Religious Revival Movements and the Development of the Twentieth-century Welfare-state in Finland

Abstract

The Lutheran state church had a monopoly status in Finland for centuries. But its dominance slowly weakened as pietistic revival movements spread in Finland in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These movements had religious purposes, but they were also forerunners of profound social and economic changes in Finland in the twentieth century. In challenging the role of the state church, they challenged national unity, spread Western cultural values, emphasized individual rights, and improved the status of women in society. Men of political eminence, such as Anders Chydenius, introduced these influences on Finnish economic life. Overall, the revival movements helped to pave the way for the modern Finnish welfare state. During that process, the church lost some of its most important social responsibilities – health care, education and social work – as these tasks were assumed by the secular Finnish state.