“The Icelandic State Church and the religious life of West-Icelanders” is the title of Móeiður Júníusdóttir’s research project in her doctoral studies at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies. “The research focus is on the connection between the thriving religious life of the many Icelandic settlers that emigrated to the New World and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland in its formative years; and the interactive connections between the two. The project thus revolves around two cultures and how they, in their own capacity, define themselves and unite in what could be called Icelandic Christianity,” says Júníusdóttir when asked about the main subject of her research.
“My plan is to focus on this self definition process of West Icelanders, which is characterised by considerable conflict that lead, among other things, to severe criticism of the old country’s church life. I will, furthermore, endeavour to analyse the effects of this criticism on the formation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland at the end of the 19th century; but the part played by the influence from the New World has not been analysed much in this context,” Júníusdóttir adds.
