The Spirituality of Contemporary Danes – between Paganism and Secularisation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12797/RM.02.2018.04.10Keywords:
spirituality, religion, Denmark, crisis of ChristianityAbstract
The topic of the article is the issue of the place of religion in contemporary Danish society. Not only Scandinavia, but all of Europe is subject to secularisation processes. As a result of this process, the role of the Christian religion remains limited or eliminated. However this crisis of religion, does not affect the deeprooted desire for transcendence and individual search for it. In the case of Denmark, it appears in a return to neo-paganism – a reconstructionist religion that attempts to return to the religion of the “nature” of ancient and early medieval Germans. An example of this religion is the Ásatrú movement, dynamically developing in Denmark. On the other hand, the need for transcendence is realised by the phenomenon of spirituality, which is the need for self-transcending. Both of these directions are an expression of freedom, finding meaning, but also a conscious search for identity in a dynamically changing Europe.
References
Biel, M. (2009). Forn Siðr – Ásatrú w Danii. Ex Nihilo. 2(2), 34-60.
Brown, C. (2001). The Death of Christian Britain. New York, NY: Routledge.
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. (2009, October 26). International Religious Freedom Report 2009. Retrieved October 18, 2018, from https://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2009/127307.htm
Connery, D. (1966). The Scandinavians. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Forn Siðr. (2016). Grundlag. Retrieved October 18, 2018, from http://www.fornsidr.dk/index.php/om-forn-sidhr/7-grundlag
Hervieu-Léger, D. (1999). Religia jako pamięć (M. Bielawska, Trans.). Kraków: Zakład Wydawniczy „Nomos”.
Kirkeministeriet (2018). Folkekirkens medlemstal. Retrieved October 18, 2018, from http://www.km.dk/folkekirken/kirkestatistik/folkekirkens-medlemstal/
Luckmann, T. (2003). Transformations of Religion and Morality in Modern Europe. Social Compass, 50(3), 269-276. https://doi.org/10.1177/00377686030503002.
Luckmann, T. (2006). Niewidzialna religia. Problem religii we współczesnym społeczeństwie (L. Bluszcz, Trans.). Kraków: Zakład Wydawniczy „Nomos”.
Lüchau, P., & Andersen, P. B. (2012). Socio-economic factors behind disaffiliation from the Danish National Church. Nordic Journal of Religion and Society, 25(1), 27-45. Retrieved from http://tapir.pdc.no/pdf/NJRS/2012/2012-01-2.pdf
Mariański, J. (2009). „Niewidzialna religia” w badaniach socjologicznych. Studia Płockie. 37, 191-209.
Møller, M., Andersen, M., & Stokholm, K. (2017). The confederation of Danish Employers’ Vision for the Future of the EU. Retrieved October 18, 2018, from http://www.da.dk/bilag/A4_Rapport_DAs_bud_p%E5_fremtidens_EU_2017_engelsk_web.pdf
Riis, O. (1994). Patterns of secularization in Scandinavia. In T. Pettersson & O. Riis (Eds.), Scandinavian Values: Religion and Morality in the Nordic Countries (pp. 99-128). Uppsala: ACTA Universitatis Upsaliensis.
Skowronek, K., & Pasek, Z. (2013). Nowa duchowość w kulturze popularnej. Studia tekstologiczne. Kraków: Wydawnictwo LIBRON.
Socha, P. M. (2014). Przemiana. W stronę teorii duchowości. Kraków: Zakład Wydawniczy „Nomos”.
Sołtysiak, A. (1999). Ścieżka Ásatrú. The Peculiarity of Man. 4, 241-294.
Stark, R., & Finke, R. (2000). Acts of Faith: Explaining the Humans Side of Religion. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Taylor, Ch. (1989). Sources of the Self. The Making of Modern Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Vejrup Nielsen, M. (2015). Changing patterns? Occasional Consumers of New Activities in Old Churches. Nordic Journal of Religion and Society, 28(2), 137-153. Retrieved from http://tapir.pdc.no/pdf/NJRS/2015/2015-02-3.pdf
Zuckerman, P. (2009). Why are Danes and Swedes so irreligious? Nordic Journal of Religion and Society, 22(1), 55-69. Retrieved from http://tapir.pdc.no/pdf/NJRS/2009/2009-01-4.pdf
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
