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State and Church in Denmark and Norway 205 State and Church in Denmark and Norway Liselotte Malmgart Reformation and Absolutism The relationship between state and church in the Scandinavian countries in the period covered by this volume remained profoundly influenced by two major developments: the sixteenth-century Lutheran Reformation and seventeenth-century absolutism. The account that follows identifies challenges and adaptations to these ‘foundations’ but the state-church relationship cannot be understood without some preliminary commentary which explains their significance. After the Reformation, the Evangelical Lutheran Churches were established as state churches, resulting in a close cooperation between the monarchy and the ecclesiastical authorities, foremost the bishops, who in practice were senior civil servants . Despite similarities in the Nordic countries, their circumstances did not exactly correspond. In the eastern regions, Sweden and Finland, the Reformation was more gradually implemented and the Swedish Church was initially more autonomous than was the case in the western regions, Denmark and Norway, Iceland, Faroe Islands and the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, all of which territories were at the time united under the Danish king. Here contacts with Wittenberg and elsewhere in Germany were closer and the first Danish Church Ordinance (Kirkeordinansen, 1537) was drafted by Luther’s close associate, Johannes Bugenhagen. A modified edition was authorised for Norway in 1607. In the famous preface to the Church Ordinance, the king set out the view that two separate spheres or ordinances existed: in the one, the ordinance of God was responsible for the rightful proclaiming of the gospel in word and sacrament, but in the other, where its practical affairs were concerned, the king was responsible , aiming to serve God and facilitating the proclamation of His Word. In the preface the term ‘church’ is not used; the separation is not between ‘church’ as an institution and the Crown, but between God and the king. In the period 1536-1814, Norway was a Liselotte Malmgart 206 2 Amundsen, Norges religionshistorie, 301. part of the Danish monarchy and most church regulations were the same. The Norwegian Church was basically ruled from Copenhagen and all Norwegian clergy, until the University of Christiania (Oslo) was established in 1811, were educated at the University of Copenhagen. Absolutism and the hereditary monarchy were introduced in 1660. Subsequently a new law, Lex Regia (Kongeloven, 1665), stated that the Danish king was supreme head both in church and state. It gave the king very wide powers, stating that he has “supreme power over the entire clergy and other civil servants from the highest to the lowest, supreme power to decide and arrange everything related to the church and publicworship,andtoorderorforbid,whenheconsidersitadvisable,meetings,assemblies , and conventions on religious matters in accordance with the will of God and the Augsburg Confession”.1 Lex Regia endowed the Danish king with more power than any other monarch in Europe and was to remain the constitution until 1814 (Norway) and 1849 (Denmark). It thus remained as the basic regulation of the relationship between church and state well into the nineteenth century. The great law codes (Danske Lov, 1683 and Norske Lov, 1687) dealt in great detail with the everyday life of the church and church discipline. It placed the minister firmly in parish life, instructing the minister to live among the parishioners. Even if his vicarage should burn down, he could not live outside his parish without obtaining permission. This basic principle meant that, unlike what often happened elsewhere in Europe, the church did not experience the problem of the absentee incumbent. The law code helped to create uniformity as did the Danish Rite (Danmarks og Norges Kirkeritual, 1685) when it came to liturgy. In the beginning of the eighteenth century pietism influenced the religious life of Denmark and Norway. King Christian VI (1699-1746) who acceded to the throne in 1730 was personally pious and supported the pietistic theology through legislation, most importantly in 1736 by introducing confirmation as a general obligation placed on all children. The clergy had to encourage the personal conversion (in the pietistic sense) of the young. The state was also aware however, of the danger of separatism inherent in a lay-dominated pietistic movement and tried to control it with the Conventicle Poster (Konventikelplakaten, 1741). This did not place a ban on all meetings, only those not approved by the local vicar (who did not have to attend the meetings himself) and to that degree can be seen even as encouraging the private piety of the laity outside the official state...

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