The Distinctiveness of Diaconia and the Post-Secular Condition: Gustaf Wingren Revisited

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The new visibility of religion in the public sphere calls for a rethinking of what characterizes the distinctiveness of diaconia. In the context of nordic Lutheran theology this question has traditionally been treated within the framework of the two kingdoms doctrine. However, in more recent years, prolific theologians such as Ola Sigurdson and Tage Kurtén have questioned the viability of this framework. Given the current post-secular condition, they claim, Nordic Lutheran theology must seek to overcome the separation of religion and politics that the two kingdoms doctrine has given way to. The present article argues that Gustaf Wingren’s (1910–2000) account of diaconia represents a rewarding point of departure for such an effort. Drawing on both Irenaeus’ concept of recapitulatio and the distinction between the two kingdoms of Luther, Wingren develops an understanding of diaconia which makes the particularities of faith productive in the interpretation of diaconal practice, while simultaneously confirming the universal character of God’s creative activity. Thus he paves the way for a dialectic approach to the distinctiveness of diaconia, which makes it possible to move beyond the dichotomization of religion and politics typical of protestant modernity, without dismissing still valuable aspects of the two kingdoms idea.