Esivalta : The Religious Roots of the Finnish moral view of the society

Abstract

Apostle Paul’s teaching on earthly authorities became important for the Lutheran tradition. The Lutheran interpretation of Paul is crystallized in the peculiar word esivalta in Finnish, överhet in Swedish. This Lutheran teaching was the only civics the Finnish people received for centuries after the Reformation. From the 19th century on, this teaching was shaped by the idea of legality. This development was spurred in the last decades of the Russian rule due to the legally questionable politics of assimilation of Finland to Russia. The Finnish Civil War in 1918 strengthened the demand for the idea of obedience to the state and its laws. This led to the idea of the legal esivalta, in which one should be obedient towards the laws enacted by the parliament.