Provisoriets välsignelse och vetenskapernas drottning

Abstract

In this article, Mårten Björk's distinction between two rooms of academic and spiritual practice is problematized from the perspective of a basic recognition of the importance of Björk's contribution. If there is a need to emphasize critical authority as fundamental for academic activities in the university, as Björk claims, the problem discussed in this article is that critical authority never comes in any clean och absolute form. Different disciplines may have slightly different understandings of the critical tasks and offer different perspectives on what is more or less fundamental in the production of knowledge. These are often competing in an academic context where the disciplinary traditions are clashing and the material resources are sparse. Hence the academy is at best agonistic in its critical endeavour. It is furthermore argued that theology is very well equipped to put forward perspectives that pinpoint this basic weakness in all practical context where production of knowledge is at hand, since theology has itself been deeply questioned in its ambitious project of grasping for the ultimate.