Emigrerende endetidslogikker: Sakralhistorie mellom Skandinavia og Jerusalem

Sammendrag

This article examines the early Mormon emigration from Scandinavia to America in the 1850s. The starting point for the analysis is that it in some cases appears to have led to religious experiences that did not take place in Scandinavia in the same period. It investigates the emigration both as religious conversion and geographical displacement. The article applies a cognitive-theoretical perspective based on Reinhart Koselleck’s temporal-historical framework. The perspective is intended to make visible the connections between perceptions of time and religious experiences, and how these manifest themselves in the world. The article examines how the emigration to Salt Lake City, the Mormon “New Jerusalem”, led to a change in perception of reality, and contributes with a perspective on emigration that differs from earlier, more social-historical presentations.