N.F.S. Grundtvig
An Introduction to his Life and Work
A part of the subject areas Philosophy, History and Theology
More about the book
About the book
N.F.S. Grundtvig (1783-1872) was a prominent preacher, poet,
scholar and politician, who played a crucial role in the life of
nineteenth-century Denmark. His sermons and hymns, and his
educational and historical writings, gave birth to a national and
spiritual awakening, which still strongly affects Danish life
and
thought today.
This book is an introduction to Grundtvig to the English
speaking world. It begins with an overview of Grundtvig's long and
varied life, concentrating on a number of critical moments in his
intellectual and spiritual development. He was a man of
irrepressible energy and a volcanic temperament, and his life was
not without moments of high drama. The second part of the book
looks at vital aspects of his presentation of the Christian faith,
beginning from his vision of the
Church as a living sacramental and historical reality. It centres
on the deeply
Trinitarian nature of his thinking: for him faith in God as
Trinity has its
outworking in the whole of daily life, social and political, as
well as
personal. The third section of the book follows Grundtvig's
exposition of the
faith through the festivals of the Christian year.
Grundtvig was a man firmly rooted in his own time and place. But his thoughts often have a prophetic ring to them. They have still much to say about the underlying unity of the Christian tradition, about questions of national identity and national interdependence, and about the way in which we may come to a new understanding of the creation itself as made in God's image and likeness.
