The Swedish Hymn Book of 1695. (The First Official Hymn Book of the Church of Sweden)

The first official Hymn Book of the Church of Sweden ­- the Swedish Hymn Book of 1695 - is in many respects a remarkable piece of work. It has been called 'the most extraordinary book of poetry of the seventeenth century'. Most importantly however, it became the hymn book of the common people during the eighteenth century. It came out in 250 editions, and was printed in 1.5 billion copies, until the beginning of the nineteenth century, when it was replaced by a new official Hymn Book, the so-called Wallin Hymnal (1819). This hymnal contains 413 hymns of various age, style, and purpose. Due to the richness and variety of the task of studying this work, the main areas of research must be specified. There will therefore be three main areas of focus. First of all, the hymnal will be studied in the context of the official political culture around the Carolingian royal power at the end of the seventeenth century. How is the relation between politics, religion, and the individual Christian formulated in hymns relevant to this ideological perspective? Secondly, the hymn will be studied in its role as an important and effective tool for control and discipline of the people, which was a general view of both state and church. By which rhetorical means is the relation between the subject, the authorities, and God, described in order to maintain social order and control? Thirdly, the hymn and the pious subject will be studied. Several hymns in this hymnal could be characterized as being pre-pietistic. Many of these 'Jesus hymns' are evocative of an increasing sentimentality of devotion and culture during the eighteenth century. Could these popular and individual centred hymns be said to represent a democratic layer in the Swedish Hymn Book of 1695?