Abstract
Laestadianism is an evangelical and fundamentalist movement inside the Lutheran Church, principally in northern FennoScandia and particularly in Saami- and Finnish-speaking communities. This essay considers the historical circumstances in which Laestadian blossomed among the coastal Saami of North Norway. It looks at the changes that were wrought in social relations and value orientations between coastal Saami and the surrounding non-Saami world; in particular, Saami learned to accept (as a measure of grace) their own traditional social arrangements and, compared to non-Saami, their own humble material circumstances. In interpreting the material, recourse is made to the Batesonian distinctions pertaining to processes of schismogenesis and steady state.
How to Cite
Paine, R., (1987) “Grace out of Stigma.”, Ethnologia Europaea 18(1), 161-178. doi: https://doi.org/10.16995/ee.1362