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The Bell in the Lake


The engrossing epic novel - a #1 bestseller in Norway - of a young woman whose ...
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How do Kai Schweigaard and Gerhard Schonauer each view the local stave church?

Created: 09/28/22

Replies: 16

Posted Sep. 28, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
davinamw

Join Date: 10/15/10

Posts: 3442

How do Kai Schweigaard and Gerhard Schonauer each view the local stave church?

How do Kai Schweigaard and Gerhard Schonauer each view the local stave church?


Posted Sep. 29, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
JLPen77

Join Date: 02/05/16

Posts: 362

RE: How do Kai Schweigaard and Gerhard ...

Schweigaard sees it from a purely practical perspective: it is just a building, dangerously cold and uncomfortable, an obstacle to church attendance, and therefore to growing his flock and uplifting their lives—-which will be his path to success. Schönauer sees it as a work of art with great historical significance, and preserving it will be his path to success. So there is a personal stake for each of them in what happens to the church, and to the sister bells.


Posted Sep. 29, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Maggie

Join Date: 01/01/16

Posts: 434

RE: How do Kai Schweigaard and Gerhard ...

Schweigaard is the new pastor. He sees the stave church as a cold falling down building and not large enough for the congregation. He has the opportunity to sell the church to a German town therefore having the money to build a new larger and warmer church. He does not care about the history but rather about the comfort of the people. Schonauer is an architect and artist. He sees the beauty of the church including the bells. He enjoys drawing the church and when it is obvious that the church is sold and must move he takes it apart lovingly labeling each piece.


Posted Sep. 30, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Dianelouise

Join Date: 07/15/21

Posts: 27

RE: How do Kai Schweigaard and Gerhard ...

I agree with the previous comments. The only thing I can add is to point out that toward the end of the novel, when Kai and Astrid talk about the newly built church in Butangen, he says to her that the church that should have been built was the one Gerhard had designed and drawn plans for—a stave church that would be large enough and warm enough for a big congregation. I found it very moving that their views seemed to merge toward the end: Kai recognizing the beauty and historical value of the old design, Gerhard recognizing the need to accommodate comfort and practicality.


Posted Oct. 01, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Patricia Ann

Join Date: 05/24/21

Posts: 72

RE: How do Kai Schweigaard and Gerhard ...

I agree with the responses above. I do think that Gerhard truly valued the workmanship and beauty of the church and that his love for it grew the longer that he studied and drew it as well as the other churches in Norway.


Posted Oct. 01, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
beckyd

Join Date: 07/31/19

Posts: 92

RE: How do Kai Schweigaard and Gerhard ...

I can't add anything to the above comments and I think dianelouise summed it up very well with her comment that the two men ended up with converging views.


Posted Oct. 02, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
katherinep

Join Date: 07/16/14

Posts: 374

RE: How do Kai Schweigaard and Gerhard ...

Kai sees it as a cold, drafty,decrepit building. Too cold, too small, too old,too dark for his congregation. He sees none of its history, workmanship, relationship to the generations of families whose young were baptized there, married there, buried from there. I cannot fathom how any clergyman could not know the attachment parishioners feel for their house of worship. We had a priest come to our parish--he had the beautiful heavy wooden beams painted a hideous gray with colorful designs and the beautiful old chandeliers replaced with modern ones that stood out against the turn of the century interior like ugly pieces of glass and brass. We hated it (it has not been changed since and few know of the original look, so it is probably just as comforting to them) and those of us who remember how it was, still do. For Kai, the stave church was something to be razed and replaced. He did not care what became of it, but was glad to take the money the German's offered to buy it.

Gerhard on the other hand did not see the building from a religious aspect at all, but rather as an achitect. He marveled at the engineering that went into the building with its many roof lines and heights. He stressed over understanding how some of the construction was achieved. He marveled at the workmanship of the portal, to the point that he emulated it in the ring he fashioned for Astrid. Most of all, he wanted to preserve it exactly as it was first built.


Posted Oct. 02, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
vickic

Join Date: 09/15/14

Posts: 84

RE: How do Kai Schweigaard and Gerhard ...

Schweigaard viewed as a means to an end. He had no attachment to it and so felt comfortable selling it so as to be able finance a new Church. For him, it was a path to his professional development.
On the other hand, Schonauer came to love the Church for it's primitive beauty as well as for the history of it for the people who worshipped in it.


Posted Oct. 03, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
randih

Join Date: 08/14/11

Posts: 8

RE: How do Kai Schweigaard and Gerhard ...

I think Kai Schweigaard originally viewed the stave church as just a building, and an old and uncomfortable one at that, but he at the end of the book he started to realize that a new church didn't just have to be functional but could also have been beautiful.
Gerhard Schonauer viewed the church, at least originally, as a means to an end - a way to make his name and career. However, the closer he got to the church, through his drawings and the taking apart of the building itself, I think the more he realized it was a thing of beauty and was a bit in awe of it.


Posted Oct. 04, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Lloster

Join Date: 04/23/11

Posts: 12

RE: How do Kai Schweigaard and Gerhard ...

Kai Schweigaard was one of 148 new priests assigned to various districts in Norway and had no appreciation for the old church. He called the church a "monstrosity", "like a leaky boat", p. 35. Kai was described as being troubled by the "monstrous carvings, by traces of the old Norse faith", page 35. At the same time, I think he was compassionate and wanted to ease the pain and discomfort of the poor villagers who were going to church in extreme cold and could not be buried in winter. He was disturbed to see "the spiritual defeated by the practical". He wanted a functional church. He was assigned to make changes in the district and I don't think he even saw the church as having any meaning, only as a detriment. He wasn't from the area and had no understanding of the villagers and it took him a long time, with the wisdom of Astrid to even have an inkling of the importance and uniqueness of the church to the villagers. He only looked to the new and attached no value to the old.
Gerhard's love of the church has already been described perfectly.


Posted Oct. 06, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
redheadedsusie

Join Date: 09/30/22

Posts: 3

RE: How do Kai Schweigaard and Gerhard ...

Kai had no connection to the church outside of his own self interests. Actually reminds me of the current church where the needs and desires of the flock play a second to those of the hierarchy. Gerhard only cares about the bones of the church. He has no other connection.


Posted Oct. 09, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
NCjeanne

Join Date: 04/26/20

Posts: 18

RE: How do Kai Schweigaard and Gerhard ...

I just wanted to share some beautiful pictures of, and info about Norwegian stave churches.
https://www.visitnorway.com/typically-norwegian/stave-churches/


Posted Oct. 09, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
margotp

Join Date: 02/18/20

Posts: 4

RE: How do Kai Schweigaard and Gerhard ...

Kai feels a responsibility to keep his flock safe and warm and the stave church does not do that. Gerhard sees it as a work of art but that realization came slowly. Both men at the end seem to come together in appreciation through the love that the sister bells put out.


Posted Oct. 12, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
AlwaysSunny

Join Date: 01/06/20

Posts: 27

RE: How do Kai Schweigaard and Gerhard ...

I like how these two are set in opposition to one another, both spiritually and materially. The architect is the more "religious" of the two, as Kai seems solely focused on his worldly success. This is a subtle yet powerful twist that seems to offer a lot of foreshadowing.


Posted Oct. 15, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
triciat50

Join Date: 02/26/22

Posts: 54

RE: How do Kai Schweigaard and Gerhard ...

I agree with randih--the church was a means to an end, but for both men. Both of them were outsiders who are willing, for different reasons, to remove the church from the community. A removal of the stave church and the building of a new church was a stepping stone on the way to becoming a bishop for Kai, and moving the church and rebuilding it was a stepping stone on the way to becoming a celebrated architect for Gerhard. How interesting that both these men fell in love with the same woman--who was so deeply connected to the church through the bells. Reading and watching how the story unfolded was wonderful. I loved this book. Kudos to Lars Mytting (and a shoutout to his translator!) for bring this to life.


Posted Oct. 29, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
marganna

Join Date: 10/14/11

Posts: 153

RE: How do Kai Schweigaard and Gerhard ...

At the beginning, Kai, the priest, views the church as a cold, unsuitable place to take care of the village folks. He is ambitious & wants to do good so he can advance. This church is something he can use to accomplish both his goals - be a good priest and find advancement in his future. As the story develops, I think Kai begins to see the spiritual side of a church & the village - a place to help people.
Gerhard, an architect & artist, immediately sees the beauty in this church. But he sees it as a stepping stone to fame.


Posted Nov. 03, 2022 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Navy Mom

Join Date: 04/12/12

Posts: 294

RE: How do Kai Schweigaard and Gerhard ...

Kai sees it as a hindrance to his work as a priest and Gerhard sees it as a beautiful work of art and history.


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