"Who Can Approach our Jerusalem without Weeping?" The Destruction of Jerusalem in Danish Sources, 1515-1729.

Abstract

The Roman destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 was an important event in theChristian storyworld. Nine sermons which treat this event, on the tenth Sunday afterTrinitatis, from 1515 to 1762, make up the core of this article. In these early Protestanttexts, the destruction of Jerusalem was not primarily understood according to thechronology of the triumphant Church replacing the defeated synagogue. It was ratherunderstood as a response to a certain continuous human status in front of God. Thehistory was a warning and the presence of the catastrophe became urgent when thepreachers no longer viewed the Roman emperors as proto-Christian heroes defeatingJudaism, but placed their congregation in line with the Jews of Jerusalem. What hadhappened to Jerusalem could also happen to Copenhagen. The survey of sermonsfrom a span of almost two hundred years demonstrates how the preachers adaptedtheir message to new historical situations. It also demonstrates that as time passed,however, the warning message loosened its tie to the historical city of Jerusalem. Thishappened while the function of the story shifted from being a tool of discipline forthe government to becoming an internal and individualized Jerusalem memory.