Swedish Churches Research Articles

Colonial Records of the Swedish Churches in Pennsylvania, Volume 7-A and 7-B: The Göransson & Hultgren Years, 1768–1776 ed. by Kenneth S. Peterson

Reviewed by: Colonial Records of the Swedish Churches in Pennsylvania, Volume 7-A and 7-B: The Göransson & Hultgren Years, 1768–1776 ed. by Kenneth S. Peterson Jonathan M. Wilson Colonial Records of the Swedish Churches in Pennsylvania, Volume 7-A and 7-B: The Göransson & HultgrenYears, 1768–1776. Edited by Kenneth S. Peterson et al. Philadelphia: Swedish Colonial Society, 2021. 778 pp. Volume 7-A and 7-B complete the documentary history of the colonial-era Swedish Lutheran churches in the Delaware Valley. These parishes had been under the patronage of the Swedish crown since 1646, and continued in that dependence until after the American Revolution. Almost as remarkable is the story of this publishing effort, the vision of Peter Stebbins Craig. A rapid succession of volumes appeared starting in 2006 until Craig's death in 2009. After a hiatus, volume 6-A and 6-B appeared in 2015. The set was completed in 2021. [End Page 101] After volume 5 the material available from 1759 and forward required two sets of double-volumes. At 778 pages Volume 7-A and 7-B, spanning 18 years, is longer than the first three volumes combined which cover 73 years (1646–1719). In spite of Volume 6-A and 6-B, The Wrangel Years (1759–1768), running to 704 pages, more documents from those years surfaced prior to the publication of volume 7-A and 7-B. The opening document of 7-A is a Wrangel letter dated Nov 1766 and the first 44 pages of documents in 7-A overlap with dates of materials in 6-B, in each case with an explanatory footnote about it having been discovered too late to be included in the earlier volume. Indeed, the shadow of Rev. Dr. Charles Wrangel haunts volume 7-A long into the tenure of his successor, Anders Göransson. Wrangel, the Dean of the Swedish pulpits spoken of so highly by his contemporary, the immigrant German Lutheran H. M. Mühlenberg, cuts a much more problematic figure among the Swedes. Wrangel did not want to be recalled to Sweden and he tried to exploit the Atlantic Ocean's communication lag to rally a following for keeping him in America. His replacement, Anders Göransson (sometimes anglicized to "Andrew Georgeson") was received in America with a combination of warmth and hostility among Wrangel's adherents. Wrangel, still in the parsonage that was to have been Göransson's, allowed the new pastor to board with him, but kept him close and controlled his contacts with others, including other Swedish pastors. When Göransson suffered bouts of depression and paranoia, Wrangel had him imprisoned in a mental hospital for a brief period, where at times he was kept in a straitjacket. One of the Swedish pastors, John Wicksell, intervened and moved Göransson to his own home, where he quickly recovered his physical and mental powers. Wrangel, finally, could not postpone his recall; yet, once in Sweden, he continued to cast aspersions on Göransson's fitness for ministry. This narrative is shared mostly by Göransson and invites further analysis. Volume 7 continues its pagination from 7-A into 7-B, so that 7-B begins on page 372. The parish lists of baptisms, weddings, and funerals are published entirely in 7-B, as are the indices for the whole volume. In 7-A, the minutes of parish vestry and joint-vestry [End Page 102] meetings, the records of the ministerial annual meetings, journal and diary entries, and much correspondence, are arranged chronologically where possible: journal entries are interspersed with meeting minutes and dated correspondence, with some undated materials situated according to the judgment of the editors. Göransson wrote copious epistles but did not keep a journal. A journal of pastoral acts and visits was kept by John Wicksell, Göransson's associate and advocate, providing insights into the particular needs of communicants in Wicksell's circuit of Raccoon Kill and Pennsneck. After his recall, Wicksell, from Sweden, stayed in epistolary contact with his colleagues in the Delaware Valley. Matthias Hultgren, Göransson's successor, also kept a diary with entries starting in 1779. Those interested in...

“Kunstiajalugu on ju siinses ülikoolis uus distsipliin.” Tartu ülikooli kunstiajaloo kabineti rajamine

“Kunstiajalugu on ju siinses ülikoolis uus distsipliin.” Tartu ülikooli kunstiajaloo kabineti rajamine

NATO and the Swedish Churches: Dealing with Defence Policy in the Midst of a European Crisis

Excerpt: "Just like the rest of the population, Swedish Christians remain fundamentally divided in their opinions about the best way to arrange Sweden’s relationship to NATO. But the responses on the part of the churches also seem to hark back to bygone ages. National defense and foreign policy remain, in a country for centuries fundamentally shaped by Lutheran doctrine concerning the division between faith and politics, a matter for the political realm. A tense and potentially threatening geopolitical situation tends to reinforce long cherished views."

Abortion in Sweden and in Henning Mankell’s Before the Frost

ABSTRACT This article investigates abortion in Sweden and the depiction of abortion attitudes in the bestselling crime novel Before the Frost (2002) by the internationally acclaimed Swedish writer Henning Mankell in which a man murders women who had an abortion as a major step in his plan of religious revival. It will first review the Swedish abortion law, statistics, and sociological research in order to provide additional background on the history and politics of abortion in Sweden, then show that the novel’s dialogues realistically reflects the majority of the population’s liberal view of induced abortion as a woman’s right supported by the law. I argue that the anti-abortion murders turn out to be the criminal plan’s flaw because the inspector solves the murders and prevents the main goal, suicide attacks on Swedish churches and possibly more. The line-up of the plot to the showdown in the early days of September 2001 connects the novel with global terrorism and responses to 9/11 resulting in a message about taking religious motivations seriously. In addition, I highlight the connection between the issue of terrorism and the theme of suicide which runs through the novel.

Reconstruction as Enchantment Strategy: Swedish Churches Burnt, Rebuilt and Rethought

The reasons why a secular society bothers to rebuild a burnt church seem complex. Starting out from two case studies of burnt and reconstructed churches in Sweden, Skaga chapel and the church of Sodra Rada, this article examines the perspective from which the process and result of material reconstruction may be understood as enchantment strategies. According to Weber’s disenchantment thesis and the contemporary concept of heritagization, the significance of today’s church buildings, as well as the decision to reconstruct, may be based on historical narratives and local self-images rather than religious worship. Without univocally contradicting this perception, however, the study shows that the reconstructions, as carefully staged situations, represent acts of faith and provide the actors with a sense of shared participation and new meaning.

Moving altarpieces: tracing the provenance of Netherlandish carved altarpieces in Sweden

Modern-day Sweden houses 38 Netherlandish carved altarpieces, about ten retable fragments, and two poupées de Malines. Some Netherlandish carved altarpieces in Sweden are still preserved in their original location. The majority of these altarpieces, however, are no longer stored in their authentic environment, as many of them have moved from one location to another over the past centuries. Therefore, the aim of this article is to trace back as far as possible the provenance of Netherlandish carved altarpieces in Sweden. A first source that regularly reveals a retable’s provenance consists of archival documents. Secondly, antiquarians’ travel notes often either confirm an altarpiece has remained at its current location for several centuries, or unveil the artwork’s previous whereabouts. More frequently, however, no archival documents or antiquarians’ notes exist. In that case, the presence of these stunning works of art often awakened people’s fascination for their provenance and made them wonder how such high-quality Netherlandish altarpieces ended up in small Swedish churches. This fascination has given rise to multiple unfounded legends, asserting the altarpieces were incidental results of shipwrecks, carriage breakdowns or spoils of war, primarily from the Thirty Years’ War. In the course of the last five centuries, retables were taken out of their original context not only by moving from one church to another, but also because, from the nineteenth century onwards, they were included in museum collections. The present research thus reflects on the fact that most Netherlandish carved altarpieces in Sweden are decontextualised in their present-day environment.

Uppsala 1968 – The Swedish Context

AbstractThe 4th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Uppsala, Sweden, in 1968 was an event of global significance, drawing participants from around the world under the theme “Behold, I make all things new.” At the same time, it was an event taking place in Sweden – a country that by the 1960s had become a model of “responsible society,” with strong economic growth, an all‐encompassing welfare state, and an ambitious policy for international development that was channelling material aid to Southern Africa. For the Church of Sweden, the assembly marked a continuity with the 1925 World Conference on Life and Work convened in Stockholm by Swedish Archbishop Nathan Söderblom. In turn, the Swedish churches themselves were influenced by the Uppsala assembly, especially in the renewal of liturgy and worship. This article explores the Swedish dimension of the Uppsala assembly through examining the legacy of the Stockholm conference of 1925, the societal and political context in Sweden of the 1960s, the participation of youth, and the impact of the assembly on Swedish church life.

The Frequent Occurrence of Atacamite in Medieval Swedish Murals

ABSTRACTCopper trihydroxychloride [Cu2Cl(OH)3] exists with four polymorphs: atacamite, paratacamite, clinoatacamite, and botallackite. They have all been used as green pigments, usually under the name atacamite. For many years, atacamite was regarded as a pigment mainly used in ancient South America, China, and Egypt. However, the last decades have shown that atacamite has been found in European medieval paintings, and quite often in Sweden. This paper gives a brief overview of the history of atacamite and its polymorphs. Green pigments from medieval murals in 56 Swedish churches were analyzed. The results show that atacamite and malachite are common, while green earth is less frequent and green vivianite rare. In particular, atacamite often occurs in medieval wall paintings on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. The atacamite minerals are rare in Europe and are not found in the Swedish bedrock. Their occurrence in Swedish murals and their origin is discussed. Atacamite may be synthesized by various methods and is in fact often observed on corroded outdoor bronze statues in marine surroundings.

Age of enlightenment: long-term effects of outdoor aesthetic lights on bats in churches.

We surveyed 110 country churches in south-western Sweden for presence of brown long-eared bats Plecotus auritus in summer 2016 by visual inspection and/or evening emergence counts. Each church was also classified according to the presence and amount of aesthetic directional lights (flood-lights) aimed on its walls and tower from the outside. Sixty-one of the churches had previously been surveyed by one of us (J.R.) between 1980 and 1990, before lights were installed on Swedish churches, using the same methods. Churches with bat colonies had decreased significantly in frequency from 61% in 1980s to 38% by 2016. All abandoned churches had been fitted with flood-lights in the period between the two surveys. The loss of bat colonies from lit churches was highly significant and most obvious when lights were applied from all directions, leaving no dark corridor for the bats to leave and return to the roost. In contrast, in churches that were not lit, all of 13 bat colonies remained after 25+ years between the surveys. Lighting of churches and other historical buildings is a serious threat to the long-term survival and reproduction of light-averse bats such as Plecotus spp. and other slow-flying species. Bat roosts are strictly protected according to the EU Habitats Directive and the EUROBATS agreement. Lighting of buildings for aesthetic purposes is becoming a serious environmental issue, because important bat roosts are destroyed in large numbers, and the problem should be handled accordingly. As a start, installation of flood-lights on historical buildings should at least require an environmental impact assessment (EIA).

Unga i karismatiska och evangelikala kyrkor resonerar om sin tro

Young Christians in Swedish Charismatic and Evangelical churches talk about their faith The subject that is examined in this article is how young Christians in Swedish Charismatic and Evangelical churches talk about their faith. The study takes its point of departure in Charles Taylors suggestion that both believers and non-believers in the Western world live in a “secular age” and that this affects the conditions for religious beliefs. Taylors reasoning as well as some American and Swedish studies about young believers are presented in the first part of the article. The main part consist of a presentation of two focus group interviews with young adults. In a final section the interviews are discussed in relation to earlier research. The authors argue that the interviewees emphasize the personal and the authentic, and that it is vital to have “a relation with Jesus”. They refer to, and long for, charismatic experiences but are also searching for a mature faith and an acceptance of “ups and downs” in their spiritual life. Although they shy traditional expressions and admit that they find certain dogmas difficult to understand, their belief offers them a certain “wholeness” in life. They are unhappy about the stereotypes about Christians they encounter in society but want to share their beliefs through testimony and a loving life style. Ethics, in the form of love and tolerance rather than rules, is very important. However, this is a problem not least in relation to issues about homosexuality. Finally, the au- thors note, that the church, or groups within the church, are salient for these Christians.

Mary Johnson and Ida Anderson

Mary Johnson (1884–1968) and Ida Anderson (1871–1964) are described in pentecostal historiography as the first pentecostal missionaries sent from America. Both of these Swedish-American missionaries experienced baptism of the Spirit, spoke in tongues, and were called as missionaries to Africa by God, whom they expected to speak through them to the native people. They went by faith and completed careers as missionaries to South Africa. But who were these two figures of which relatively little has been written? They were Swedish-American “Free-Free” in the tradition of August Davis and John Thompson of the Scandinavian Mission Society—the first Minnesota district of the Swedish Evangelical Free Mission, known today as the Evangelical Free Church of America. This work examines the lives of these two female missionaries, their work in South Africa, and their relationship with Swedish Evangelical Free churches in America, particularly its pentecostal stream of Free-Free (frifria).

Homosexualitetsfrågan

In this article I discuss homosexuality and Christian faith as a ”rhetorical crisis” in some Swedish churches. I refer mainly to articles from the Christian newspaper Dagen from 2000-2015, with a special focus on an intense debate in the spring of 2015. The study shows that the discussion changes over time, that it moves between different media and that new actors with their agendas affect what could be described as an ongoing struggle for discursive power. Yet there is also a meta-level in the discussion which relates to the theme of “rhetorical crisis” since it concerns communicative issues like how and where one should talk about the subject. The study also shows that the leadership of the Pentecostal movement time and again are challenged to take a stance but that they are reluctant to do so and instead attempt to mold the discussion and position it in the local churches.

Meshing around: integrating ground-penetrating radar surveys and photogrammetric documentation for the reconstruction of the spatial layout of the church of St. Lawrence, Sigtuna, Sweden

This article aims at providing evidence for the usefulness of combining data from both above and below the ground in order to provide a more complete understanding of an archaeological site. For this purpose a Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey was carried out next to the standing ruins of the west tower of the church of St. Lawrence in Sigtuna, Sweden. The tower ruins were also documented using photogrammetry providing an accurate 3D-model of the site. The result of the GPR survey clearly images the buried wall foundations of the church but it is only when this data is combined with the photogrammetric 3D-model of the tower ruins that the spatial layout becomes complete. The results clearly provide evidence of the benefits of using such an integrated approach. The available evidence suggests that the tower, nave and choir (with a possible apse) were constructed during the 12th century. During the 15th century the church porch was built and arches added to the nave. The building history of the church is thus rather ordinary compared to other contemporary Swedish churches and, as a consequence, it is likely that that the church was built for the city congregation.

ŠVEDIŠKŲ KNYGŲ LEIDYBA ESTIJOJE IKI ANTROJO PASAULINIO KARO

The ethnic Swedish minority inhabited the islands and Western coast of Estonia for about seven centuries, from the end of the 13th century up to the end of the Second World War. The settlements in remote islands hindered the intercommunication and the development of cooperative movement. However, the national awakening movement which started in the 2nd half of the 19th century created the conditions for national self-determination and consolidation of the Swedish community. The schools with instruction in Swedish and libraries were opened, educational and cultural societies established and books in Swedish published. The book culture of the Estonian Swedes was varied and manifold. The number of Swedish publications in Es­tonia was not big and not all of the print production in Swedish was intended for the use to the Swedish community. A lot of library books and schoolbooks were also obtained from Sweden. As a counterbalance, a lot of books on Estonian Swedish settlements were published in Sweden by people who were engaged in Swedish schools or churches in Estonia.

Making sense of climate risk information: The case of future indoor climate risks in Swedish churches

Organizations and institutions managing built heritage have to make use of increasingly detailed, elaborate and complex climate change impact assessments. It is a challenge to determine how, when and by whom climate predictions should be translated into risk estimates usable for decision-making. In this paper results from the Climate for Culture project are used to study how heritage decision-makers interpret future indoor climate-related risks to Swedish churches. Different sets of risk maps were presented to ten engineers, ten building conservators and five experts on indoor climate related risks. Interviews were used to understand how the interviewees made sense of the presented information and if they associated it with a perceived need for adaptation. The results show that the risks were interpreted and assessed largely dependent on their pre-understanding and familiarity with the individual risks. The magnitude of change and the lack of uncertainty estimates were subordinate to the overall impression of the information as being credible and salient. The major conclusion is that the dissemination of risk information, also from projects which at the outset have aimed at producing knowledge relevant for end-users, should be both customized and tested in collaborative efforts by stakeholders and scientists.

Colonial Records of the Swedish Churches in Pennsylvania, Volume 5: The Parlin Years, 1750–1759, and Volume 6–A and 6–B: The Wrangel Years, 1759–1766 ed. by Peter Stebbins Craig, et al.

Reviewed by: Colonial Records of the Swedish Churches in Pennsylvania, Volume 5: The Parlin Years, 1750–1759, and Volume 6–A and 6–B: The Wrangel Years, 1759–1766 ed. by Peter Stebbins Craig, et al. Mark Granquist Colonial Records of the Swedish Churches in Pennsylvania, Volume 5: The Parlin Years, 1750–1759,and Volume 6–A and 6–B: The Wrangel Years, 1759–1766. Edited by Peter Stebbins Craig et al. Philadelphia: Swedish Colonial Society, 2009–2015. Vol. 5, 286pp. Vol. 6, 704pp. These volumes are the latest additions to an ambitious publishing project which will eventually bring the translation of these records to the year 1786. Since previous volumes of this series have already been reviewed in Lutheran Quarterly, this review will only concentrate on volumes 5 and 6. This is an extremely valuable series and one that certainly sheds a great deal of light on colonial American Lutheranism. [End Page 476] Covering the years 1750 to 1766, these three volumes show these colonial Swedish Lutheran churches at a time of interesting transition ahead of the American Revolutionary War. The Swedish colonial experience along the Delaware was fleeting at best, only a couple of decades in the middle of the seventeenth century, and by 1750 no new Swedish settlers had come to North America for one hundred years. That some remnant of Swedish identity remained among this small group of settlers is rather amazing. But by 1750 the identity of these settlers had begun to merge into that of the population around them. Certainly Swedish as an everyday language was mostly dead among them, and intermarriage had further clouded their identity. They were Lutherans, served by pastors from Sweden, but this, too, was becoming less distinct. These records show a fascinating story of the Americanization of these colonial settlers, and their relations with the Swedish pastors sent to minister to them, as well as their relations with Church and Royal officials in Sweden. Volume 5 recounts the ministry of Rev. Olof Parlin, from his arrival in 1750 to his death in 1757. Often these Swedish pastors were diligent in their ministry, but few of them stayed in colonial American very long, either dying in the New World, or being recalled to Sweden, leaving long gaps for the congregations. Volume 6 covers the American ministry of Rev. Carl Magnus Wrangel, who was by all rights a fascinating figure; a member of the Swedish nobility, he was fluent in German and English, besides Swedish, and was a very effective colleague of colonial Lutheran leader, Henry Melchior Muhlenberg. Wrangel’s ability in English was a rarity among Swedish pastors, and he founded several new congregations that were primarily in English, the first Lutheran congregations to be so formulated. He was very popular among his people, though he was resented by some of the other Swedish pastors. One wonders what the course of colonial American Lutheranism would have been like had Wrangel stayed in America, but after seven years he, too, returned to Sweden. Volume 6–A also includes facsimile reproductions of the first two editions of Luther’s Small Catechism in English, one of 1749 and the other of 1769, the first real attempts to do Lutheran theology in [End Page 477] the English language. The rest of the volumes in this series will be eagerly awaited, especially as they deal with the period of the American Revolution. Mark Granquist Luther Seminary, Saint Paul, Minnesota Copyright © 2016 Johns Hopkins University Press and Lutheran Quarterly, Inc

Diverse construction types and local timber sources characterize early medieval church roofs in southwestern Sweden

A vast number of early medieval roof structures are still preserved in Swedish churches, yet countrywide surveys and detailed dendrochronological investigations, in tandem with building archaeology, are largely lacking. Here, we present new findings from four parish churches (Forsby, Forshem, Gökhem and Marka) in Västergötland, southwestern Sweden. The roof constructions, made from local oak and pine trees, were dated to the period between AD 1131 and 1157, making these some of the oldest preserved roof structures in Sweden and Europe. With the development of new regional pine and oak tree-ring chronologies covering the 10th to 13th centuries, we open up the discussion about medieval timber technology, wood utilization and the potential for future tree-ring based paleo-environmental exploration.

The Image of Virgin Mary in Words and Art: Praising the Mother of God in Fifteenth-Century Sweden

During the fifteenth century, the cult of Virgin Mary was at its peak in Sweden, as well as all over the Western world. This article discusses the manifestation of the learned cult within Swedish popular culture in this period by analyzing contemporary prayers and art works from Swedish parish churches. The texts and the visual arts are discussed with reference to Speculum Virginum (5th chap.), an important didactic work that was translated from Latin to Old Swedish during the second half of the fifteenth century. It is clear that the arguments found in the popular cult of Virgin Mary are much simpler and more dogmatic, than in the learned cult. Nevertheless themes from the learned cult are frequently used in vernacular prayers and in the visual arts, especially as seen in the praise of Virgin Mary as intercessor. Probably this had something to do with St. Birgitta of Sweden and her revelations that made a strong impact on Swedish late medieval church life.

Exhibitions and Notes from the Library

"Exhibitions" describes exhibitions of the "Oriole Press," which operated in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, and of the Jack Kriendler Memorial Collection."Notes from the Library" includes:"A Swedish Contribution to New Jersey Historiograph" by Richard P. McCormick. Concerns Israel Acrelius' "Description of the Former and Present Condition of the Swedish Churches in What Was Called New Sweden, Afterwards New Netherlandy But at the Present Time Pennsylvania, Together With the Adjacent Places on the River DeLa Ware, West Jersey, and New Castle Countyy in North America" (1759)."A Lost Fragment of Freneau's The Spy" by Philip Marsh

European Metal Threads in Swedish Churches 1600–1751

Textiles from Swedish churches are conserved at the Conservation Department of the Swedish National Heritage Board. Eightynine samples of metal thread from 29 objects dating from between 1619 and 1751 have been examined in order to investigate production methods, preservation and environmental effects with regard to metal threads in ecclesiastical textiles. Examples of possible Milanese gold threads are discussed as well as specimens from Queen Kristina's funeral clothing, but the main focus of this study is on the 14 episcopal copes made for the coronation of King Adolf Fredrik in 1751. The specimens were examined by a variety of methods including visual inspection, stereo magnification and scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDX). The environmental conditions and storage materials were recorded for each object. The metal used for most of the specimens is silver gilt. The objects are in relatively good condition, probably due to good quality and careful handling. The metal shows varying degrees of corrosion. Possible reasons such as air pollution and conservation treatment are discussed. The findings will form the basis of continuing work on a database of metal threads at the National Heritage Board. The plan is for this data to be made available to conservators and others working with similar issues.