The State/Non-state Boundary, Interwar Marginality, and the Lutheran Background in the Danish Welfare State

The chapter deals with the disagreements among the main currents within the Danish people’s state church concerning the role of Christian faith in social work and welfare institutions. The interaction of these currents among themselves, and of religious initiatives, as such, with political decision-making has paved the way for what scholars have defined as a ‘moving frontier’ between state and voluntary initiatives, especially regarding marginal social strata and social distress. In the middle of the last century disagreements were still taking place: after the post-1929 crisis it became apparent that unsystematic social measures could not suffice, but at the same time some in Scandinavia remained convinced that personal faith-based commitment beyond what state intervention could provide remained irreplaceable, and that areas of marginal social distress especially needed more ‘spiritually committed’ welfare services. The article then shows that, while becoming increasingly hegemonic, nonetheless expanding public welfare state institutions did not completely crowd voluntary initiatives out. The latter, again especially focused on marginal strata and needs (typically addiction, inmates or psychological, and existential distress) were never ‘colonised’ by state welfare institutions and remained therefore entirely ‘voluntary’. The chapter analyses different theological and socio-political approaches to these issues, thereby providing a description of the way in which a potential open conflict was averted, although the initial context was not of a once and forever accomplished conformity.