Vi er svært glade for å få lov publisere artikkelen Oulu – the Capital of Laestadianism in Finland until the 1930. Artikkelen er skrevet av professor emeritus Hannu Mustakallio ved Universitetet i Joensuu. God lesing!
Gothenburg, Sweden, was the site for the 30th congress of Nordic Historians and assembled well over 500 participants. The key concepts for the conference were “global and local”. The congress theme emphasized that connections have always existed and still exist between the global and the local, and how these have influenced and keep influencing each other. Keynote speakers for the conference were Professor Maya Jasanoff, Harvard University (USA) and Professor Poul Holm, Trinity College Dublin (Ireland).
The program included a round-table discussion on Laestadianism arranged by the LaBo-project: «’…making disciples of all nationsʼ. A global message from the wilderness of Lappmarken». Four contributors discussed Laestadianism in the light of the conference theme: Teija Rantala from The University of Turku, Roald E. Kristiansen, emeritus from The University of Tromsø, Juoko Talonen, emeritus from The University of Helsinki, and Bengt-Ove Andreassen from The University of Tromsø. The session was led by Rolf Inge Larsen, University of Tromsø, and a solid group of listeners witnessed and participated in the session.
In his contribution, Talonen focused on how Laestadianism has been influenced by its social and cultural environments: what is the relevance of Laestadius to believers in countries like Rwanda or Equador? Rantala has in her research work focused on how young Laestadian women has related to gender roles, human freedom and reproductive rights, and she related such issues to the conference theme. Kristiansen discussed shifting Laestadian views on the organization of the movement as it was transferred from Northern Europe to North America at the end of the 19th century, while Andreassen took his point of departure in the Alta Laestadian group who have strong ties to both Finnish and North American sister congregations, while at the same time express little interest in Laestadian history and theology.
From left: Teija Rantala, Roald Kristiansen, Juoko Talonen and Bengt-Ove Andreassen.
Skibotn bedehus.
Det sentrale samlingspunkt for Lyngen-læstadianerne
Foto: Roald E. Kristiansen
LaBo-prosjektet har i lang tid hatt kontakt med læstadianismeforskeren Kåre Svebak. Vi har i samråd med ham fått lov å publisere fire nye arbeider fra hans hånd. Tekstene (to artikler og to bøker) vil inngå i LaBo og LLLOnlines tekstsamlingsressurs. Vi er svært glade for å kunne presentere dem her:
Svebak; Læstadianernes tro og lære. 1934-redegjørelsen
Læstadianisme bokprosjekt (LaBo) er et toårig forskningsprosjekt finansiert av Tromsø forskningsstiftelse. Forskere i prosjektet er professor Bengt-Ove Andreassen, førsteamanuensis Roald E. Kristiansen og førsteamanuensis Rolf Inge Larsen. Sistnevnte er leder.
I prosjektbeskrivelsen står det at læstadianisme er en fellesbetegnelse for kristne grupperinger som knytter sitt opphav til vekkelsene rundt den svenske presten Lars Levi Læstadius (1800–1861). Vekkelsen og dens resultat er en av de betydeligste religiøse og kulturelle impulser på Nordkalotten de siste 170 årene. Læstadianismen hadde og har stort innpass blant minoritetene i de nordlige områdene av Norge. I motsetning til læstadianerne i Finland, har læstadianerne i Norge ikke hatt en organisasjonsstruktur med formelt medlemskap, men de har knyttet sin tilhørighet til bedehus og utvalgte predikanter. Læstadianismen kan karakteriseres som en kristen konservativ bevegelse, men som i alle sosiale grupper kan man se at andre faktorer har en viss betydning, som for eksempel etnisitet og geografi. LaBo-prosjektet ønsker å lage en samlet fremstilling av læstadianismens oppkomst og tilstedeværelse i Norge. Gjennom å undersøke hvordan den læstadianske vekkelse i møtepunktet mellom samfunn, kultur og religion har vokst og bredt seg ut over store deler av landsdelen kan vi trolig samtidig si noe om bevegelsens innflytelse i samfunnet. Foruten å skrive en bok om læstadianismen i Norge, ønsker vi å publisere vitenskapelige artikler og delta på faglige konferanser som er relevante for bokprosjektet. Boken skrives på norsk, men det er ønskelig med oversettelser på samisk, kvensk og engelsk ved prosjektets slutt der målet er å publisere bøkene både i trykt utgave og i Open Access. Vi søker å synliggjøre forskningen digitalt i samarbeid LLL Online-prosjektet ved UiT.
The “research group” LLL Online is now the research network LLL Online, including the LaBo Project.
LLL Online is now research network focusing on developing didactic tools for the schools in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia. It could be these headlines: climate (connected to LLL’s daily observations over 15 years and the field of botany), language (kvensk/meänkieli, lule- and nothern saami language and perhaps latin) and culture (ethnicity, religious identity and its sociopolitical aspects). Under this umbrella it will be possible to develop research projects that relates to the scientific fields of Lars Levi Læstadius. LaBo (Læstadiansime Bokprosjekt) is such project that now also will inform of their activity on our blog.
LLL Online sessions at The 29th Congress of Nordic Historians:
Lars Levi Læstadius – en reformator i den nordlige ødemarken
Associate professor Rolf Inge Larsen, Tromsø:
Læstadius og «de hundre talenters forbandelse» (read pdf )
PhD/Researcher Kosti Joensuu, Rovaniemi:
Vitalist psychology and philosophy of religion in Laestadius’ thought
Summary: There is a strong emphasis on the significance of pre-reflective and pre-cognitive life of human being in Lars Levi Laestadius’ (1800-1861) philosophical theology. This experiential-existential emphasis is theoretically based on physiological medicine of enlightenment and its theological roots are in pietistic religiosity and Luther’s anti-philosophy. In this context I will question the nature of Laestadius’ critique of metaphysics and rationalism and the way how it paves a way for the later despise of intellectual rationalizations of living faith within northern pietism.
Professor Hannu Mustakallio, Joensuu:
Reformerna i den finska stiftsförvaltningen och hotet från laestadianismen i nordkalotten under senare hälften av 1800-talet (read pdf)
PhD Student/Researcher Lis-Mari Hjortfors, Umeå:
Laestadianismens betydelse för samernas liv, religiositet och identitet i lulesamiskt område
Summary: Lars Levi Laestadius som grundade rörelsen var same och höll predikningar på samiska. Församlingen återfinns i både Sverige och Norge och har medlemmar även i Finland och USA. När koloniseringen och kristnandet av samerna inleddes var det många lulesamer som hittade en plats i laestadianismen för att bevara sin kulturella och språkliga identitet.
Associate professor Roald E. Kristiansen, Tromsø:
The Sacred Geography of Firstborn Laestadianism
Summary: Within a couple of decades after its beginning in 1845, the Laestadian movement had established numerous congregations not only in northern Sweden, Finland and Norway, be also in North America. Internal tensions, however, caused a split in which the movement at the end of the 19th century, resulting in an Eastern and a Western branch. The identity of the Western branch was based on a view of the congregations, which emphasized the need for submitting to the religious authority of the Lappland leadership. The concept of “Lappland” thus took on a religious significance, which became the hallmark of the Western Laestadian group, also known as the Firstborns.
Kosti Joensuu is defending his doctoral thesis The Physical, Moral and Spiritual: A study of Vitalist Psychology and the Philosophy of Religion of Lars Levi Laestadius tomorrow, December 9. We wish him all the best!
The thesis is available for sale here. A short interview with Joensuu can be found here.
The full version in Swedish of Lars-Erik Wikberg’s article from our kick-off seminar in 2015 is now available here. In the article, Wikberg outlines the founding of the publishing company Bibliotheca Laestadiana. He also gives a laestadian understanding of Laestadius, and a comprehensive theological view based on his own experiences. Wikberg gives important insight into what laestadians refer to as “The unknown Laestadius” [Den okände Laesadius] when dealing with academic researchers. In his argumentation Wikberg, uses central laestadian concepts such as The Doctrine of Passions (passionslæren), The Mark of Grace (nådemerke), The Order of Grace (nådens ordning), The Heavenly Parent (den himmelske forelder) and The Great Glory of Atonement (forsoningens store herlighet). Enjoy the reading.
(The presentation notes in English are available here.)
Most of the presentations from our kick-off seminar in autumn 2015 have now been published in a special issue of Norsk tidsskrift for misjonsvitenskap. They are available Open Access here.
