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Danish, But Not Lutheran: The Impact of Mormonism on Danish Cultural Identity, 1850–1920
The Danish-Mormon migration to Utah in the nineteenth century was, relative to population size, one of the largest European religious out-migrations in history. Hundreds of thousands of Americans can trace their ancestry to Danish Mormons, but few know about the social and cultural ramifications of their ancestors’ conversion to Mormonism. This book tells that exciting and complex story for the first time.
In 1849, after nearly a thousand years of state- controlled religion, Denmark’s first democratic constitution granted religious freedom. One year later, the arrival of three Mormon missionaries in Denmark and their rapid success at winning converts to their faith caused a crisis in Danish society over the existential "How could someone be Danish but not Lutheran?" Over the next half-century nearly thirty thousand Danes joined the LDS Church, more than eighteen thousand of whom emigrated to join their fellow Mormons in Utah. This volume explores the range of Danish public reactions to Mormonism over a seventy-year period—from theological concerns articulated by Søren and Peter Christian Kierkegaard in the 1850s to fear-mongering about polygamy and white slavery in silent films of the 1910s and 1920s—and looks at the personal histories of converts.
Honorable Mention for Best International Book from the Mormon History Association.
In 1849, after nearly a thousand years of state- controlled religion, Denmark’s first democratic constitution granted religious freedom. One year later, the arrival of three Mormon missionaries in Denmark and their rapid success at winning converts to their faith caused a crisis in Danish society over the existential "How could someone be Danish but not Lutheran?" Over the next half-century nearly thirty thousand Danes joined the LDS Church, more than eighteen thousand of whom emigrated to join their fellow Mormons in Utah. This volume explores the range of Danish public reactions to Mormonism over a seventy-year period—from theological concerns articulated by Søren and Peter Christian Kierkegaard in the 1850s to fear-mongering about polygamy and white slavery in silent films of the 1910s and 1920s—and looks at the personal histories of converts.
Honorable Mention for Best International Book from the Mormon History Association.
316 pages, Hardcover
Published May 30, 2017
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September 15, 2017
Finding a study of the relationship between Scandinavia and Mormonism is not in and of itself unusual. By 1850, the early missions of the Church included various cities in Scandinavia, and the region provided a large number of the early Saints who participated in the call to gather to Zion, leaving their homes and traveling across the globe to settle in Utah and beyond. These migrations were part of a larger pattern of immigration from the Scandinavian countries to the northern midwest of the United States, and the early Mormon converts followed similar routes, faced similar challenges, and brought similar cultural traditions with them as they arrived in Utah. Works such as William Mulder's classic *Homeward to Zion: The Mormon Migration from Scandinavia* (1952; rpr. 2000) have traced the history of this migration, and yet as Julie K. Allen makes clear in her compelling new book, *Danish but Not Lutheran: The Impact of Mormonism on Danish Cultural Identity, 1850–1920,* there is plenty of room in the field for continued inquiry and thoughtful historical and cultural analysis.
Allen orients her focus not on the immigrant journey, but on Denmark itself. She wants to understand how the political and cultural responses to Mormonism in Denmark through the latter half of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth help to illuminate the various structures and forces at work in Danish culture more generally. By looking closely at the Danish reactions to Mormonism within the broader context of the other cultural and social issues being negotiated by Denmark at the time (e.g., the forces of modernization, secularism, and democracy), Allen provides "a fascinating story of reaction, adaptation, and transformation on the part of both the Danish Lutheran majority and the Danish Mormon minority" (xiii). The decisions made during this transformative time in Danish society put into effect changes that still resonate today in both Denmark and the Church.
Allen organizes her project into four main chapters. In "Uncoupling Danish National Identity from Lutheranism: The Advent of Religious Difference in Denmark," she traces the rise of religious difference in Denmark, which, until the June Constitution of 1849, held Lutheranism as its official religion. The fight to include religious freedom within the Constitution was fierce, and understanding the tensions already at play within Danish society helps put the initially vehement and even violent reaction against Mormonism in Denmark into context as opponents of religious pluralism saw their fears realized. Allen then compares the specific reactions of several members of the Danish cultural elite in "A Tale of Two Kierkegaards: Responses to Mormonism by Denmark's Cultural Elites." Reverend Dr. Peter Christian Kierkegaard and his brother, philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, provide distinct perspectives reflective of various intellectual reactions to Mormonism (PCK) and religious crisis within Lutheranism (SK), and Allen moves through the nuances of their arguments with an ease and clarity that made this potentially dense chapter truly enjoyable to read. This reviewer also appreciated Allen's analysis of an unpublished manuscript by Elise Stampe, a Danish noblewoman whose affinity for the thought of N.F.S. Grundtvig is apparent in her writings. Stampe was moved to compose her piece in response to a friend joining the LDS Church; the piece shows a considered engagement with Mormonism and its teachings, something that contrasts sharply with the more reactionary responses seen in chapter 1.
By chapter 3, Allen has built a convincing case that Mormonism's initial emergence within and reaction with Danish society leads to a renegotiation of the construct of Danish identity, "crafting new definitions of Danishness that could encompass a greater range of difference than the automatic equation of Danish identity with Lutheran belief" (129). As the understanding of Danish broadened, the cultural response mellowed somewhat. The third chapter—"'Mormons, Mormons!': Provocative Portrayals of Mormonism in Danish Popular Culture"— takes up the various responses to Mormonism that emerge in the space opened by this ongoing renegotiation of national identity. As Allen puts it, the "alarming novelty of Mormonism had given way to familiar contempt" (131) as the Danes mocked Mormonism's oddities in print media, popular street ballads, theatrical revues, and even early silent films. The uniqueness of Mormonism provided a useful foil for self-definition: over and over again, Danish popular culture reinforced "true" Danishness by setting it against the otherness of the Mormons. In the final chapter, "The Price of Conversion: Cultural Identity Negotiations among Early Danish Mormons," Allen then investigates the costs of such identity-driven divisions in the lives of several early Danish coverts to Mormonism. Just as the arrival of Mormonism within Denmark caused the Danish people to negotiate new cultural identities, the personal arrival of Mormonism through conversion precipitated similar negotiations within individual lives. Allen's treatment of these personal histories is particularly deft, weaving a large amount of historical data into a compelling narrative that traces the evolution of conversion as cultural rejection to conversion as cultural integration.
Allen's prose is clear, her arguments interesting, and her work is both responsibly and carefully researched. The volume is well produced and designed, with a number of photographs, notes, and bibliography. The work here holds value beyond the scope of those interested in either Danish or Mormon history. The book participates in the broader discussion surrounding cultural identity, a topic very relevant to present debates over immigration, difference, and identity.
But beyond this broad cultural/political application, Allen's work here has, I believe, specific importance to Mormons interested in the ways institutional identities intersect with and are transformed by continued cultural regeneration. The questions negotiated in Danish society during the latter half of the nineteenth century were ultimately questions of difference: how much difference is too much? At what point does difference fracture identity? Can identity cohere while maintaining functional difference? As the LDS Church continues to grow within various cultural traditions, these same tensions between difference and identity continue to surface both institutionally and personally in the lives of its members. What is the role of cultural difference in building the kingdom? How is Mormon identity negotiated in conjunction with personal difference? Allen's work here left me considering the tension between unity and difference in the body of Christ. This is productive work for me, and I am grateful for the productive work provided by Allen that prompted these thoughts. Highly recommended for those interested in Mormon history, nineteenth-century immigration, Danish history, European history, and the construction of cultural identity.
Allen orients her focus not on the immigrant journey, but on Denmark itself. She wants to understand how the political and cultural responses to Mormonism in Denmark through the latter half of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth help to illuminate the various structures and forces at work in Danish culture more generally. By looking closely at the Danish reactions to Mormonism within the broader context of the other cultural and social issues being negotiated by Denmark at the time (e.g., the forces of modernization, secularism, and democracy), Allen provides "a fascinating story of reaction, adaptation, and transformation on the part of both the Danish Lutheran majority and the Danish Mormon minority" (xiii). The decisions made during this transformative time in Danish society put into effect changes that still resonate today in both Denmark and the Church.
Allen organizes her project into four main chapters. In "Uncoupling Danish National Identity from Lutheranism: The Advent of Religious Difference in Denmark," she traces the rise of religious difference in Denmark, which, until the June Constitution of 1849, held Lutheranism as its official religion. The fight to include religious freedom within the Constitution was fierce, and understanding the tensions already at play within Danish society helps put the initially vehement and even violent reaction against Mormonism in Denmark into context as opponents of religious pluralism saw their fears realized. Allen then compares the specific reactions of several members of the Danish cultural elite in "A Tale of Two Kierkegaards: Responses to Mormonism by Denmark's Cultural Elites." Reverend Dr. Peter Christian Kierkegaard and his brother, philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, provide distinct perspectives reflective of various intellectual reactions to Mormonism (PCK) and religious crisis within Lutheranism (SK), and Allen moves through the nuances of their arguments with an ease and clarity that made this potentially dense chapter truly enjoyable to read. This reviewer also appreciated Allen's analysis of an unpublished manuscript by Elise Stampe, a Danish noblewoman whose affinity for the thought of N.F.S. Grundtvig is apparent in her writings. Stampe was moved to compose her piece in response to a friend joining the LDS Church; the piece shows a considered engagement with Mormonism and its teachings, something that contrasts sharply with the more reactionary responses seen in chapter 1.
By chapter 3, Allen has built a convincing case that Mormonism's initial emergence within and reaction with Danish society leads to a renegotiation of the construct of Danish identity, "crafting new definitions of Danishness that could encompass a greater range of difference than the automatic equation of Danish identity with Lutheran belief" (129). As the understanding of Danish broadened, the cultural response mellowed somewhat. The third chapter—"'Mormons, Mormons!': Provocative Portrayals of Mormonism in Danish Popular Culture"— takes up the various responses to Mormonism that emerge in the space opened by this ongoing renegotiation of national identity. As Allen puts it, the "alarming novelty of Mormonism had given way to familiar contempt" (131) as the Danes mocked Mormonism's oddities in print media, popular street ballads, theatrical revues, and even early silent films. The uniqueness of Mormonism provided a useful foil for self-definition: over and over again, Danish popular culture reinforced "true" Danishness by setting it against the otherness of the Mormons. In the final chapter, "The Price of Conversion: Cultural Identity Negotiations among Early Danish Mormons," Allen then investigates the costs of such identity-driven divisions in the lives of several early Danish coverts to Mormonism. Just as the arrival of Mormonism within Denmark caused the Danish people to negotiate new cultural identities, the personal arrival of Mormonism through conversion precipitated similar negotiations within individual lives. Allen's treatment of these personal histories is particularly deft, weaving a large amount of historical data into a compelling narrative that traces the evolution of conversion as cultural rejection to conversion as cultural integration.
Allen's prose is clear, her arguments interesting, and her work is both responsibly and carefully researched. The volume is well produced and designed, with a number of photographs, notes, and bibliography. The work here holds value beyond the scope of those interested in either Danish or Mormon history. The book participates in the broader discussion surrounding cultural identity, a topic very relevant to present debates over immigration, difference, and identity.
But beyond this broad cultural/political application, Allen's work here has, I believe, specific importance to Mormons interested in the ways institutional identities intersect with and are transformed by continued cultural regeneration. The questions negotiated in Danish society during the latter half of the nineteenth century were ultimately questions of difference: how much difference is too much? At what point does difference fracture identity? Can identity cohere while maintaining functional difference? As the LDS Church continues to grow within various cultural traditions, these same tensions between difference and identity continue to surface both institutionally and personally in the lives of its members. What is the role of cultural difference in building the kingdom? How is Mormon identity negotiated in conjunction with personal difference? Allen's work here left me considering the tension between unity and difference in the body of Christ. This is productive work for me, and I am grateful for the productive work provided by Allen that prompted these thoughts. Highly recommended for those interested in Mormon history, nineteenth-century immigration, Danish history, European history, and the construction of cultural identity.
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November 17, 2019Danish, But Not Lutheran begins with an overview of the controversy and arguments surrounding the inclusion of freedom of religion in Denmark's 1849 Constitution, which in turn allowed Mormonism to thrive in the latter half of the 19th century in Denmark. The book then investigates intellectual and popular media responses to Mormonism's flourishing in Denmark in 1850-1920.
Allen introduces us to a fascinating aristocratic author named Elise Stampe who published from 1850-1876. She wrote, but never published, a 400 page manuscript about Mormonism. Stampe had a close friend who had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and she seems to be quite fascinated with the movement. Her conclusions about the Church were anthropologically shrewd, and more thorough than others made at the time (for example, she quotes the the Doctrine and Covenants and Parley P. Pratt in her manuscript). For me, Elise Stampe was the most interesting character in the book and I wish there was more about her.
One intellectual who was more antagonistic to the Church was Peter Kierkegaard, the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard's brother, who was a bishop in the state-sponsored Lutheran church. He had written in his journal about debating missionaries and even published his speech "About and Against Mormonism" in a Danish church newspaper. One argument that the Bishop made against Mormonism specifically targeted the teaching of apostasy. He argued that every heretical group always makes claims of apostasy, but he warns that if we do accept that claim, it "destroys our faith in (Christ) . . . if we let ourselves be seduced into believing that the Church (Christ) founded has been destroyed" (95).
While the more famous Kierkegaard did not address Mormonism exactly, Soren Kierkegaard's rejection of the state-endorsed Lutheran church and his criticism of the practice of infant baptisms likely gave some intellectual backing to religious movements that were not sponsored by the states.
Popular media, including street ballads and silent film, often mocked or portrayed Mormonism as dangerous in the aforementioned time period. These media emphasized Mormonism's Americanism and polygamist practice. A documentary "The White Slave Trade" which depicted sex slavery was a box-office success in Denmark in 1910. Eager to replicate that success, films about Mormons were made in The White Slave Trade's image depicting LDS priests and missionaries hoodwinking young women and adding them to their harem.
The book also includes some fun anecdotes of different Danish emigrants. Frederik Samuelsen, one of the profiled emigrants, was the first Mormon politician outside of America prior his emigration. As Mormonism in Denmark thrived among the lower class, it isn't surprising that as a member of Denmark's lower Parliament, he was a member of the Social Democratic Party, supported welfare reforms, and had a background in labor unions.
I also learned from some of the other vignettes that in 19th century Mormonism both polygamy and the Word of Wisdom were more optional than I had previously thought.
Allen introduces us to a fascinating aristocratic author named Elise Stampe who published from 1850-1876. She wrote, but never published, a 400 page manuscript about Mormonism. Stampe had a close friend who had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and she seems to be quite fascinated with the movement. Her conclusions about the Church were anthropologically shrewd, and more thorough than others made at the time (for example, she quotes the the Doctrine and Covenants and Parley P. Pratt in her manuscript). For me, Elise Stampe was the most interesting character in the book and I wish there was more about her.
One intellectual who was more antagonistic to the Church was Peter Kierkegaard, the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard's brother, who was a bishop in the state-sponsored Lutheran church. He had written in his journal about debating missionaries and even published his speech "About and Against Mormonism" in a Danish church newspaper. One argument that the Bishop made against Mormonism specifically targeted the teaching of apostasy. He argued that every heretical group always makes claims of apostasy, but he warns that if we do accept that claim, it "destroys our faith in (Christ) . . . if we let ourselves be seduced into believing that the Church (Christ) founded has been destroyed" (95).
While the more famous Kierkegaard did not address Mormonism exactly, Soren Kierkegaard's rejection of the state-endorsed Lutheran church and his criticism of the practice of infant baptisms likely gave some intellectual backing to religious movements that were not sponsored by the states.
Popular media, including street ballads and silent film, often mocked or portrayed Mormonism as dangerous in the aforementioned time period. These media emphasized Mormonism's Americanism and polygamist practice. A documentary "The White Slave Trade" which depicted sex slavery was a box-office success in Denmark in 1910. Eager to replicate that success, films about Mormons were made in The White Slave Trade's image depicting LDS priests and missionaries hoodwinking young women and adding them to their harem.
The book also includes some fun anecdotes of different Danish emigrants. Frederik Samuelsen, one of the profiled emigrants, was the first Mormon politician outside of America prior his emigration. As Mormonism in Denmark thrived among the lower class, it isn't surprising that as a member of Denmark's lower Parliament, he was a member of the Social Democratic Party, supported welfare reforms, and had a background in labor unions.
I also learned from some of the other vignettes that in 19th century Mormonism both polygamy and the Word of Wisdom were more optional than I had previously thought.
November 4, 2017
One didn't know that Danish identity was coterminous with membership in the Danish Lutheran church until the 1860s; or that the Mormons found Denmark a rich proselytizing ground in the mid-19th century, transforming Denmark's dense of itself as a Lutheran fortress; or that the Danes became obsessed with a Mormon Fifth Column, and its popular culture in the later 19th and early 20th century was full of evil Mormons and virtuous Danes; or that Danish Mormon emigrants to Utah brought their taste for aspic dishes to their new land, and as a result Jello is Utah's State Dessert. But as a result of reading this interesting book, now one does.
November 4, 2021
This book explores the history of the portrayal of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Denmark in the nineteenth century.
Denmark has been at least nominally Christian since the eleventh century, and Lutheran since the sixteenth. In 1848, there was a change of power from strict monarchy to constitutional monarchy, and it included a nominal freedom of religion element: people should be free to worship, or not, according to their own desires.
This freedom was somewhat. . .theoretical. Lutheranism is deeply tied into Danish identity: births, marriages and deaths are all logged through the Lutheran church. Census rolls are taken by Lutheran parish - the Lutheran church was often the local arm of the Danish government.
When missionaries came to Denmark by 1850, sharing a message of revelation and restoration, and especially gathering as saints in the United States, there was a back lash. The religion was weird, the converts were a little holier than thou, and they aren't DANISH. Converts left Denmark and Danishness behind them (was the portrayal).
This author explored the history of the portrayal of Danish converts in the media and culture of the day, and the way it evolved from vitriolic to farcical (think Book of Mormon Musical), to actually holding political office. It also discusses the self-perception and cultural identity of Danish immigrants; those that joined the Church and came to the United States.
The initial premise for this is the political cartoons depicting Muhammed in the Jyllands-Posten periodical that prompted a back lash. I believe she posited that the look at the history of the Church of Jesus Christ in Denmark would be a pattern for acceptance of the Muslim immigrants in Denmark.
I found it interesting because I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ with Danish convert and immigrant ancestry and a serious Danish genealogy research hobby- the subject matter resonated on several points. But as I finished the book, I realized that the author never tied off on the modern connect to the Jyllands cartoons. Perhaps she felt comment was outside the scope of her work.
Denmark has been at least nominally Christian since the eleventh century, and Lutheran since the sixteenth. In 1848, there was a change of power from strict monarchy to constitutional monarchy, and it included a nominal freedom of religion element: people should be free to worship, or not, according to their own desires.
This freedom was somewhat. . .theoretical. Lutheranism is deeply tied into Danish identity: births, marriages and deaths are all logged through the Lutheran church. Census rolls are taken by Lutheran parish - the Lutheran church was often the local arm of the Danish government.
When missionaries came to Denmark by 1850, sharing a message of revelation and restoration, and especially gathering as saints in the United States, there was a back lash. The religion was weird, the converts were a little holier than thou, and they aren't DANISH. Converts left Denmark and Danishness behind them (was the portrayal).
This author explored the history of the portrayal of Danish converts in the media and culture of the day, and the way it evolved from vitriolic to farcical (think Book of Mormon Musical), to actually holding political office. It also discusses the self-perception and cultural identity of Danish immigrants; those that joined the Church and came to the United States.
The initial premise for this is the political cartoons depicting Muhammed in the Jyllands-Posten periodical that prompted a back lash. I believe she posited that the look at the history of the Church of Jesus Christ in Denmark would be a pattern for acceptance of the Muslim immigrants in Denmark.
I found it interesting because I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ with Danish convert and immigrant ancestry and a serious Danish genealogy research hobby- the subject matter resonated on several points. But as I finished the book, I realized that the author never tied off on the modern connect to the Jyllands cartoons. Perhaps she felt comment was outside the scope of her work.
December 19, 2021
This book was so fascinating to me! I have heard a lot about Mormon pioneers, but knew very little about what life was like for them in their home countries before they emigrated to the United States, nor about what social forces affected and reacted to their conversions. As a descendant of Danish immigrants (among others), I was so interested to learn about the historical and cultural environment that they came from and how the coming of Mormon missionaries was a source of so much fear--and later so much entertainment--for the Danish people. The book is well written, interesting, and full of great anecdotes as well as thoughtful analysis of research. Definitely worth reading.
May 20, 2019
My review is here: https://juvenileinstructor.org/review...
April 15, 2020
I learned a lot about the possible effects of joining the church on my Danish ancestorsand Denmark generally. Would have liked more personal narratives.
April 7, 2025
Well researched, well done, love the conclusion.
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