Grundtvigian

Grundtvigian refers to followers or supporters of N. F. S. Grundtvig (1783–1872), a Danish pastor, theologian, and hymn writer whose ideas shaped a distinctive current within the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark and Danish public life.

Core to Grundtvig’s thought is the belief in the living word: the understanding that the Bible is read in the language and experience of lay people, and that faith should be transmitted through speech, song, and participation in common life rather than through scholastic dogma alone.

Key themes include the church as a school for life (a form of folk church), the empowerment of laypeople, and education as a national task. Grundtvigians emphasized dialogue, congregational involvement, and the use of popular hymnody as a means of faith formation. They supported the democratization of church life and were influential in developing the Danish folk high school (folkehøjskole) movement and other forms of adult education, linking religion with cultural and civic renewal.

In ecclesiology, Grundtvigians argued for a living, participatory Christianity over rigid confessionalism, while remaining within Lutheran orthodoxy. They played a prominent role in debates over the structure of the Danish church and Denmark's educational and national life in the 19th and early 20th centuries, contributing to a sense of national identity and church reform.

The term continues to be used to describe persons and currents within the Church of Denmark that emphasize Grundtvig’s ideas, including emphasis on living faith, education, and hymnody; his hymns remain influential in Danish worship. The movement has also had broader influence on Nordic Lutheran thought and on discussions of church-state relations, religion and national culture.