Abstract
Diaconal workers of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland have traditionally worked on the borderline between parish work and public welfare services. However, the role of parish diaconal workers in social services and nursing services has diminished as the Finnish welfare state has expanded. In conjunction with this downsizing, the so-called intra-church diaconate process has re-demarcated parish diaconal work. Andrew Abbott’s theory of how professional jurisdictions are negotiated in the societal arenas in which different actors are engaged inspired the analysis in this article. Using Thomas F. Gieryn’s concept of boundary work, the jurisdictional settlements that reshape professional parish diaconal work are examined. It is argued that institutional boundary work and disputes over whether the culture of diaconal work is secular or spiritual, serve to renew its cultural jurisdiction.
Highlights
Andrew Abbott’s theory of how professional jurisdictions are negotiated in the societal arenas in which different actors are engaged inspired the analysis in this article
The focus of the present article is on parish diaconal work in the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church, where prolonged disputes regarding the professional jurisdiction of parish diaconal workers have characterised church politics
From the perspective of the sociology of professions, a church is a social arena in which the clerical profession, diaconal workers, and other church workers interact as religious professions
Summary
From the perspective of the sociology of professions, a church is a social arena in which the clerical profession, diaconal workers, and other church workers interact as religious professions. Unlike diaconal workers, who lack an exclusive mandate for their work, pastors have traditionally held the exclusive symbolic mandate to execute the church’s central ceremonies, and they continue to do so (Pyykkö, 2008) These prolonged disputes over the jurisdiction of parish diaconal work in Finland have taken place in the context of church debates that have questioned the theological foundation of excluding all but the solemnly installed clergy from the professional ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Finland. In the Finnish context, in contrast, the concept of diaconate had been used in a narrower sense to refer to a group of religious professions engaged with what is, in theological discussions, termed the “ministry of Service” as opposed to the ministry of Word and Sacrament (see World Council of Churches, 1982) This means that members of the diaconate perform practical tasks that, in addition to having a secular dimension, are interpreted as having a spiritual dimension. Having mapped the disputes regarding the jurisdiction of parish diaconal work in Finland, the focus of the article shifts to a closer examination of the related boundary work
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