The impetus for this study is a quote from Nietzsche and a scene from 1 Samuel. Nietzsche’s claim that “I would only believe in a God that knows how to dance” is juxtaposed to King David “dancing before the Lord with all his might” (1 Sam 6:14). 

This study offers a theological exploration of dance that can be understood as an extended reflection on the space opened up by these two quotes. 

This study consists of two main sections, analysis and discussion. The analysis seeks to develop a theoretical frame that generates a conversation between a dance project by Nadia Vadori Gauthier called Une minute de danse par jour and the materialist process theology of Catherine Keller. The discussion section applies this frame, which consists of three concepts that emerge from Nadia’s project: daily, ordinary, and resistant and Keller’s concepts of entanglement, apophatic matter, and intercarnation. 

The study explores how and in what ways Keller’s dynamic, process materialist theology might reveal the theological implications of Nadia’s daily dance project, implications that literally embody Keller’s theological approach and extend it beyond academic theology, into the very dance of life

For a long time, the field of Practical Theology has seen an increasing interest in practices and the use of qualitative methods to study concrete practices in church and society. Earlier, the studies of liturgy often focused on liturgical texts. However, although an increasing num- ber of studies have explored concrete liturgical situations, relatively few have investigated pastors or priests as liturgical actors. Additionally, there is a clear deficit of theoretical tools for analysis in practice-oriented studies within Practical Theology

The purpose of this study is to deepen the understanding of pastors and priests as liturgical actors. The study also develops theoretical perspectives in dialogue with Michel de Certeau, Jonna Bornemark and Bruno Latour, and uses them for analysis of contemporary baptismal practices in the Uniting Church in Sweden and the Church of Sweden. Through the concepts strategy and tactic (de Certeau), discernment (Bornemark), and actor-network theory (Latour) the craftmanship of the liturgical actor is brought to the fore, thereby contribu- ting to a deepened and richer picture of the liturgical baptismal situation. The study shows how liturgists, through their use of liturgical books and church buildings, exercise a creative liturgical craftmanship in cooperation with other liturgical actors and through liturgical discernment. By an abductive method this study also contributes with the development of four theoretical perspectives that can be used to study other liturgical situations.

In order to access the concrete liturgical baptismal situation this study is based on a num- ber of participatory observations of baptisms as well as interviews with priest and pastors that have carried out these baptisms. The analysis shows at an in-depth level how these litur- gical craftsmen adapt, adjust, expand, restructure and widen the (strategically) given in the baptismal situation. Furthermore, different motives are investigated for this liturgical craft, as well as resources that contribute to the liturgist’s ability. Not the least, the result shows that pastors and priests in their everyday liturgical work carry out a theologically creative work with implications for several aspects of liturgical theology.

The study deals with themes such as (1) the relationship between subject and structure in liturgical situations, (2) practical knowledge as an important aspect of liturgical action, (3)a deepened understanding of liturgical change, (4) the liturgist’s significance for liturgy and liturgical theology (5), sociomaterial aspects of liturgy and (6) the development of theory in the field of practical theology.

Gardens in the Wasteland is an ethnographic study of Christian formation within three Swedish church plants working against a backdrop of advanced secularisation. The thesis analyses the formative practices employed by these church plants with the intention of forming persons towards a lived Christian identity. Employing a situated learning theory framework, it traces the formative trajectories and negotiations that emerge from these shared practices, and also examines the articulations of callings and intentions within these church plants.

The findings reveal that the establishment of a church plant often stems from a sense of place-oriented calling that encompasses a vision of vibrant Christian life and community. These church plants cultivate formative practices – aimed at certain teloi – that guide individuals on their journeys towards a lived Christian identity. Through participation in these practices, individuals align themselves with the church plant’s vision of Christian life. This identity formation process is not static but rather involves ongoing negotiations, both on a personal and community level, as individuals grapple with the meaning of Christian identity and faith amidst an increasingly secularised society.

Motsättningar inom ett samhälle blir sällan skarpare än när människor avrättas för att ha brutit mot samhällsgemenskapens grundläggande normer. En ideologisk text som tillkommit i en sådan situation kan därför förväntas skildra kontrasten mellan samhället och den egna gruppen i tydligast möjliga ordalag, även om skillnaderna i faktiska värderingar inte alltid är så stora. Ett gott exempel på detta är Perpetuas och Felicitas martyrium, där vi har goda skäl att tro oss möta en ung kvinnas egen berättelse om sina upplevelser, känslor och visioner inför mötet med vilddjuren på den romerska arenan i Karthago. Med hjälp av Kathryn Tanners kulturteori kan vi urskilja de beteendemönster som framstår som normer och ideal i martyriet, och inse att de visioner och den oberördhet inför döden som etablerar Perpetuas auktoritet är väletablerade ideal även inom den grekisk-romerska kulturen. De värderingar som skiljer martyriets ideologi från det omgivande samhället är två: normen att vägra offra till de grekisk-romerska gudarna och föreställningen att alla människor, oavsett samhällelig status, äger en inneboende värdighet.

The Acts of Philip is a collection of stories about an apostle traveling the world, healing the ill, and preaching Christ. It makes no distinction between the apostle (Luke 6:14; Acts 1:13) and the evangelist (Acts 6:5; 8:4–40), gives Philip a noble birth (Acts Phil. 6.8), and calls him “Son of Thunder” (Acts Phil. 2.9, 17; cf. Mark 3:17), so the stories may originally have had different protagonists.

In the extracanonical story about Paul and Thecla in Iconium, Paul’s host Onesiphorus (cf. 2 Tim 1:16; 4:19) is so radical in abandoning the concerns of this world that he camps out in a tomb without the means to feed his hungry children (Acts Paul 3.23–25). Where did he learn such a radical notion of voluntary poverty, and what is the reader supposed to make of it when nothing else in the story teaches the same ideal? This paper uses Kathryn Tanner’s theory of culture to argue that the Acts of Paul presents the abandonment of all personal earthly possessions as a subcultural ideal so established in early Christian culture that it can be taken for granted rather than argued for.

In one of the stories in the Acts of Philip, the apostle finds himself in conflict with the local Jewish authorities, transforms into shining glory before his disciples’ eyes, allows himself to be tried in court, resurrects a dead man, and ascends into heaven. In this paper, we will see how the author of this story reimagines the story of Jesus with the apostle Philip as the new protagonist.

In all, Eusebius the Evangelist should be considered the given starting-point for any academic work on Eusebius’s apparatus, and a great resource for reflection on how the fourfold Gospel was received for most of its history.

After Williams’s meticulous analysis of the comparatively scarce material from Pliny, Tacitus, and Lucian, more could have been done with Celsus’s lengthy polemic, and the surviving material from the anti-Christian polemics by Porphyry, Sossianus Hierocles and Julian would also be worth analysis. Nevertheless, Williams has accomplished an impressive and stimulatingly fresh reading of the material, where her background in Classical studies serves as a valuable corrective to the previous analyses by Biblical scholars and Church historians. Her book is well worth including in any discussion of Jesus’s historicity or pagan reception of early Christianity.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse Romans 8:18-30 in the light of cognitive metaphor and blending theory to explore how Paul's use of metaphors related to slavery and adoption can be understood. Furthermore, to analyse how the use of metaphor in Romans 8:18-30 relates to the earlier verses in the chapter, and how an ancient audience might have understood the theological message of the verses examined.

The purpose of this study is to map the ethical arguments presented in the Church of Sweden Bishops’ letter of "The Beginning and End of Life: Tools for Orientation in Ethical Choices", and to analyse and discuss these in relation to Sören Kierkegaard's philosophical concepts of choice, freedom and anxiety. The research questions focus on understanding Kierkegaard's view of choice, identifying the ethical arguments in the Bishops’ letter and investigating how Kierkegaard's concepts can contribute to a deeper understanding of the ethical arguments therein. The method includes conceptual analysis to clarify Kierkegaard's ideas and argumentation analysis to discuss the ethical arguments that appeared in the bishops’ letter. The study's questions are answered through the essay's two methods of a analysis, followed by a summary and conclusions. The study has shown that there are arguments in Sören Kierkegaard that contribute to deepening the Bishops’ letter. In particular, a) potential risks of allowing communities to participate in decision-making, b) the anxiety as an opportunity in decision-making and c) call to see ethically difficult choices as the possibility of the meeting with God. The result shows that Kierkegaard's philosophy of choice, freedom and anxiety offers a deeper perspective to the ethical reasoning behind the Bishops’ letter, based on Lutheran theology and a Christian view of humanity

Keywords: Søren Kierkegaard, choice, freedom, anxiety, Bishops' letter, Church of Sweden,ethics, ethical arguments, ethical principles, Christian view of humanity.

Potiphar's wife, Delilah and Ruth - three of the Hebrew Bible's femme fatales. They all seem, in different ways and to different extents, to use their erotic capital or their feminine attractiveness to achieve a purpose. Are they seducers, and if so, is that all they are?

As an inquiry of space-related methods this article evaluates the concept of “the world of the text” in relationship to the book of Numbers. It is contrasted with a more loose understanding of setting as referential field, which has been used in connection with narrative anthologies. Numbers may be described as an anthology with an attenuated frame narrative concerning Israel’s wandering through the wilderness. Therefore, setting as referential field is a better way to conceptualize space in the book than reading for the “world” of Numbers. This is seen through two case-studies where the two approaches are compared. One concern-ing the high census numbers at the start of Numbers together with the wilderness setting, which are shown to not invite a “factual” reading of them in a world of the wilderness, but rather as theological constructs connected to the tabernacle. The other concerning the con-fused itinerary notices, which are shown to not cohere into a logical trail through the wilder-ness, but rather fulfill their function in the passages they are part of, among other things.

The Sotah-ritual in Num 5:11–31 has been the focus of many interpretations, part of which is how we understand what the potion used in the ritual is supposed to do. Among these Roy E. Gane has argued that it is the dynamic of holiness versus impurity that creates the effect of the potion (2016), and Yitzhaq Feder that the waters so to speak seek out the impurity of another man’s seed in the woman and punish her (2022). But what is the rationale behind this? While it is impossible to know the details, the line of argument followed in this paper is to say that the genitive mey ha’arim (water of bitterness, v. 18, 19, 23) should be understood objectively as indicating what the ritual is about, and not indicating the harmful effect of the potion. At the same time, the text describes that upon taking the potion the woman’s womb discharge and her uterus will drop (v. 22). So how does this come about if the potion in itself is not harmful?  The argument made here is that this is because the potion is considered holy, in that holy water is used for it (v. 17), while the woman is considered (potentially) impure (v. 27), and that it is this meeting of holy and impure that creates the harmful effect. This understanding is strengthened by the use of dust in the ritual (v. 17). It is not described as holy, but it is taken from the floor of the (holy) tabernacle. Furthermore, rituals in Zoroastrian religion during Persian times, roughly contemporary with the composition of the book of Numbers, use dust for purification, thus forming suggestive parallels to interpret the Sotah.

Stories of many different kinds abound in biblical Hebrew, and analyses have shown them to be both well composed and unique in some respects. Thus, narrative criticism has identified intricate compositional features, text-linguistics has analyzed the cohesion and coherence of narratives, and it has been argued that the prose form of the narratives stands out in view of the epics of the Levant (see e.g. Kawashima 2004; 2021). However, lexemes for the telling of stories have not been investigated to the same degree (to these may be counted, for instance אמר בשׂר דבר דָבָר זִכָּרוֹן נגד ספר שֵׁמַע  תוֺלְדוֺת). This paper seeks to remedy this fact by looking into the semantic field of storytelling in biblical Hebrew, with a focus on the verb ספר (piel). What is meant by telling a story shifts throughout times and cultures, and instead of relying on essentialist definitions it is suggested that the concept of narrative and the telling of stories may be viewed from three angles: story, discourse, and what may be called narrative situation (Andersson 2001, 138–39). Such an approach points to the family resemblances of storytelling, while at the same time giving room for different kinds of narratives and situations. In this perspective, the storytelling aspects of lexemes in biblical Hebrew, and ספר in particular, become clearer. ספר in piel often means “count” and “announce,” but also “report,” however, without presupposing much of a story told, a discourse developed in narrative respect, and the situation is primarily that of relating information. Yet, at times, the verb presupposes more developed stories and discourses, warranting a meaning closer to “tell” and “narrate” (cf. Gen 29:13; 40:8–9; Exod 10:2; 18:8; 2 Kings 8:4–5; and Sir 43:24). Furthermore, such a meaning is also found in psalms recounting “God’s mighty acts,” and not merely alluding to them (see Ps 44:2; 78:3; 107:22; also Sir 42:17, and cf. the “stories” in Ps 105; 106; and 114). In these story and discourse are fairly well developed, while the situation indicates praise and confession. 

Themes of land, rebellion, punishment and forgiveness, generational change, and death have all been subjects of theological interpretation of the book of Numbers, but holiness and purity less so. Typically, those themes have instead been treated as part of analyses of purity rules and in relationship to the book of Leviticus. However, both on literary and historical grounds there are reasons to distinguish Numbers from the rest of the Pentateuch. Thus, Num 1–10 to a large extent revolve around preparations for the wandering through the wilderness, but this includes organizing the Israelites around the tabernacle. If the Holiness Code extends holiness in regard of persons and places (cf. Milgrom), Numbers orders these in zones and grading (chs. 1–4), and introduces purity rules to uphold the purity of the camp (5:1–4 and following). Further, Num 11–21 feature several murmuring stories but in distinction to those found in Exodus 15–18, they emphasize punishment and also purity and holiness motifs, such as Miriam’s skin disease (Num 12), the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram involving offering incense (Num 16–17), and Moses and Aaron not holding God holy at Meribah (Num 20). Significantly, several of them take place close to Kadesh, meaning holiness. Again, Num 22–36 to a large extent depict preparations for entering the promised land, and present purity rules concerning mixed marriages (Num 31; cf. Num 25), the sacrifices of the public cult (Num 28–29), and the impurity of manslaughter in the promised land (Num 35:9–34). Finally, certain motif of holiness and purity span the entire book, such as those concerning death, which is found in Num 5:1–4 (sending out those with death-impurity from the camp), Num 19 (the red cow ritual setting out how to handle death-impurity, in view of the preceding rebellions), and Num 35:9–34 (manslaughter as an extreme case of death-impurity in the holy land). These are at each instance related to the surrounding passages, while at the same time they create a certain coherence for the book as a whole. The purpose of the present paper is to unearth the often forgotten theology of holiness and purity in Numbers and argue its significance in the interpretation of the book.

This article highlights the imperative of building defences of peace in the human mind, articulated in the Constitution of UNESCO. Pursuing the question of how such defences can be built in contexts of religious antagonism, the article explores the work of ecumenical theologians who seek to find ways of building defences of peace in the minds of believers. The exploration involves intersecting ecumenical theology with the fields of religious education, cognitive science, and peace studies. In this way, the article brings introductory perspectives to interdisciplinary research that considers pressing questions of how to overcome violence and build peaceful communities. Throughout the investigation, hope and imagination serve as guiding concepts. Hope is discussed with regard to memory, change of perceptions, and the building of trust and peace. However, the article also considers the tendency towards constructing imagined enemies. Elucidating how empathetic imagination can provide resistance to this tendency, it discusses the way dialogue might break destructive habits of imagining the religious other as an enemy. With a view to this capacity of dialogue, the article considers the role of longstanding endeavours of ecumenical exchange in processes towards overcoming violence and constructing defences of peace in human minds.

This article explores how the pursuit of peace can inspire ecumenical theological discourses. Discussing the theme of the approaching Swedish Ecumenical Centennial in 2025, “Time for God’s Peace,” the article calls attention to voices of ecumenists who gathered in Sweden in the interwar and postwar periods, in the context of the Life and Work and the Faith and Order movements. By means of taking the endeavours of pioneers in ecumenical history into regard, the investigation focuses on how theology can be constructed with a peacebuilding purpose. Considering that the churches have not only played a peaceful role in face of conflict and war, the article entails exploring the role of self-critical introspection in such ecumenical theological work. Moreover, with regard to the future oriented nature of this work, the article pays particular attention to how it has engaged young ecumenists.

Att läsa, snabbt och långsamt, har varit vägen till kultur och bildning i Europa. Men det har aldrig bara handlat om vad som stått i böckerna, utan också om hur vi har läst dem.  

Djupläsning och skumläsning har lagt grund för en hel civilisation: ett rikt inre liv, offentlighetens stora samtal och vetenskapliga framsteg. Men tryckkonsten har också skuggsidor: förtryck, folkmord och fake news. I den här boken möter vi nunnor och nazister, revolutionärer och recensenter, poeter och predikanter, arbetare och algoritmer, bibelläsare och byråkrater, tech-entusiaster och tidningsredaktörer. Alla med sina böcker och sina alldeles särskilda sätt att läsa.

Bokens folk är en kulturhistorisk exposé om läsandets, skrivandets och böckernas betydelse. Den hjälper oss att förstå vilka vi är, och vad den digitala revolution som vi just nu genomlever egentligen betyder.

Berättelsen om hur det moderna Sverige växte fram har länge varit förenklad. Övergången från ett förmodernt, patriarkalt samhälle till ett modernt och demokratiskt beskrivs gärna som medelklassens och centralmaktens förtjänst. Men något som ofta har utelämnats är de religiösa väckelsernas bidrag särskilt de extatiska och mer provocerande rörelserna.

I denna antologi ger fjorton forskare från olika discipliner exempel på hur gränsöverskridande väckelser har bidragit till den svenska moderniseringsprocessen. Här möter vi kvinnliga frälsningsofficerare, trosvissa missionärer, kyrkolojala hoofianer, entreprenöriella baptister, självreflekterande herrnhutare, extatiska pingstvänner och visionära Nås-bönder på väg till Jerusalem. Vi får bekanta oss med en rad andliga rörelser som utmanade de gamla samhällsformerna och banade väg för nya sätt att leva och ta sig an tidens frågor.

Ostädade väckelser breddar och fördjupar förståelsen av den svenska historien och vårt moderna samhälle.

Centered around a reflective narrative recounting the experiences of a participatory action research project into leading online small groups for adults in the Church of Sweden Diocese of Stockholm during 2021 and 2022, the dissertation argues for the need to reconceptualize and reemphasize teaching as an important aspect in Christian religious education. Employing creative non-fiction methods, the dissertation aims to broaden the scope of the initial Online Small Groups project, by inviting readers to join into a “learning journey.” The narrative account is complemented with more traditional forms of analysis that connect experiences from online small groups in the Church of Sweden to similar research from Anglo-Saxon countries, noting especially how notions of community diverge due to different ecclesiological understandings. Insights are then synthesized into eight teaching strategies aimed at communicating actionable knowledge to small group leaders, before noting how the study complements research on Christian religious education and, particularly, the current debate about learning and teaching in the Church of Sweden.