Hans Nielsen Hauge og Kristiansand stift – litterært produksjonssenter og kirkelig motstand

In this article Hans Nielsen Hauge’s activity in Kristiansand diocese is explored as well as a local, ecclesiastical narrative about him. The narrative is constructed from a scarcely used source – original local reports on Hauge from the clergy. I argue that Kristiansand, despite relatively few Haugeans, played an important role for the governmental process that caused the prosecution against Hauge. This has hardly been systematically investigated before. I also claim that the harsh reactions against Hauge in Kristiansand diocese were trigged by commercial activities connected to book production which made Kristiansand a literary production center for Hauge. Contrary to previous research I stress that relatively few clergy reported on Hauge to the bishop, and that the low response rate in Kristiansand may modify the representativity of the material and the clergy’s hostile attitude against Hauge.