th century.


Author(s):  
Anna Moisa

The article explores various ways Katharina von Bora Martin Luther’s wife was perceived by the German intellectuals in the 19th century. The author intends not only to reveal the reasons of turning to this person in a certain historical period but also to define the key differences in her image’s interpretation compared to the previous centuries. To achieve this goal the author explores the biographical works, which were dedicated to the wife of the founder of the Reformation tradition and their married life. Such similar genre of works gives the most complete representation of the dynamical transformation of Katharina’s image, which was conditioned by social processes in Germany during the whole of the 19th century: starting with the private life development during the Biedermeier period and ending with high industrialization and the rise of the national feelings. Another important role plays the growth of the German women’s movement. Therefore, it is possible to see the construction of a “new” Katharina von Bora in every period, and with it a new ideal of women’s identity, a moral example for the lady of the house self-identification.


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