The present study deals with the encounter between the diocese of Luleå and the process of modernising. The main issue is individualism as a part of modern man’s identity. What kind of individualism was it, and how did it find expression in the diocese’s perspective on faith during the first half of the 20th century? A leading idea in the thesis is that the low church profile provided the diocese with a particular readiness to meet the demands of modern culture. The starting-point of the study is Philosopher Charles Taylor’s theory on the rise of modernity’s concept of freedom and perception of the self, which includes a justification of a positive side of modern individualism and a corresponding dismissal of a negative side. This attitude opens the door for the possibility of doing greater justice to the low church emphasis on the individual person. Taylor asks, from his moral-philosophical point of view, as well as the diocese of Luleå did, whether the Christian faith would have any future in modern culture. The low church view on faith becomes dynamic-extential as it dismisses a traditional metaphysical or theoretical explanation of God as a transcendent reality. Instead the subject is given vital importance. This apprehension reflects an influence from expressivism as a new form of consciousness, in protest against the science of the 17th that separated reason from both nature and feelings. This was inherent in the diocese via pietism. However, not an outspoken anthropology, the diocese nevertheless indicates that it considers man a linguistic and self-interpreting creature. This amounts to a more suitable view on the belief in modern culture, which no longer can rely on a commonly accepted belief in an inherent order of the world as an expression of God’s intentions and will.
The thesis examines developments in Swedish theological scholarship during the 20th century, focusing especially on the polarization that manifested itself between the two subject fields theology and religious studies. The main purpose of the study has been to show how this polarization arose, but it also discusses ways of avoiding this polarization and considers how theology relates to society today. The thesis consists of an introduction, two parts and seven chapters. The introductory chapter provides a background in which the orientation and modus operandi of theology during the 20th century are examined from various points of view. The background description presents three tendencies which give starting points for a detailed understanding of Swedish theological scholarship in the 20th century. These three tendencies are the historical orientation of theology, an emphasis on prolegomena (reflections on the subject’s theoretical assumptions) and the fragmentation of theology. These serve as a backdrop for the subsequent study.
PART ONE “The assumptions of theology” gives a broad understanding of the external assumptions of theology and religious studies in 20th century Sweden. It is divided into two chapters, one of which examines the role of theology in the modern university while the other presents criticism of theologians. This part contains a description and discussion of the external assumptions of theology and how the theological institutions, together with the theology presented there, have been treated by critics.
PART TWO “Theological approaches” examines some important theological approaches, the main focus being on how theologians have approached questions pertaining to theology’s scholarly credentials and its role in society, a treatment which sheds further light on the various aspects of the issue of the polarization of theology and religious studies. Thus in this study the theologians’ texts will contribute to an understanding of the events of the 20th century. This part is divided into three chapters. The thesis shows that during the 20th century, the question of the scholarly credentials of theology became more important than that of theology’s role in society. The study concludes by gathering together aspects of the orientation of theological scholarship and the picture of theology and religious studies in 20th century Sweden. The polarization of theology and religious studies is discussed from the standpoint of late modern assumptions. The thesis shows that the polarization between theology and religious studies which manifested itself in Swedish theological scholarship during the 20th century arose out of the postulation of simplistic contradictions between the scholarly and the confessional dimensions. Finally, I offer a discussion of the relevance of theology today and what scope it has for connecting with society.
The thesis, The Return of Christian Gnosticism. An Investigation of the Theology of Ulf Ekman, is divided into two main sections. In the first section I address the question of what can be seen as characteristic of modern Gnosticism. This section also performs a preparatory function for the second section which contains the primary focus of the thesis, namely an analysis of Ulf Ekman’s theology and an investigation as to whether this theology can be regarded as a modern expression of Gnostic ideas. The first section of the thesis thus creates a platform which is later used to provide answers for the questions found in the second section. In the final chapter of the thesis I shall also relate Ekman’s theology more generally to a neo-Gnostic intellectual climate.
In the second section of the thesis I investigate the extent to which Ekman’s theology, which is closely related to international, primarily American, religious movements, contains veins of Gnosticism. I discuss in the background of ideas behind the American religious movement’s theology. Kenyon is reckoned to be the American movement’s founder and he is considered Ekman’s most significant spiritual father. I also discuss briefly how Gnostic thinking has contributed in various ways to the ideas of romanticism. I return to this theme in the concluding chapter of the thesis where I reflect on Gnostic traditions and ideas, and their presence in our culture. Then I present Ekman’s main theological thoughts. The focal point of the thesis is to what extent Ulf Ekman’s theology can be viewed as an expression of Christian neo-Gnosticism. The comparison that I draw in this section between Ekman’s theology and modern Gnosticism is based on the “Gnostic grammar” formulated in the first section. This comparison lies on a structural level, that is to say I compare the extent to which the fundamental thought structures in Ekman’s theology agree with the term modern Gnosticism as used in this thesis. This analysis is conducted under headings such as view of humanity; faith; salvation and knowledge; the cosmos and the world; dualism. I then discuss the results of the analysis and pose the question as to whether Ekman’s theology can be seen as being a modern, Christian Gnostic theology. There then follows a reflection over Ekman’s Christian Gnostic grammar. In the concluding chapter, the return of Christian Gnosticism, I widen the perspective by relating Ekman’s thinking to other, more general, cultural examples of Gnosticism such as the film The Matrix and the philosophy of James Redfield. I also discuss the issue of whether Ulf Ekman’s theology can be viewed as an expression of secularisation, if by secularisation one means Christian convictions permeating culture to an ever decreasing extent. This chapter also makes even clearer the historical connections, and their importance for the understanding of Ekman’s theology.
The study aims at investigating how nursing staff on a Swedish oncology clinic describes the concept spiritual care and finding out which difficulties they see in providing spiritual care. A definition of the concept is constructed from the result of an earlier study by Strang, Strang & Ternestedt (2002). This definition, together with a questionnaire comprising the operationalization of the aims was handed out to nursing staff at a Swedish oncology clinic. Data was obtained from 46 staff members and analyzed with content analyze. The result shows a broad spectrum of problems associated with giving spiritual care, for example the nursing staff’s own relationship to religion, lack of education, bad organisation or other practical problems.
The definition is complemented by the result of this study giving a more precise definition:
Spiritual care means making possible/facilitating for the patient, with help of suitable nursing interventions, to express and discuss existential questions and to practise his/her spirituality (which may be done through the practising of a specific religion but also through activities which do not need to be of religious nature). Such suitable nursing interventions are characterized by an ambition to create space for spirituality and/or an atmosphere of humanity and security.
Aims and objectives: To identify factors which may influence attitudes to spiritual care, test the relevance of these identified influencing factors in a Swedish nursing context, and replicate a part of a previous study by Strang et al. ( Journal of Clinical Nursing 2002; 11:48-57) dealing with attitudes to spiritual care in a holistic perspective. A questionnaire was handed out to all nursing staff at a Swedish oncology clinic ( n = 93) excluding the radiation therapy ward. Data were obtained from 68 nurses or nursing auxiliaries.
Design and methods: (i) Literature review of international research reports concerning spiritual care in a nursing context. (ii) Construction of a questionnaire comprising 17 questions with given alternatives based on the previous literature study. (iii) Operationalization of the concept 'attitudes to spiritual care' into some more easily measurable questions through identification in earlier research reports of conceivable indicators of attitudes to spiritual care. (iv) Construction of a suggestion for a definition of the concept 'spiritual care' from the results of Strang et al. (2002) to be used in the questionnaire. (v) Statistical analysis of the data from the questionnaire and a comparison with previous studies.
Results and conclusions: The replicating part of the study are mainly in accordance with Strang et al. (2002) and lead to the conclusions that holistic care (i) is desirable, (ii) should include spiritual needs of the patients and (iii) is not yet realized in Swedish health care. The identified influencing factors are relevant in a Swedish nursing context. The factors influencing the largest number of indicators of attitudes to spiritual care are 'non-organized religiousness' and 'degree of comfort while providing spiritual care'. Other influencing factors are:'belief in God', 'belief in life after death', 'organized religiousness', 'profession', and 'the perceived degree of education in spiritual care'. Relevance to clinical practice.Knowledge of attitudes towards spiritual care among nursing staff and factors influencing these attitudes will improve the possibilities of meeting the spiritual needs of patients.
“A Century of Swedish Theology” is much more than Söderblom, Billing, Aulén, Nygren, and Wingren, although any overview must situate such luminaries carefully in Sweden’s constellation. Arne Rasmusson covers the whole century, from original context through the stars to more recent leaders like Anders Jeffner and the complex current scene. Rasmusson teaches theology and ethics in the Department of Religious Studies, Umeå University, SE—90187 Umeå, Sweden; arne.rasmusson@religion.umu.se.
This article deals with “1914” as both a paradigmatic and a normative moment for twentieth century theology. It was the failure of Protestantism, and Protestant public theology, but also of socialism, in the face of nationalism and war, that prompted Karl Barth to develop an alternative theology that came to be the most important alternative to the type of liberal Protestant public theology that dominated at that time and in various forms still dominates. The article describes how people like Ernst Troeltsch, Wilhelm Herrmann, Martin Rade, and Friedrich Naumann inscribed Christian theology into a nationalistic and agonistic socio-political imagination. Responsibility was seen as being responsible to reality so described. The role of this theology in 1914 forced Barth to a radical rethinking. The issue was the nature of reality, what it means to live in a world constituted by Jesus Christ.
The role of Karl Barth's theology during the church struggle after the Nazi revolution in 1933 has been endlessly debated. I argue, first, that there is more continuity between “1925”, “1933”, and “1938” than most commentators have granted and that Barth never promoted an apolitical option. Second, I maintain that his theological imagination was restrained by the practices and structures of German (and European) Protestantism and his own acceptance at this time of a Christendom order. The church that his theology presupposed did not really exist.
The interpretation of the different roles played by Christian theology during the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich is deeply intertwined with current understandings of the nature and role of church and theology. This article is a critical discussion of the attempt of the “Munich school” centered around Trutz Rendtorff to liberate Protestant liberalism from the history writing of Karl Barth and the Barthian tradition. It discusses concrete issues of historiography dealing with Barth and liberal Protestants such as Ernst Troeltsch, Emanuel Hirsch, and Martin Rade, at the same time as it discusses how historiography is interrelated with theology, sociology, and politics.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the social and cultural contexts of 1QS (Serek ha-Yahad) by means of a textual study. The analysis of the text is performed in a synchronic perspective. This means that lexical choices, grammatical forms, references, topics, themes, and intertextuality are analyzed text-internally. By doing so, this study sheds new light on old questions of textual cohesion and coherence, questions that until now have been dealt with mostly from a diachronic perspective. The text analysis entails investigation in view of three interrelated dimensions of language function: ideational, interpersonal, and textual. These imply language as transmitting information, creating and sustaining relations, and functioning to organize itself into cohesive units. Although applying some of the terminology from the field of text linguistics (SFL), the focus in this study is on what a text means rather than why. This means that the semantic-pragmatic aspects of language are of foremost interest here. The analysis is performed from bottom and up, then from top down again. Words, phrases, and sentences are investigated up to the broadest linguistic level, namely, to the semantic discourse itself. With an understanding of the larger discourse at hand thanks to this analysis of textual cohesion and coherence, textual details are once again revisited and interpreted anew. In this work, 1QS is analyzed from beginning to end—chronologically, so to say. Then, at the end of each major section, the discourse is analyzed overall. Following the text analysis, conclusions of the investigations are presented. The conclusions argue that the hierarchal structure of the community and its stringent regulations are to be understood as a corrective in response to corrupt society. It is also argued that language in 1QS has a performative function. Rather than describing the way things are, it aspires to evoke the ideal society. Instead of understanding 1QS and the community mirrored in it as a deviant group with little or no contact with the surrounding world, it is then understood as a potent contribution to late Second Temple Jewish discourse concerning how to create a just society and a sanctifying cultic practice. In the final chapter, the insights gained from textual analysis of 1QS are brought into encounter with the theoretical framework posited by French historian and philosopher René Girard (1923–2015). In light of Girard’s philosophy, the hierarchal organization of the community (the Yahad) as well as its regulations can be interpreted as an effort to prevent a mimetic crisis. The function of the scapegoat in 1QS is discussed in light of Girard’s grand theory of the mechanisms of scapegoating in all societies. The study closes with the tentative hypothesis that the community in 1QS deconstructs the scapegoating mechanism by taking the role of the scapegoat upon itself.