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the ethics of dag hammarskjöld
Politics, Morality and Religion
– The Legacy of Dag Hammarskjöld
By Inge Lønning 2*
Dag Hammarskjöld was born on 29 July 1905. The combination
of the date and the year inevitably evokes some associations
with the place where we are gathered and the occasion
which has gathered us here at Voksenåsen, the gift of the
Norwegian people to Sweden, given as a token of gratitude
for the support we received from our neighbours during the
most difficult period of modern Norwegian history. On 29
July 1030 the event took place which has had the most longlasting
impact on our national identity: Olav Haraldsson
lost his life and became – as his death was interpreted as the
paradigmatic death of a martyr – the rex perpetuus Norvegiae.
Throughout the medieval period, Olsok, the day of his martyrdom,
was celebrated not only in the Nordic countries, but
all over Europe. In the year 1905 the union between Sweden
and Norway, established as part of the arrangement of the
European political order in the aftermath of the Napoleonic
wars in 1814 – was brought to an end.
* The First Dag Hammarskjöld Lecture presented in the Dag Hammarskjöld
Programme at Voksenåsen, 2 October 2009.
18
Inge Johan Lønning, born on 20 February 1938, in Fana, Norway, is a
Norwegian theologian and politician (in the Conservative Party, Høyre).
Dr Lønning was awarded his doctorate and became a professor of theology
in 1971, holding the position of Rector at the same university from
1985-1995. He served as a member of the Norwegian Parliament from
1997 to 2009, and as president of the parliamentary house (Lagtinget)
from 2005 to 2009. Lønning has been editor of the scholarly periodical
Kirke og Kultur (Church and Culture) for a number of years, president
of the Norwegian-German Society and chairman of the board of Oslo
University’s publishing house, Universitetsforlaget.