Jantelagen started with Dr Martin Luther. He started a new branch of Christianity: Lutheranism.

A Lutheran SOCIETY

Lutheranism was a reaction against Medieval Catholicism, where the emphasis was on a few heroes who could do miracles or just endure hardship and suffering like no other human. The ideal was to become a monk or a nun, reject all pleasures in life and accept sufferings, which could be a difficult as slowly starving oneself to death.

The Lutheran gospel was that your salvation depended not on the pious elite but on yourself (technically your salvation was already clear as Jesus had died for your sins and risen from the dead, but the important thing here is that you did no longer needed the church hierarchy or the saints or someone else. You could do it yourself). The ideal life was not the monk or the nun but rather the ordinary man doing ordinary things in an excellent way.

Luther taught that you, as a Christian, were called to do your own Duty, and to do it as well as possible. You should not seek for wordly glory, like promotion. You should stay where you are and do the duty that is yours. This meant the Lutheran countries became the world’s least corrupt. A boring civil servant who did his duty. Who took no bribes. Who followed rules and laws. He was an ideal man. A man to be admired and praised.

Note, that there also was no hierarchy of people but only in quality of people. A corrupt bishop was not likely to be saved, but rather a pious street cleaner.

JANTE: THE DOWNSIDE OF LUTHERANISM

The downside is that people are not encouraged to improve their own situation. If you are a lumberjack who do hard manual labour, that is what you should do to honour God. A lumberjack who quit his job to start his own successful personal business is seen as a traitor.

The same leveling attitude is applied to other fields of life. A girl is supposed to be beautiful, but not outstanding in any way. Stick to the crowd. Do not try to assert yourself. Be humble.

The non-competitive attitude is also a way to not lead others into temptation. What if they see your success and want the same? Maybe they would give up the silent and not glamorous task of doing their duty? Maybe they will start cheating and doing dishonest jobs? If so it will be your fault for showing off!