a mostly german debate on conversion and salvation ever, should not be a duty of the priest. That would be to sacrifice the sensitive priest for the sake of the criminal.798 Describing Danish law and society Jean Pierre Catteau clearly understood the character of the execution as almost a service as a major problem. A sermon given at the execution he called pathetic, and the result of the scene, including its hymns and prayers, was for him first of all murders seen by the perpetrators as a holy and Christian way to heaven through the execution. Thus, he saw the legislation and especially the Royal letter of April 22nd 1768 as positive.799 The antipathy of Catteau to the ecclesiastical aspect of the executions might look unexpected considering that he himself was a pastor, but he was of the Reformed confession and his ideas was predominantly shaped by the Enlightenment.800 The description of Catteau also came to be a source for others concerning the situation in Denmark.801 The clear centre of this debate was in Germany where it not least due to the Prussian legislation and the book of Steinbart quickly translated also into an aggressive and soon theological debate. Germany was also more than most countries a theological mixture of mainly Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed churches and theology, although the Catholics seem to have been quite silence in these discussions most of the time. A special problem in Germany was also that Lutheran and Reformed often were hidden or mingled under the names Evangelical or Protestant. One can wonder if there are aspects of this debate that can be described as a conflict between theory and practice? Steinbart was a man familiar with the classroom, the university lecture hall, and his desk. Probably he was not as familiar with the pulpit and pastoral care. Could it be so that Steinbart and others sharing his position rarely had been in diffi798 Mynster 1839 p 62 sqq, bemærkningar p 48. 799 Catteau 1802 p 357 sq: ”Des personnes fanatisées par l’impression d’un spectacle qui révaillait si fortement une foule de préjugés, commirent de sang-froid des meurtres pour obtenir une mort, qu'ils regardait comme sainte et chrétienne.” 800 Jacobson 1927. 801 See e g Brierre de Boismont 1851 p 638 and Brierre de Boismont 1856 p 572, whose knowledge of the Danish situation however was imperfect – he believed that the executions in question in Denmark were hangings while they then generally were beheadings. 216
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