cultural resources in henrik ibsen's early environment - Ibsen.net

Lammers also came from Denmark, and he was married to Dean Rode's sister.
His talents ranged over a wide register; in him great power of intellect was combined with
a strong emotional life and a creative imagination. He had a trained musical sensibility,
was a competent painter and sketcher, and his abilities in the field of architecture also
came to expression: as parish pastor in Bamble, before he came to Skien, he had designed
the new church there and directed the construction himself. We have earlier mentioned
that Lammers also was chosen as architect for the wooden church which was planned to
replace the old Gjerpen church. In addition to these rich talents came qualities which
more than any others made him into the powerful personality he was: an unbending, steel
will, a manly seriousness and a strong inner glow. After having worked in Bamble for 14
years, he became parish pastor in Skien in 1849. It was in the following period that he
displayed the behavior which would make him into one of the models of Ibsen's Brand:
the priest with the absolute demand on himself and on others, and the preacher of the
message that the spirit of compromise is Satan. From the torch Lammers lighted, the fire
spread, not just to Gjerpen and the neighboring parishes, but widely over the country, and
at one time it almost looked as though the state church itself was threatened.
An impression of how many people paid attention to Lammers and his preaching
is given by Mrs. Bodenhoff of Jønnevall in a written meditation from 1852: "Half of
Skien's inhabitants are simply crazy and despise all the others, who do not share their
views. Lammers believes that he can read in people's faces, when they receive the
sacrament, if they are true believers or not, and is angry because he must not turn them
away according to his pleasure; but then he thunders away in retribution, and consoles
them with the promise of the hottest hell, etc. Everyone who dances or plays whist is
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