Copyright © by Den danske historiske Forening. SUMMARY: ANNA BJØRNSDATTER LINDBOCK The Function of Religion in Danish Prisons in the 19th Century (106:1, 112)
The purpose of this article is to analyse and explain the function of religion
in 19th Century Danish prisons. What part did religion play in the formation
of ideology and practice of the prison? The starting point is two different
interpretations of the historical issue aiming at a deeper understanding and
broader coverage of the historical reality: Foucault described religion as one of
the "means of power" used to re-educate the criminals, and it was his assumption
that religion did not have an independent function. His analysis is important
and should not be rejected simply because of its reductionist tendency.
Peter Scharff Smith, who is inspired by Max Weber and Gauchet, interprets religion
as a "code of values" and sees no contradiction in the meeting between
Christianity and rationalism in the modern world. This leads him to the theory
of "the technology of the self" which tries to involve the individual perspective
in history. It is the assumption of this article, though, that the two interpretations
do not adequately describe historical reality. Therefore, the article tries to
contribute another historical aspect to broaden our understanding of the past.
The article examines not only a "culture of modern ethnic Christianity" but also
a "culture of believers" and its understanding of life and religious concepts. The
method has involved the use of basic Christian definitions and identification
with contemporary Christian "fundamentalism", based on the assumption that
contemporary Christian "fundamentalism" is comparable to traditional Christianity
of the 19th Century (fundamentalism understood as faith in the Bible
and not military action). The idea is to achieve a deeper understanding of the
roles of two Danish prison ministers based on sources related to their own views
on their practices and starting points. The question of how representative the
two ministers are, have not been answered in the article which must be seen as
an attempt to explore new ground. |