Grundtvig i europæisk åndsliv.

Resumé

Grundtvig and European culture

a lecture by Jørgen Elbek

The main idea in this paper is that Plato, Goethe and Grundtvig share an anthropology that seems to be identical with the yoga concept of invisible man; but that Plato expresses his through a philosophy of society (in the Republic), Goethe through a philosophy of nature (in The Metamorphosis o f Plants) and Grundtvig through a philosophy of history (in, amongst others, The Pleiades o f Christendom). In the case of Plato there is a structural merger between the Republic and the series of 30 or so dialogues that constitute his life’s work. In Goethe’s case there is a harmony between his picture of life in Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship) and his own biography (for example, Mignon’s death corresponds to Goethe’s own renunciation in connection with Die Wahlverwandtschaften (pub. in English in 1914 as Elective Affinities) and Harfner’s death corresponds to the resignation of Marienbadelegie). In the case of Grundtvig, there is a correspondence between his subdivision of church and world history and the well-known phases of his own life: thus the history of the Jews, the Greeks and the Romans corresponds to the years 1801-10, 1810-17, and 1817-23, characterized by imagination, emotion and reason respectively. The arrival of Christianity coincides with the turning-point in Grundtvig’s life in 1824; whilst the history of recent times, moving through the Lutheran and the Grundtvigian to the future church corresponds to the years 1825-32, 1832-44 and 1844-67, characterized by faith, hope and love respectively. These are in turn incorporated into Christmas, Easter and Whitsun, or the creed, baptism and Holy Communion.