Abstract
<jats:p>This chapter examines visionary women in northwestern Norway during the latter half of the 19th century, a period of profound social and cultural transformation. Drawing on newspapers, ecclesiastical sources, and the testimonies of four women—Dorthea Rasmusdatter Kirkhorn, Ragnhild Olsdatter Bøe, Hanna Jakobsdatter Muren, and Ingeborg Danielsdatter Helset—the study places their ecstatic visions of heaven and hell within the dynamics of modernization and revivalism. These visions, often accompanied by moral exhortations, sought to counteract perceived disorder by condemning sins, such as profanity, vanity, and Sabbath-breaking, while urging repentance. Using the sociological concept of anomie (Durkheim), the chapter interprets these phenomena as attempts to restore moral order amid rapid social change. While challenging established ecclesiastical authority, these visionary women reinforced communal cohesion through emotional and moral appeals. Paradoxically, their emphasis on individual revelation, emotions, and charismatic authority also contributed to the pluralization—and, in some sense, the secularization—of Norwegian society by undermining the monopoly of the state church, and fostering a more fragmented religious landscape. The study argues that these women were not relics of premodern religiosity, but active agents in processes of religious and cultural modernization, negotiating authority, gender roles, and moral order in a rapidly changing world.</jats:p>