Faith, Hope and Love

Trú, von og kærleikur (Faith, Hope and Love) is the working title of a television series María is developing. It focuses on her great-grandfather, Rev. Haraldur Níelsson, considered one of the most influential figures in Iceland’s spiritual life in the last century.

Haraldur was professor of theology at the University of Iceland from its founding in 1911 and was serving his second term as rector when he died in the spring of 1928. He was one of the leading voices of liberal theology in Iceland and probably one of the greatest preachers the Icelandic church has ever had. Long queues formed outside the Free Church in Reykjavík, where he preached regularly. During the Spanish flu of 1918 he hurried between the sick in Reykjavík to comfort and support them. Together with his friend and colleague, the writer Einar H. Kvaran, he founded the Icelandic Society for Psychical Research to bring light and hope amid the grief that gripped the city. He is also remembered for his great achievement in translating the Old Testament from the original Hebrew, first published in 1912.

Many figures are connected to his story, among them the medium Indriði Indriðason, Matthías Jochumsson, Ólöf frá Hlöðum, Einar H. Kvaran, Jón Helgason and Bishop Hallgrímur Sveinsson, as well as Bergljót Sigurðardóttir and Aðalbjörg Sigurðardóttir, the women in his life.