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Grundtvig In America, Joy Ibsen

The Bridge

Who was Nicolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig? how can we describe this very complex person—as an educator, poet, politician, seer, bishop, theologian, philosopher, hymnwriter, or rebel? We can acknowledge the interesting facts beginning with the alignment of the dates of his life (1783–1872) with those of the Age of the Enlightenment, which might explain why he eventually came to deeply distrust rationalism as the definition of truth. he is known as the father of folk schools and even public education in Denmark. extremely prolific, he wrote or adapted fifteen hundred hymns. his multiplicity and depth as a hymnwriter, poet, and thinker, …