From oeconomia to Nordic Welfare Societies

Abstract

In the Nordic countries, Martin Luther’s doctrine of the three estates (ecclesia, oeconomia, politia) has significantly shaped social imaginaries about what makes a society workable and proficient for its citizens. While already Luther used the idea of the household (oeconomia) as a third zone between civil government (politia) and church (ecclesia), Danish-Norwegian receptions of Luther’s concept of oeconomia emphasized the mutual obligations between superiors and subordinates. Arguably, the parental expectation to the worldly government in early Nordic Lutheranism—together with the institutionalization of school education, public healthcare, and care for the poor—constitute a background condition for the emergence of Nordic welfare states in the twentieth century.