A Nineteenth-Century Doomsday Theatre

Eschatology, Time and Matter in the Scandinavian Countryside

Abstract

This article focuses on a report describing what appears to be an “eschatological theatre” that took place in Ål, Hallingdal in 1852, in the midst of a pietist revival. I suggest that the phenomenon expresses a specific understanding of providential history, and a specific understanding of the relationship between time, matter, and salvation. Based on Reinhart Koselleck’s temporal-historical framework, the article views it as a shared enactment of the return of Christ. It serves as an example that showcases the complex landscape of
temporalities that existed in Norway in the nineteenth century. In taking this perspective, the article suggests that radical religious behaviour in this period can be interpreted not only as negotiations with the secularization process, but as religious practices reflecting the continuity of a Christian providential-historical temporal experience.