ABSTRACT
Ludvig Holberg's General Church History was published in 1738, three years after the completion of his History of Denmark, and it marks his return to the writing of general histories for the educated reader. In an interesting preface, the only part of the work that seems to have been widely read, Holberg presents the aims and methodology of the work and situates it in its historical context and as part of his published oeuvre. The events leading up to the Reformation give new life and importance to both of Holberg's master plots and the work offer a vivid description of a theologically based intervention with church authority which turned out to have huge political consequences. The presentation of a golden age of the church where the Christians in spite of their differences regarding dogmatic questions and culture lived together peacefully and also respected the secular authorities, established a measure with which to evaluate its subsequent history.
