Church Of Sweden Research Articles

The Swedish Pietists: A Reader by Mark Safstrom (review)

Reviewed by: The Swedish Pietists: A Reader by Mark Safstrom Mark Granquist The Swedish Pietists: A Reader. By Mark Safstrom. Eugene: Pickwick Publications, 2015. xiv + 237 pp. European pietism is one of the major formative influences on Lutheranism in North America; one might even dare to say that it is the formative influence. However, in the last sixty years or so, many North American Lutherans have been running fast and hard away from this element of their past, casting their European pietist roots in a negative and disparaging light. Much negative commentary on pietism has come out of ignorance and stereotypes, or out of experiences with more recent forms of pietism that unfortunately devolved into a joyless legalism (as portrayed in the 1987 film, Babette’s Feast). It is truly unfortunate that our popular perception of this formative movement is based on such ignorance and bias, because when people are actually exposed to the writings and theology of the pietist leaders, they are often amazed by the positive depth of Christian faith and life in these leaders, and at the applicability of their writings to the lives of contemporary Christians. When it comes to the great Scandinavian pietistic awakenings of the nineteenth century, much of the problem stems from a lack of access to its major writings and formative figures. Many important writings were never translated into English, or if they were translated, those editions have long been out of print. Fortunately, new editions and translations of some of the important writings of the nineteenth-century Scandinavian pietist leaders have appeared recently. Front and center in this revival is a younger scholar, Mark Safstrom (University of Illinois), who had been providing us with wonderful new volumes of material. In 2013 he translated and edited a new English version of Paul Peter Waldenström’s Squire Adamsson, a nineteenth-century fictional allegory on the Christian life (akin to Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, but in this reviewer’s opinion more readable and with a sly wit that is greatly enjoyable). A new volume with a selection of writings from the nineteenth-century Scandinavian pietists edited by this reviewer has appeared in the Paulist Press series “The Classics of Western Spirituality.” [End Page 104] The present volume from Safstrom is a third recent volume on pietist leaders, this time focusing on two major Swedish leaders, Carl Olof Rosenius and Paul Peter Waldenström. Many pieces from these two theologians have never been translated into English, and the selections are well-done and judiciously edited—these authors tend to be lengthy! The entries are on the short side, usually one to three pages. Safstrom has organized these entries thematically in four major sections: knowledge of God, knowledge of Christ, the Christian community, and the nature of faith as experience. Each section contains approximately a dozen entries, evenly divided between Rosenius and Waldenström. These entries are, on the whole, pithy and wise, and accessible. Safstrom’s introduction alone is worth the price of the book, as he gives a judicious and fairly complete survey of the religious thought of these two authors. This is important, because although the two were roughly contemporary (Waldenström was younger, and the successor to Rosenius as editor of the magazine Pietisten), Waldenström eventually diverged from the Rosenian line. Rosenius always urged his followers to remain Lutheran and within the Church of Sweden, while Waldenström’s followers later diverged from this path, and became the founders of the Covenant and Free Church movements in Sweden and North America. Safstrom rightly points out that the initial cause of this was Waldenström’s new position in 1872 on the doctrine of the atonement, and Safstrom carefully works out the positions of the two authors on this doctrine. This is true, but still an incomplete explanation of the split, which, though it began over the atonement, was ultimately and at root a divergence over the nature of theological authority and the Lutheran confessions. Waldenström’s followers eventually moved towards a non-creedal, biblicistic position, and away from a formal adherence to the Lutheran confessional writings. This is a fine book, and well worth having and reading closely...

Carl Olof Rosenius’ teologi med særligt henblik på hans kirkesyn

Carl Olof Rosenius, son of a vicar, grew up in Northern Sweden, where his family was active in a revival movement inspired by Lutheran theology. Early in life he decided to become a clergyman, but due to sickness and bad financial circumstances he never managed to complete his theological studies. He became a lay preacher and a very influential editor of the edifying magazine Pietisten [The Pietist]. Through this he became the spiritual leader of the emerging revival movement known as new evangelism. His theology was strongly influenced by Luther’s understanding of law and gospel. He had a particular spiritual gift to minister the gospel to awakened and seeking persons so they might come to live an evangelical Christian life. He wanted to promote a revival movement within the Swedish Church and rejected all separatism and the idea of forming a free church, just as he was against lay people’s celebration of Holy Communion. He rejected the incipient Baptist Movement and broke with Evangelical Alliance. Some of his disciples chose to form free churches.

The parish as existential space: A theological critique of territory

In this article I call for a reconceptualization of space in relation to the ecclesial parish system through differentiating between “space”, “place”, and “territory”, suggesting that the last term has been instrumental in introducing an ideological notion of space – in short, the reduction of place and space to administrative territory – into the ecclesiological self-understanding of the Church of Sweden. For my analysis of “territory” as an ideological notion and for a more productive understanding of what I call “existential space”, I refer to contemporary spatial theory in philosophy. The object of study is several paragraphs in the statutes of the Church of Sweden. Several empirical examples – the suburban areas of Rosengård and Flemingsberg – help to further the analysis and substantiate my theoretical argument. Finally, I offer some thoughts toward a more constructive theology of space than that provided by the territorial understanding of the parish. Although concerned with the understanding of parish within the Church of Sweden, the ultimate aim of this article is to contribute to a more general discussion of theological understandings of spatiality.

Social Innovation Now and Then in the Church of Sweden

Social innovation – referring to the development and implementation of new social practices to improve the quality of life, well-being, relations and empowerment of individuals and communities – shares similarities with the diaconal work performed as part of Christian social practices and the welfare services provided by Christian communities and parishes. Based on the results from a study of innovative social practices in the Church of Sweden, this article scrutinizes the character of a selection of historical and contemporary examples of social innovation in the Church, in order to further develop the knowledge of how to develop new forms of diaconal work related to welfare services as the societal context changes. By pinpointing the content, process, empowerment, innovation and normativity of social innovation, the analysis highlights pivotal components in the transition from social exclusion to social inclusion in the Church’s specific settings.

Swedish Catholicism and Authoritarian Ideologies: Attitudes to Communism, National Socialism, Fascism, and Authoritarian Conservatism in a Swedish Catholic Journal, 1922–1945

This article investigates the attitude to communism, National Socialism, Fascism, and authoritarian conservatism in the Swedish Catholic Church’s journal Credo from 1922 to 1945. The comparative approach has made it possible to see how the journal distinguished between the various forms of authoritarian ideologies in Europe during this period. The article shows that the Catholic Church in Sweden took a very negative view of communism (the Soviet Union and the Spanish Republic) and strongly condemned it throughout the period, while it took a largely very positive stance towards Fascism (Italy) and Authoritarian Conservativism (Spain and Portugal). In the case of National Socialism (Nazi Germany) the attitude was more diverse. Credo was largely negative towards National Socialism but only because it was thought to threaten Catholics and Catholicism in Germany. However, Credo never criticized discrimination and genocidal violence against the Jews.

Genocide of Armenians: Through Swedish EyesThe Armenian Genocide: Evidence from the German Foreign Office Archives, 1915–1916

Margaret Lavinia Anderson, Review of: ••Goran Gunner, Genocide of the Armenians – Through Swedish Eyes ••Wolfgang Gust, ed., The Armenian Genocide. Evidence from the German Foreign Archives 1915-1916 in: Holocaust and Genocide Studies (Winter 2015) 29 (3): 483-488. Robert M. Ehrenreich United States Holocaust Memorial Museum* doi:10.1093/hgs/dcv050 *The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not to be viewed as official statements of the USHMM. Genocide of Armenians: Through Swedish Eyes, edited by Goran Gunner (Yerevan: Armenian Genocide Institute-Museum, 2013), 370 pp., paperback The Armenian Genocide: Evidence from the German Foreign Office Archives, 1915–1916, edited by Wolfgang Gust (New York: Berghahn, 2014), xxviii + 786 pp., hardcover $85.45. On March 11, 2010, in spite of years of resistance from its foreign minister (“it is not the duty of the Government to establish a historical course of events” [ p. 349]), and a no-vote from its own Committee on Foreign Affairs (which found it inappropriate for a representative body to decide matters of international law), Sweden’s parliament voted across party lines—131 to 130—to ask its government to recognize the Genocide of Armenians, Assyrians, Syrians, Chaldeans, and Pontic Greeks. Goran Gunner’s Genocide of Armenians: Through Swedish Eyes offers an unpretentious (many photo- graphs, no index), but fascinating survey of how Sweden got to that decision. A scholar with the Church of Sweden’s research unit, Gunner asks two ques- tions: what did faraway Swedes know of the fate of the Armenians, and what can Swedish sources tell us about it? Beginning with the massacres of the 1890s, Gunner draws his answers from three categories of material: newspapers, which published fifty articles on the Armenians from 1914 to 1920; reports from military intelligence Book Reviews Downloaded from http://hgs.oxfordjournals.org/ by guest on December 31, 2015 ability to resist is not borne out by the archaeological evidence. As Sturdy Colls notes, various personal items of sentimental and actual (economic) value were found in the small pit excavated in the location of the former gas chamber at Majdanek. She posits that the items were buried by the victims to keep them out of the hands of the perpe- trators; the items thus served as “material witnesses” to the victims’ resistance to the Holocaust up until the end ( p. 256). The only deficiency in this important and timely volume is its poor production quality. The text contains many grammatical errors and typos, the photographs are small and fuzzy, and the captions could have been more explicit. Readers should not allow these problems to detract from the overall content and message of the volume, however. Sturdy Colls’ crucial and ambitious volume has provided the foundation for a desperately needed practical and ethical protocol for archaeological investigation of Holocaust sites—one that will aid students and archaeologists considering entering the field, allow educators to keep their courses timely and relevant, inform interested laypeople, and spur debate about the future of Holocaust archaeology.

Svenska kyrkan efter millennieskiftet

Since the year 2000, the Church of Sweden is no longer a function within the Swedish state. It has become a free denomination which actualizes several borderland changes in the Swedish model of religion. The dissolution of the relationship with the state has been discussed and prepared for many years, and it became a reality at the turn of the millennium. The need for a defined relationship with the state or an interface, however, has not diminished, since the Church of Sweden is still the largest popular movement in the country. This change in relation has lead to an intensified cooperation between the Church of Sweden and other churches and denominations.Sedan år 2000 är Svenska kyrkan inte längre en funktion i svenska staten, utan ett fritt trossamfund. Denna relationsförändring aktualiserar en rad nya gränssnitt i den svenska religionsmodellen. Upplösningen av sammanhanget med staten har diskuterats och förberetts under många år och förverkligats i samband med millennieskiftet. Behovet av definierad relation till statsmakten, ett gränssnitt, minskade emellertid inte, eftersom Svenska kyrkan även efter nyårsmorgon 2000 var landets största folkrörelse. Relationsförändringen ledde till ett intensifierat samarbete med andra kyrkor och samfund

Swedish Church Art from the Introduction of the Reformation in 1527 until the Synod in Uppsala 1593

This article is a survey of Swedish church art from the Reformation, introduced in 1527 by Gustav Vasa, until the Uppsala Synod in 1593 andthe beginning of Orthodoxy. The tolerance shown towards the old cultobjects was typical of the Swedish Reformation. At the same time, therewas an almost total cessation in the production and import of sacral art,this mostly for economic reasons, but also because there was no needfor more cult objects. Especially toward the end of the 15th century, therehad been a large influx of such items to the churches. Only in the field of mural painting was there some activity after the Reformation, and about 20 (known) churches were decorated with murals from 1530 to 1590. However, their motifs remained very much in the Catholic tradition with one difference – non-biblical subjects such as saints (apart from St. George and St. Christopher) were excluded. Motifs from the Old Testament dominated and were often put in a typological context. Medieval moralities also lived on: Memento mori (Wheel of Fortune), Vanitas (Love of the Wordily Goods, the Good and Bad Prayers) and Devil-scenes (Shoe-Ella, Asmodeus). Several murals stem from the reign of John III (1567-92), the Vasa king most engaged in ecclesiastical affairs. In 1575 he forced the priests to accept an addition to the Church Ordinance, the Nova OrdinantiaEcclesiastica, which aimed to persuade the Swedish Church to take a middle position between Catholicism and Protestantism, a thought which isreflected in murals from his time. It is, however, also here that we find proof that Renaissance ideas had come to Sweden: Vices and Virtues (Glanshammar), a painter’s self-portrait (Valö).During the reign of his predecessor Erik XIV (1560-67), a large immigrationof Calvinists to Sweden had taken place. They had drawn the king’s attention to the Decalogue, according to which no images of God were allowed. A possible sign of Calvinist influence is a wooden tablet from 1561 in Storkyrkan in Stockholm, containing eleven quotations from the Bible (in Latin) that stress the importance of the sermon in the service. Also in 1561, the first known Swedish Reformation altarpiece was installed in Västra Husby, Västergötland, with a motif the Last Supper.Thereafter, more and more new altarpieces replaced the old, but their motifs remained more or less the same as in Catholic times (with the above exceptions). A painted, wooden altarpiece from ca. 1600 in Gamleby, Småland, contains the period’s only known protest against Catholicism. In the main part there is a depiction of the Last Judgement, in the predella, all the Apostles are holding keys in silent protest against the Catholic Church’s teachings that only St. Peter was allowed to carry the keys to the gates of Paradise.

Political theology, orthodoxy and parliamentary sermons in Sweden, 1789–1866

SUMMARYThis article investigates the concept of political theology by analysing parliamentary sermons in Sweden in the period 1789–1866. The bishops who delivered the sermons and their political contribution have received little scholarly attention, which this study is intended to remedy. Parliamentary sermons were printed and disseminated throughout the country as epitomes of the state's official ideology, which makes them important documentary evidence of past concerns. The study examines two key areas of thought evident in the sermons: the importance to the state of religious unity; and the monarch as a religious symbol. It was believed that the faith of the people and an organic relationship between church and state would provide society with a certain stability, and this view was reinforced – first by Romantic philosophy and later by confessional theology – in response to marked social challenges. Generally speaking, the state was not thought able to survive without help from the church, even as religious and political reform was underway. At start of the period in question, meanwhile, Sweden's monarchs were seen as imparting the faith to their subjects in finest Old Testament fashion; however, in the first decades of the nineteenth century this view weakened, as the foundation for a stable society was instead sought in the cooperation of king, people and God. After the 1840s, direct references to the monarchy were rare in the parliamentary sermons – from that point the king had a largely symbolic religious role in instilling the faith in his subjects and promoting the unity of the Church of Sweden.

A neglected chapter on Handl's sources: readings from the Swedish manuscripts / Prezrto poglavje o Handlovih virih: posebnosti švedskih rokopisov

Swedish libraries preserve an important amount of manuscript copies of Jacob Handl compositions. Specificities of the repertory are examined in this article, in relation with written evidence that Handl music had found its way already at an early date within the musical practice of Lutheran Church in Sweden.

Sweden Democrats’ Appeal To Christianity: Can Religious Identity Politics Win General Support?

The Sweden Democrats (SD) promote religious identity politics. This is done despite the fact that few of SD’s voters identify themselves as religious and the fact that Christianity does not have a large influence over Swedish politics. Hence, it is reasonable to understand these efforts as both reflecting Islamophobia and a culture preservation strategy. The article traces the debate over SD’s public appeal to Christianity, through the Church of Sweden (CoS) – SD being represented with 14 delegates in the Synod – and through the party system. The article also analyses sanctions that any affiliation with SD can lead to, specified as negative labelling, and the choice between keeping one’s job and discontinuing one’s SD membership for ministers and deacons in CoS. The article finds that the various actors have managed to contain and isolate the SD, implying weak support for religious identity politics.

‘It is that Loving Gaze’

The aim of this article is to study ecclesiological themes and patterns in material from a structured group conversation in a rural parish in Church of Sweden. The conversation was conducted in relation to a Gospel narrative and the content is analysed in search for expressive ecclesiologies. The concept expressive ecclesiologies is defined in dialogue with Geir Afdal’s model for research on social practices. The analysis shows how the expressive ecclesiologies in the group conversation give a nuanced and rather thick understanding of the purpose and identity of the church in the local context.

The dawn of the secular state? Heritage and identity in Swedish church and state debates 1920–1939

This article provides a study of political positions concerning the role of religion in modern society in Sweden between 1920 and 1939. It aims to increase understanding of the Swedish secularization path, with special emphasis on issues related to heritage and national identity, by comparing the dominant perspectives on these issues in the Church of Sweden and in the Social Democratic Party during that period. It addresses how these positions have influenced policies during the period, as well as some of their implications for later path dependence. It explores relations between religious issues and the concept of national heritage, as well as how the fact that both were at that time commonly seen as legitimate tasks of the state came to influence the development of Swedish church-and-state relations and heritage policies. Special attention is given to the positions of the Young Church Movement, a movement within the Church emphasizing its role as a national church with a central position in national identity, as well as to the views of Arthur Engberg, the anti-clerical Social Democratic government minister responsible for church, education, and culture in the 1930s.

Bureaucratic resistance, acceptance, or enthusiasm in Sweden and elsewhere

To many Swedish citizens, their everyday contacts with the Church of Sweden in matters of civil registration and impediments of marriage created their strongest im pressions of the Church. Thus, as an example of ecclesiastical history of everyday life (Alltagsgeschichte), my study is of great interest from the point of view of Church history. It illustrates how the performance of the civil duties by the Church of Sweden was directed by Swedish governmental policies, often applied from an administrative level only, and handled without theological considerations. Towards the application of the Nuremberg Laws according to the Hague Convention of 1902, the Swedish clergy and laymen showed varied attitudes of bureaucratic resistance, reluctance, or acceptance. (Less)

Hidden Ecclesiology: How Statistics Shaped the Church of Sweden

Hidden Ecclesiology: How Statistics Shaped the Church of Sweden

Blessing same-sex unions and the invention of a ‘genuine homosexuality’ in the Church of Sweden

The Church of Sweden decided to introduce a blessing ceremony for same-sex couples in 2005. This article examines how the blessing ceremony was made possible by the invention of a new ‘genuine’ homosexuality. Theological issues concerning ‘sin’, ‘grace’, eschatology, ‘God’, anthropology and the status of the Bible and historical texts came to be understood and articulated in new ways when the idea of ‘genuine’ homosexuality began to be discussed and gained acceptance in the Church of Sweden. I argue that the decision to introduce a blessing ceremony not only represented a change in how the Church of Sweden regards homosexuality and same-sex relationships, thereby formulating and reformulating well-established Christian teachings and doctrines, but also that new exclusions were articulated which strengthened the hegemonic and heteronormative order. The behaviours and social forms that were excluded include bisexuality, promiscuity, promiscuous homosexuality, and polyamorous relationships.

Motstånd och poetiska fragment. En aktionsforskningsstudie om kunskaper och migration

This article is based on reflections on field notes from a participant observation in a socially vulnerable environment, an environment where a Swedish church carries out its daily work. The article presents and reflects the initial steps of an action research project, and (en)tangles issues of privilege, hierarchy, power and language that researchers are forced to face and relate to. The focus of the article is on the question of how to move from a researcher’s outside perspective, to a ground/place where it is possible to, firstly, give room to the study’s participants as subjects, and secondly to create conditions for mutual, if not equal, dialogue. This process, covering the researcher’s observations and the initial formulation of questions for further work, is explored and conceptualised. In particular, the article reflects on the bridging from observation to text. The results show how the researchers’ own boundaries become clear; the necessity to problematise these boundaries are underlined. It also becomes clear how the academic language falls short. Instead poetic pieces showed great potential to grasp and express what the researcher experienced during the observations. This opened for a suggested method for interactive conversations about working in an environment where unexpected challenges and peoples’ vulnerability often constitute the normal starting point for untraditional daily actions in a church.

Shrinking Religious Communities and Thriving Interreligious Social Work in Postsecular Sweden

Sweden is considered to be one of the most secular countries when measuring items such as church service attendance, expressed beliefs in God, and agreement with statements such as “religion is an important part of life,” compared to other countries in Europe and elsewhere. Official church attendance in major church congregations, such as the Church of Sweden and most other Protestant Free Churches, has shown a pattern of decrease in membership in modern times, with some congregations risking to disappear as a result. New configurations of social work practice are challenging current congregations with crossover-interfaith schemes, shared buildings, and community-oriented services with a field presence in marginalized urban areas, replacing homogeneous and diaconal or charitable work. Three cases of interreligious social work are analyzed, and in particular the social and religious leadership skills required for collaboration between the religious communities as well as the surrounding society. The interreligious social work practice is also an important factor of social service provision in the concerned local communities and has strengthened the role of religion in the social sphere in what can be expressed as a postsecular Sweden.

The Church of Sweden as a (Contested) Actor in a Multi-religious Society: A Case Study of the Imam Debate in Public and Church Media

Sweden can be characterised as a multi-cultural and multi-religious society. One of the most prominent actors in interreligious relations is the Church of Sweden. However, such involvement is also open to criticism, both within the church and in public debate. Different expectations concerning cooperation with the Swedish Muslim community became visible in the public media and in the national church media when a congregation in Stockholm engaged an imam for a multi-religious youth project. This paper examines the arguments relating to the mission of the church as a church for Swedish people in a pluralistic society, and discusses some of the consequences of these arguments for interreligious relations and dialogue. The material is based on articles published in Swedish public media and Swedish church media between March and September, 2011. The debate, analysed through five sub-themes, focuses on the borders of what should be included and excluded by a national church in a multi-religious society and the national church’s responsibility for caring for religious minorities. The paper concludes with a discussion about issues of power regarding the church as an initiator of dialogue, and how different actors are represented in the media.

Educational Activities at the Sami Folk High School 1942-1982

The Sami folk high school started in 1942 as a school for young Sami that needed more education that the Swedish folk school or nomadic school offered its pupils. The school was managed by the Swedish mission society, an organization within the Swedish church. The school was successful but struggled with financial problems. The result was that a foundation with Sami representation managed the school instead after 1972. The following year was even more successful. The number of students increased, and the management could offer more courses and their curriculum had more Sami elements than earlier. However, there was also some conflicts during the 1970s. The largest one being the language boycott addressing the issue of Sami languages at the Sami folk high school as a subject in the school, and as an important part of the Sami culture and identity. This article describes the education of the Sami folk high school’s first 40 years with the help of a model for Sami pedagogy developed by Keskitalo and Maatta. The model shows that the education is to a large extent affected by outer factors—self determination, as well as inner factors—language issues and the curriculum.