His characteristic religious
views were, as a system, called Grundtvigianism. For the Church his
ideal was a church of the people with wholly independent
congregations. For the nations his ideal was a free, vigorous civic
life. As member of the Danish parliament for many years he showed
his intense patriotism by his liberal activity and by his
participation in the struggle with Germany for Schleswig-Holstein.
He rendered great service also in the reform of education, in
particular as founder of the uniquely valuable "folk-high-schools"
(see Note 65). Bj?rnson was a Grundtvigian until 1877, having
heard Gruntvig speak in Christiania in 1851, and having come under
his personal influence in Copenhagen during the winter of 1856-57
and the following spring. It was Grundtvig's writings on history
and mythology that led Bj?rnson to deeper study of the Old Norse
sagas and poetry. It was Gruntvigianism that, especially through
its faith in the power of renewal and in the resurrection of what
must first die away, vitalized Bj?rnson's religious faith and
practical philosophy of life. Bj?rnson once said: "Grundtvig and
Goethe are my two poles," and in a speech in 1902: "There is a poet
who has exerted the greatest influence on my development--old
Grundtvig."
Sibyl. In The Sibyl's Prophecy, a poem of the Elder Edda, she
(according to one reading of the text) sinks from sight after
foretelling the passing away of this world and the coming of a new
and better one.
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