Call for Abstracts: Special Issue on Religious Contacts in Early Modern Scandinavia 1500-1750

When it comes to religious contact and transfer, early modern Scandinavia has not been considered a first address for examination. One reason for this may be that, at first sight, from the beginning of this era onwards the region seems to be dominated by one stout and monolithic state religion, i.e. Lutheranism. However, giving the geographical frame a second thought, one may discern many regions and situations of religious contact within the Scandinavian Peninsula. There are the interreligious encounter between different forms of Christianity and the indigenous Sámi religion in the very north and the intra-religious encounters between Protestant and Orthodox Christianity in the eastern parts of the region. Promising possible subjects of study include the adaption and local alignments of or resistance towards ideas derived from the Protestant Reformation as well as the Pietistic challenge to official Lutheranism (leading to a significantly different result in the realms of Denmark and Sweden), Jewish migration towards the Scandinavia peninsula in early modern times, and the spread of non-theistic Enlightenment ideas in Scandinavia and the Baltics before 1750.

The intended volume aims at re-evaluating early modern Scandinavia as a worthwhile place for the study of religious contact and transfer, including case studies covering the Scandinavian region during the time period between 1500 and 1750.

The special issue will bring together contributions from Religious Studies/Study of Religion/Religionswissenschaft, History, and Cultural Studies to further explore the multitude of religious contacts on the Scandinavian Peninsula in the early modern age. We would like to compare case studies of such religious contacts and how they were executed by the actors involved. The focus of the contributions should be on the situation and effect of religious contact rather than on a single religious group.

Entangled Religions welcomes applications including an abstract on the proposed paper (max 1,500 words) and a short notice about the academic affiliation of the applicant. Applications should be submitted electronically to the special issue’s guest editors Ulf Plessentin and Knut Martin Stünkel (ulf.plessentin@rub.de & knut.stuenkel@gmx.net) no later than September 30, 2019.