Connected Histories - Contested Values

Connected Histories - Contested Values

World Lutheranism and Decolonisation: Processes of Transloyalties, 1919-1970 (CHCV).

World Lutheranism and Decolonisation: Processes of Transloyalties, 1919-1970 (CHCV).

The CHCV project is one of three appointed Excellence in Research projects at VID Specialized University 2020 – 2023.

Main idea

CHCV will analyse negotiation processes between various Lutheran churches and other stakeholders in education and health care with a focus on values and loyalties from 1919 to 1970. In its innovative international and polycentric approach, it starts with the period after World War I, when the concept of “European civilization” was shaken and new educational and health care projects were initiated. The period ends with decolonisation after World War II, the consequences of which were for the first time seriously discussed at the LWF Assembly in Evian (France, July 1970).

How did Lutherans in different contexts (re-)construct their values in these changing circumstances? How did they negotiate them with political, ecclesial and other stakeholders? How did they deal with competing loyalties? CHCV analyses these discourses in South Africa, Madagascar, China, Norway and Germany– countries connected by Lutheran educational and health care work.

It examines how Lutherans related to processes of decolonization and constructs of “modernity” and analyses the vast spectrum of positions between adaption, self-assertion, emancipation and resistance. A focus on loyalties, competing loyalties and indeed transloyalties especially in the areas ‘education/literacy’ and ‘health care/diakonia’ can help to throw new light on these processes.

CHCV uses the new concept of transloyalties. This helps to understand the multifaceted processes in the history of World Lutheranism. In the various contact zones, cultural and religious identities were transformed by negotiation processes in the tension between different loyalties. Key actors crossed boundaries, reinterpreted traditions and thereby prompted dynamic exchange.


On the podium: Kotosalama (Madagaskar) and Årholt. Around 1964.
* Look further down for more information in the photo gallery.

The CHCV Excellence in research project will be conducted in international collaboration which include the following groups:

  • Stavanger team

    Post Doc Research Fellows:

    • Dr. Marina Xiaojing Wang
    • Dr. Jairzinho Lopes Pereira
  • International Core Group
    • Professor Kalpana Hiralal (University of Kwazulu/Natal, South Africa)
    • Professor John S. Klaasen (University of Western Cape)
    • Prof. Dr. Katharina Kunter (University of Helsinki, Finland)
    • Ph.D. student Jaofeno Mihary (University of Paris)
    • Ph.D. student Emily Phuti Mogase (Universitaet Goettingen)
    • Associate Professor Roland Rakotovao (l'Université d'Antananarivo, Madagascar)
    • Professor Hong Shen (Zheijiang University, China)
  • International Advisory Board
    • Professor Afe Adogame (Princeton Theological Seminary)
    • Professor Judith Becker (Humboldt Universitaet, Berlin)
    • Professor Philippe Denis (University of KwaZulu Natal)
    • Professor Tomas Sundnes Drønen (VID Specialized University, Stavanger)
    • Professor Johan Höglund (Linnaeus University, Kalmar)
    • Professor Pilgrim Lo (Lutheran Theological Seminary, Hong Kong)
    • Professor Thomas Kaufmann (Universitaet Goettingen)
    • Professor, emeritus Kjell Nordstokke (VID Specialized University, Oslo)
    • Professor Inger Marie Okkenhaug (Høgskulen i Volda)
    • Professor Antje Roggenkamp (Universitaet Muenster)
    • Professor Kristin Fjelde Tjelle (VID Specialized University, Sandnes)
  • Cooperation Partners
    • Silje Dragsund Aase (Mission and Diakonia Archives, Stavanger)
    • Beatrice Bengtsson (Lutheran World Fed. Archives, Geneva)
    • Professor David Daniels (McCormick Seminary Chicago)
    • Nina Sundnes Drønen (VID Stavanger, library)
    • PD Dr. Felicity Jensz (Cluster of Excellence, Universitaet Münster)
    • Bjorg Bergoy Johansen (Mission and Diakonia Archives, Stavanger)
    • Professor R. Simangaliso Kumalo (University of KwaZulu Natal
    • Marte Lægereid Nesse (Ph.D. student, VID University)
    • Professor Ignatius Swart (University of Western Cape)
    • Ph.D., Assistant professor, Wuna Zhou (Hunan University, China)

The CHCV project is organised into four work packages:

  • WP 1: Selection of Key Sources and Discussion of Concept

    A first online workshop was conducted between November 10. – 12.2020 (see https://www.vid.no/nyheter/digitalt-seminar-setter-fokus-pa-translojalitet/).

    A dropbox „Transloyalties“ was created and 32 source documents were shared (South Africa – 3, China – 6, Norway – 2, Congo-Angola -1, Madagascar – 6, Germany – 6, LWF – 8). The documents were introduced and analyzed by members of the core group (for Madagascar: Ellen Vea Rosnes, Roland Rakotovao and Jaofena Mihari, for South Africa: Kalpana Hiralal and Phuti Mogase, for Norway: Joar Haga and Frieder Ludwig, for Germany: Katharina Kunter, for China: Marina Xiaojing Wang and Hong Shen).

    The programme also included contributions on the archives in Stavanger (Silje Dragsund Aase) and Geneva (Beatrice Bengtsson) as well as a brief report on the recent Berlin conference on Nationalism and Internationalism in the Young Ecumenical Movement (Judith Becker see https://www.hu-berlin.de/de/pr/nachrichten/oktober-2020/nr-20106-1 ) and a welcoming message by Vid‘ s Prorektor for forskning, Gunhild Odden.

    The concept of transloyalty was introduced by Frieder Ludwig, applied to the various documents and intensively discussed.

  • WP 2: First Book Project: Transloyalties

    During the period January – September 2021 more archival material will be collected and analyzed.

    A first book publication will be prepared: Members of the Stavanger team, the core group, the cooperation partners, the international advisory board and others will be invited to contribute to a volume on Connected Histories – Contested Values: Loyalties, Competing Loyalties and Transloyalties in African, Asian and European Protestantism, ca. 1920 – 1970 and will be asked to send abstracts until the end of February and draft papers until June. This volume will help to clarify and establish key concepts. A first draft of the introduction has been already written by Frieder Ludwig, and will be revised in an interactive process with the contributors. Negotiations with possible publishers will start early in 2021.

    The contributions will be discussed at the second CHCV workshop in Utstein in August or September 2021. Then they should be revised by the authors until the end of October, and the manuscript should be finalized until December. All papers will be peer-reviewed, and the aim is to have a good balance between scholars from the regions represented in the project. All papers will relate to key concepts such as transloyalties and connected histories.

    The workshop will take place at Utstein Kloster Hotell

  • WP 3: Analyzing Processes of Transloyalties and Intercultural Interactions

    In the period from October 2021 to June 2022, more Archival material will be collected and analyzed, now with a focus on connected histories and contested values. Oral history material will be added.

    The two postdocs will organize international workshops in their areas of specialization with a view to work on publications and of follow-up research proposals. In the same period, the project leaders will start to work on the monograph on World Lutheranism, 1920 – 1970. The focus will be on the polycentric dimensions especially in South Africa, Madagascar, Norway, Germany and China. How were Lutheran key terminologies such as the Freedom of a Christian, Two Kingdoms and Justification by Grace translated and used in various contexts? What was the meaning of key Lutheran terms such as Sin, Forgiveness, Partnership, Healing and Literacy?

    The book will examine how Lutherans related to processes of decolonization and constructs of modernity and analyses the vast spectrum of positions between adaption, self-assertion, emancipation and resistance. The focus on loyalties, competing loyalties and indeed transloyalties will help to throw new light on these processes.


    The first issue of Norsk Misjonstidende in 1945 was not published until 17 May, i.e. nine days after the end of the Second World War in Norway.

  • WP 4: Finalizing and Dissemination of Results

    In the period from July 2021 to June 2022, the monograph will be finalized for publication and project proposals for externally funded projects will be submitted. The Conference in Stavanger will highlight the results and illustrate them also with photos which indicate interactions and processes of transloyalties in ceremonies and celebrations, everyday life, sports, smoking and art.

    The conference will be organised by Ellen Vea Rosnes and Joar Haga. Some aspects of the project will also be presented in 2025 during the 900 years anniversary.

School children in Tungping ready for the procession with flags and the school banner.
(The photo is from the Mission and Diakonia Archives).

CHCV aims to go beyond the state of the art in the following ways:

1. The question of multiple loyalties is innovative. CHCV uses the term transloyalties to analyse multifaceted negotiation processes between different loyalties.

2. CHCV breaks with traditional presentations of the history of World Lutheranism by its thorough internationalisation and its consequent application of postcolonial theories. The emphasis on multiple co-existing and interacting narratives of Lutheranism which are negotiated in contact zones challenges the existing histories on World Lutheranism with their focus either on umbrella organizations or selected countries.

3. By looking at the reverse impact of missionary activities in Norway and Germany, CHCV also breaks consequently with a one-sided action-reaction scheme often used in mission history. To include European countries in the analysis of processes of decolonization and to investigate the varieties (and cracks) in European Lutheranism in the context of international exchange processes is new and innovative.

4. As a cross-cutting project of broad relevance, CHCV will contribute to our understanding of Lutheran identity formation in international contexts and on confessional profiles. It is to be expected that CHCV will also open new dimensions and provide new insights for the confessionalization debate. It hopes to provoke a shift in the orientation of this debate toward the concerns arising from World Lutheranism.

5. It will also highlight the international and ecumenical dimension of documents which can be discovered in Stavanger’s archives. In regard to the history of world Christianity, these documents (often written in Norwegian) have not yet received the attention they deserve in the mainstream of the historiography of world Christianity.

The Mission and Diakonia Archives are kept at Arkivenes Hus på Ullandhaug (together with the Statsarkivet i Stavanger,
Byarkivet i Stavanger and the Interkommunalt Arkiv i Rogaland (IKA).

For more information please view: https://www.vid.no/historisk-arkiv/

CRISTIN page for the project: https://app.cristin.no/projects/show.jsf?id=674850

  • På talerstolen: Kotosalama (Madagaskar) og Årholt. Ca. 1964.
  • Missionary Berta Gilje and an African man, South Africa, 1925.
  • Et bryllup ved Emahlabatini", Kwa-Zulu Natal, ca. 1910 Postkort fra "din Ragnhild" til "Frk. Inga Fergstad, Erling Skakkes gd, Throndhjeim, Norway", poststemplet "Eshowe, Natal, OC 26.
  • School children in Tungping ready for the procession with flags and the school banner.
  • Else Ueland on horseback, Fandriana(?), Madagascar, ca.1893.