Abstracts

Dietrich Korsch: ”Theology as Language of Crisis. Karl Barth’s Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans”
The concept of crisis is derived from medical and judicial use, where it describes a turning point to a decision. The transfer into the sphere of society highlights its metaphorical meaning. In case of a crisis, the hitherto accepted principles of understanding changes are up to debate. This is why, during a crisis, the question of more fundamental principles arises which are supposed to be of actually ultimate concern – and this is the field of religion. There is something of a religious disposition in crises. Karl Barth’s theology in the second decade of the 20th Century was called “dialectic theology” or “theology of the crisis”. In the two editions of his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans he tried to elaborate on a framework of human self-understanding that transformed the social and political crisis into a crisis of humankind standing in front of God. Man was seen by Barth as negated by God and at the same time accepted. This religious self-concept was supposed to symbolize the mechanism of crisis in general. The reception of Barth’s books shows that his strategy was plausible at the time. The question, however, is whether it is still valid today.

Lars K. Bruun: ”Religion as Cultural Criticism: Heidegger’s Religious Roots”
It is well-known that the young Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) was planning to become a Catholic priest and even monk. For various reasons he gave up this ambition, but he remained faithful to Catholicism until he finally renounced the Catholic world view in a letter from January 1919 to Father Engelbert Krebs, who had presided over the wedding ceremony of Martin and Elfriede Heidegger in 1917. In the letter Heidegger states that he does not give up Christianity as such, but wishes to turn to a ‘free Christianity’. However, it seems that this inclination had already been waning for some time as he published his famous book Being and Time in 1927.
It was not until the recent publication of Heidegger’s early lectures, i.e. up to Being and Time, in the Heidegger Gesamtausgabe, that Heidegger emerged to the public as a theological thinker. This register in his early works not only helps to shed light on the philosophy of the later Heidegger, but also enables us to position Heidegger in the disturbing years following immediately after the First World War. This paper analyses Heidegger’s lectures on Paul and Primordial Christianity from 1920-21 (first published in 1995) along the latter line, asking how and why Heidegger orchestrated a veritable destruction of contemporary culture by means of Paul?

Tine Ravnsted-Larsen Reeh: ”Remembering the Heritage from Athens and Galilee. Hal Koch on Christianity, History and Democracy”
The story of Hal Koch is about an individual living in the European crisis of the 20th Century and in Denmark took active part in trying to solve it. His work is interesting not only do to his effects in Denmark but also because it represents and exemplifies general or even principal questions regarding Christianity and culture, religion and politics or secularisation.
Starting out in the late twenties within an academic European discussion of Christianity and culture, his works moved towards problems of church and state before evolving to an effort to promote a democratic identity of the youth during the German occupation of Denmark. As a theologian he was regarded as a provoking exponent of the secular view of society that was to become dominant in Denmark in the post-war period.
This paper will outline his theological Lutheran point of departure, his use of history or cultural memory in a time of crisis, and his work on what he held to be the way out of the European crisis, namely a modern secular democratic order of society. But did his work contribute to a secularization of society in the sense of a decline or indeed an abandonment of Christianity – or is his work on democracy to be considered a 20th Century Lutheran Fürstenspiegel?

Tine Reeh is a PhD scholar at the Department of Church History (University of Copenhagen), financed by The National Danish Research Foundation. The title of her research project is: “Christianity, History and Democracy. The Works of Hal Koch 1932-45”.
Research interests: Reception of Luther and Grundtvig, Danish theology in the 20th century, Christianity and politics, Christianity and history, Historiography.

Anna Vind: ”Lutheran Ethics? The Discussion about Antinomianism in Denmark”
The so called antinomian controversy between Johann Agricola and Martin Luther in the early days of the Reformation was a discussion about the understanding of law and gospel, and thus of the understanding of true Christian life. In the 1960ies and 1970ies the topic reappeared among Lutheran theologians in Denmark with reference to Luther. This paper tries to summarize the understanding of the reformatorical theme in the 20th Century in order to reflect upon the implications of it for theology and society.

Ph.d. Anna Vind, research fellow at department of church history, Univ. of Copenhagen. AV has written a ph.d.dissertation (2002) about Luthers relation to scholastic theology, more specifically his discussion with the scholastic Jacob Latomus in 1521. AV has also worked with Luthers use of classical rhetoric, with his interpretation of Paul and with reformation history in general. Recently she has begun studies in the reception history of Luther's theology in the 20th century.

Julio Hans C. Jensen: ”Religion and Secular Modernity: A Historical Perspective on the Ratzinger-Habermas Dialogue”
The encounter on 19 January 2004 between the theologian and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (as the future Pope Benedict XVI was called at that moment) and the philosopher Jürgen Habermas can be regarded as a historical meeting because these two figures represent the main rival worldviews throughout the modern era: secular philosophy and religious thought. The present paper will give a historical perspective – based mainly on Karl Löwith’s thoughts on modern philosophy of history – on this event.

Ph.D Julio Hans C. Jensen is an associate professor at the Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies, University of Copenhagen.
Research interests: Spanish and Latin American Literature, interweaving of literature and philosophy, history of ideas.
Karl Christian Lammers: ”Discussions on Democracy and State among German Intellectuals in the 1920s and 1930s”
It is well-known that the new Weimar democracy was heavily contested and combated by politicians and intellectuals. It had however naturally its defenders. Starting with Hermann Heller, a mostly not well-known Social Democratic intellectual and professor of public law, my contribution shall discuss views on democracy and state.

Karl Christian Lammers, professor in contemporary German and Westeuropean History at the Saxo-Institute, University of Copenhagen. Research interests: Contemporary German and Westeuropean History, I'm currently working on a research project with the preliminary heading "The Fight for Democracy in 20th Century Europe", which hopefully will result in a publication on Europe's History since 1914.

Morten Heiberg: ”Spain’s Road to Democracy”
The American scholar Philip Bobbit argues that the period between 1914 and 1990 was one “Long War” dominated by the struggle between three ideologies: Liberal Democracy, Communism, and Fascism. The struggle took place inside states as well as between states representing different ideologies. In some parts of the world, the battles took place in respect of the democratic order, in other parts they led to revolutions, civil wars, and dictatorships.
The crisis in Spain was part of a wider European crisis, even though it took forms specific to Spain. In 1936, a failed military coup turned into a protracted civil war. Within months the Soviet Union, Fascist Italy and Nazi-Germany intervened militarily in the conflict, while the Western democracies failed to support the legitimate and democratically elected Spanish government. Liberal democracy in Spain was hence undermined both by internal and external forces.
Three years later, General Franco emerged as Spain’s undisputed leader. As a consequence of Francoist Spain’s previous experience during the Civil War, the country eventually sided with the Axis powers throughout World War II and participated in a multi-faceted secret warfare against Allied interests, inside and outside Spain. This took place despite of the fact that official Spanish foreign policy initially professed “neutrality”, then “non belligerence”, and later again “neutrality” in the conflict. It was a highly dangerous policy course.
By the end of the War, it became the official policy of the United States and Great Britain to defeat Franco. However, the United States were unwilling to employ the necessary means to impose a regime change in Spain, and the coming of the Cold War made Washington reconsider its bilateral policies. In 1953 a base agreement between Spain and the United States paved the way for improved bilateral relations. Inevitably, it also led to the consolidation of the Francoist regime.
This paper examines the relations between Spain and the Great Powers in the Twentieth century. It intends to show how Spain for most of the 20th Century was unable to control its own political course or destiny. During the Long War, Spain, because of its internal weakness and yet important geo-strategic position, was constantly subjected to the machinations of the Great Powers: Before World War II to France and Great Britain, during World War II to the Axis powers, and for most of the Cold War to the United States.

Birthe Hoffmann: ”Bombing Beyond Democracy: Remembering the Ruins of Europe”
World War II is often seen as a victory for democracy, but at the same time represents the final bankruptcy of those humanistic ideas that seemed so deeply rooted in European tradition. This affected not only the self-perception of the Germans, as obvious, but also that of the winning democracies, who in their struggle against totalitarianism descended to systematic and extensive bombing of civilians, including women and children. However, the unprecedented violence of World War II that went far beyond the traditional moral codes of war, was in many respects a result of World War I, where an invisible line had been crossed – irreversibly, as it seemed. Even if Europe of today is built on ruins in every sense of the word, this may proof to be a more solid foundation as any, if these experiences can find a common ground to be remembered in and thus remain – and maybe in a more reflected way become – a part of European identity. The paper will discuss the possibility of a new transnational remembering of the Ruins of Europe and show some of the still remaining difficulties. If the experience of two World Wars, including the long cold war to follow, plays a decisive role in creating a more unified Europe, then the common narrative about this ‘civil war’ must include the perspective of the defeated as well as the victorious, victims and aggressors on both sides in a way that provides reconciliation. Such a transnational narrative of World War II depends on the ability of the involved parties to rewrite national narratives of the war that of course have served very different purposes.
The case in point will be the debate on the allied, specifically the British bombing strategy in World War II, which has evolved since the end of the Cold War. In Britain as well as in Germany, the debate involves questions as: Was the British bombing campaign legitimate to the very end of the war? Do the Germans have any right to commemorate their being victim to the allied air raids, considering the Holocaust and the German conduct towards other countries? How can experiences like this even be remembered? And which lesson is to be learnt by this – does it affect the European conduct in international conflicts? In order to provide some background information to understand this debate, the paper will give an outline of the background and the extent of the bombings, including the development of the concept of ‘total war’ since World War I.

Birthe Hoffmann, associate Professor, German Studies.
Dept. of English, Germanic and Romance Studies
Research areas: German Literature 18th-20th. century, The representation of war experience in literature, Literature and national identity, The relation between literature and other fields of knowledge, i.e. the natural sciences.
Recent publication on this topic: ”Ligene i kælderen og den kollektive amnesi: W.G. Sebald og debatten om bombardementerne af de tyske byer under 2. Verdenskrig” in Kritik 190, 2008.

Martin Mau: ”The Austrian Victim Myth and Its Consequences for the Jewish Victims of the Holocaust”
My presentation deals with the situation for the Austrian Jews who survived the German Third Reich in the concentration camps, as emigrants or by living underground in Austria and who, after the liberation, claimed compensation from the Austrian state for their sufferings. One of the most important pieces of legislation for the victims in this regard was the act concerning the social welfare of victims called „Opferfürsorgegesetz“ which until today has been amended more than sixty times. The act regulates the award of pensions, the provision of health insurances, child care, tax allowances and other benefits to the victims. By means of this act and its development especially in the forties and fifties I will explain how the Austrian state responded to the victims’ claims.
It is obvious in advance that the Austrian politicians’ election arithmetical calculations would turn out to the advantage of the approximately 500.000 former Nazis as soon as they regained their right of voting. This happened for the great majority in 1948 and made the few thousand surviving victims a negligible quantity. At the same time the politicians presented their country as Hitler’s first victim which was occupied against its will in 1938, and according to this narrative the Austrian citizens were forced into a war of which they did not approve. Therefore Austria could not be held responsible for the atrocities committed during the Second World War. This presentation will examine how this victim narrative which was often combined with underlying anti-Semitism influenced the compensation process.

Martin Mau, MA (German Studies & History), PhD student at the University of Copenhagen.
Research areas: Austrian and German contemporary history, especially the guilt question of the Second World War (collective memory, restitution policy and social legislation).

Gerard Delanty: ”European Identity from a Cosmopolitan Perspective”
The idea of a European identity and the related notion of a European heritage have been undermined by developments in social and political theory as well as by changes in the very nature of European society, especially in the post-Enlargement context. Yet, paradoxically, these questions of identity persist and answers are somehow necessary in order to write the history of Europe and to offer a normative alternative to a cultural and political neutralization of the European project. The talk will explore some of the considerations at stake in attempting to define the European heritage today in a way that goes beyond the grand narrative approach. I shall offer a cosmopolitan interpretation of European political identity as a corrective to alternative readings and approaches to the European heritage.

Morten Dyssel Mortensen: ”Between Europe and Asia. The discourse on Europe among German Intellectuals in the Interwar Period”
The paper aims to shed light on the intellectual discourse on Europe in the Interbellum by focusing on self-images and demarcations of Europe with particular reference to the widely perceived fear of an ”Asian threat” to the European values and global superiority.

Morten Dyssel Mortensen is a part-time lecturer at the Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies. His research areas are: German culture, literature and history.

Gert Sørensen: ”Croce, Nitti and Gramsci in a European Context”
The three prominent names all belong to Italian political culture of early 20th Century, and all three of them have, in the period between the two world wars, left important contributions to a revised understanding not only of Italy’s position after Fascism’s gaining power, but also of Europe’s changing perspectives due to the aftershock of the Great War. In contrast to his colleague Giovanni Gentile (1875-1944), the idealist philosopher Benedetto Croce (1866-1952) never supported the Fascist regime, but kept to his liberal principles, although he, in his book Storia d’Europa nel secolo decimonono (History of Europe in the 19th Century, 1932), was well aware of the deeply rooted challenges that threatened former balances of power giving space to a war of destructive dimensions never seen before. Francesco Nitti (1868-1953) was a politician with an university background in economy. As Prime Minister (1919-1920) he saw the rise of Fascism and the hasty disintegration of Liberal Italy. In a long list of books, published in the period from 1921 until 1938 and tranlated to many languages (titles as Europa senza pace and La disgregazione dell’Europa), Nitti analysed the consequences of the Treaty of Versailles and expressed his increasing concern for the ongoing totalitarian transformation of Europe. Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937), political thinker and one of the founding fathers of the Italian Communist Party, focused among other things on the United States in his Quaderni del carcere (Prison Notebooks, 1929-1935) outlining what he saw as a new economical and cultural potential which already had showed to reduce Europe’s global status.

Gert Sørensen i a senior lecturer, Department of English, German and Romance Studies. Responsible of Italian history and culture.
Recent publication: Berlusconi og den moderne fyrste, 2008; forthcoming, Europa-et uafsluttet projekt (coeditor).