Denmark's Catalyst

Book excerpt: Denmark’s Catalyst. The Life and Letters of N.F.S. Grundtvig is the final book in the 6-volume series ‘N.F.S. Grundtvig. Works in English’, Published by Aarhus University Press. Translator Edward Broadbridge joins forces with Grundtvig scholar Hans Raun Iversen in this biography of the most influential Dane in modern Denmark’s history. Grundtvig (1783-1872) was a pastor, pedagogue, poet, politician, and philosopher all rolled into one. Best known internationally for his concepts of a people’s (folk) high school, of ‘learning for life’ and of ‘lifelong learning’, in Denmark he is equally famous as the nation-builder and champion of ‘the common good’. This comprehensive, illustrated biography is supplemented by 70 letters tracing Grundtvig’s first-hand experiences in surprisingly honest terms, including his love life, his depressions, and his four trips to England. Edward Broadbridge was born in London but has lived most of his life in Denmark, where he has been awarded the Grundtvig Prize for his translations of Grundtvig’s hymns. Copenhagen University theologian Hans Raun Iversen has an honorary doctorate from Uppsala University and has written extensively on Grundtvig.