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Andreas Kalkun. Mart Saal's and Lüütsepa Jaan's Visits To Heaven. Revelations In Protestantism: Motives and Poetics | 2006, nr. 10 |
The revelations of two Estonians born at theend of the 18th century are analyzed. Both Mart Saal and LüütsepaJaan belonged to the United Brethren. According to the legendthey were both taken ill after their religious awakening and receivedtheir revelations in a state resembling clinical death. Althoughthe typical visionary of the 18th century is a woman (the so-called'Heaven-Goers' movement' – young women who received visions,preached in an exalted manner or prophetized), no recordings offemale revelations have reached us. In this article, the poeticsand motives of the revelations of the two aforementioned visionariesare analyzed, pointing out some characteristic motives in therevelations and their supposed origin. The focus is on the dichotomyof body and soul, of heavenly and earthly matters. The revelationscontain several motives from the Bible, which probably originatefrom chant books, sermons and catechisms. Typically, the visionariestake their visions for real, describe their visits to Heaven andHell, meetings with Christ and angels. The most important biblicalmotives are the metaphors describing believers through some feminineaspects, but also certain figures like Christ as Bridegroom, orMother. Both visions center on Christ, as is common in protestantism.In addition to biblical motives both visions include motives fromEstonian traditional folk hymns.
Keywords: folk Christianity, Protestantism,pietism, revelations.
Andreas Kalkun (b. 1977), MA, Estonian LiteraryMuseum, The Department of Ethnomusicology
andreas@folklore.ee
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