Lutheranism and Confucianism Between National Education and Globalization: A Theoretical Discussion

Viewed as systems of mentality, Lutheran Christianity and Confucian Philosophy share the premise that they support and educate into respecting governing authorities, while at the same time educating into personal moral and work ethics. In the Nordic states, such as Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, and the ‘Chinese states’, such as the People’s Republic of China and Singapore, both systems have played a central role in the creation of educational bodies and later national educational systems. In China (PRC) and Denmark (DK) for instance, this seems to have dissolved especially from the middle of the 20th century, with secularization under, respectively, communist rule (PRC) and social democratic rule (DK). However, both nation states have experienced a renaissance in the 1990s, whereby new interpretations of ‘Confucian values’ (PRC) and ideas of a ‘Christian Lutheran cultural heritage’ (DK) has reentered the educational scene.

Through an approach mixing history and philosophy of education, we propose a comparative educational analysis of how two different systems of mentality in two different states and geopolitical spheres have influenced the educational systems at present. We are also interested in how ideas of a Christian-Lutheran and a Confucian pedagogical heritage and past are used in educational politics and policy when dealing with global and social challenges.