Ludvig Holberg - Ideology

Ideology

In Paris, Holberg met the Danish scientist Jacob Winsløw, who was Catholic. Winsløw tried to convert Holberg, without success. Holberg enjoyed the debate, but it started a rumor in Copenhagen that Holberg had converted to Catholicism as Winsløw had, and as a consequence he felt it necessary to deny this to the Danish public, giving voice to anti-Catholic views on several occasions.

Holberg criticized school doctrines in Christianity, arguing that "Children must be made into men, before they can become Christians" and "If one learns Theology, before learning to become a man, one will never become a man."

Holberg believed in people's inner divine light of reason, and to him it was important that the first goal of education was to teach students to use their senses and intellect, instead of uselessly memorising school books. This was a new, modern understanding of the question of religion, and it shows he was a man of the Age of Enlightenment. Holberg was interested in intellect because he felt that this is what binds society together. He also wondered why there was so much evil in the world, especially when one could let reason lead the way. One could say that he distanced himself from a religious explanation of evil towards a rational/empirical train of thought, and this is important because of his status as an author; both in his time and ours.

Holberg was open to biblical criticism, and Holberg's religious representation was, for the most part, deism. He was critical of the notion of original sin, instead subscribing to the notion of man's free will.

Holberg's declared intentions with his authorship were to enlighten people to better society. This also fits in with the picture of Holberg as of the age of enlightenment. It is worth noting that Holberg enjoyed larger cities with deep culture – small cities and nature did not interest him.