From state church to faith community: an analysis of worldly and spiritual power in the Church of Sweden

The aim of this article is to discuss the current legislation, and power structures in and between different levels of the Church of Sweden in terms of church–state relations and secularisation, with the help of theories from sociology of religion and ecclesiology drawn from José Casanova, Grace Davie and Avery Dulles. With themes from Lutheran theology, including the two regiments and the common priesthood of all believers, we analyse the current legislation and power structures from the perspective of the so-called ‘dual line of responsibility’. The underlying hypothesis is that the structures of the former state church are still deciding the power structures in the Church of Sweden. This creates obscurity concerning the role of the church in public society and negatively affects the ecclesiastical development of the church now that it has lost its earlier status as a state church.     

Women’s Ministry in Ecumenical Perspective

Although discussion about the ministry of women seems to have come to a standstill as a result of arguments that don’t seem to change, the actual practices of the churches have evolved beyond doctrinal positions. In the Roman Catholic Church, many women have been appointed to positions in pastoral care and education, and even to decision‐making bodies. In the Orthodox Church, prerogatives previously reserved for nuns are beginning to be applied to lay women. But if we can entrust women with pastoral responsibilities, why is it not possible to move to include them in priestly ministry? To answer this question, we need to analyze the implicit levels of refusing the priesthood to women.     

That All Might Proclaim: Continuing Luther's Legacy of Access

This article proposes that the next century of Lutheranism focus on equipping the priesthood of all believers to proclaim. Access was one of Martin Luther's central reforms and continues to be a hallmark of the Lutheran church. However, access to the pulpit has not gone far enough. For the sake of the gospel, a robust movement toward homiletical education for the laity must accompany a movement toward lay preaching.     

Fresh Expressions of Church and the Mixed Economy

The term “fresh expressions of church” has been used since 2004 in the Church of England to refer to small contextual churches that start alongside but aim to be different to parish churches. What is characteristic of a fresh expression of church is not its newness, but its ability to pass on and contextualize inherited theology, ecclesiology, tradition, and spiritual experience. The ecclesiology of fresh expressions of church can be summarized as a dialogical‐relational ecclesiology that is focused on a theological centre. There may be around 2,100 of them in the Church of England, both urban and rural. During the past 15 years, the self‐understanding of the Church of England, a traditional state church with its parish structure, has changed. The mother church of the Anglican World Communion claims since 2008 to be a mixed‐economy church: one that supports and recognizes innovative ecclesial spaces (fresh expressions of church) as church, as well as parish churches. It is the goal to have an innovative diversity of churches in a pluralistic society. At the same time, these churches should be recognizable and contextual. It is the concept of the mixed economy that manages a fair cooperation between parochial and fresh expressions of church. In the meantime, the concept of mixed economy is received not only in the UK, but in different national and free churches in continental Europe, the US, South Africa, Canada, and Australia. Lately, the concept has been taken up by the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE).     

The Revolutionary Luther: A Gramscian Analysis of Luther's Universal Priesthood

Abstract :  The purpose of this article is to present an image of Martin Luther viewed through the lens of Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci. The primary focus of the article will be on Luther's articulation of the universal priesthood as it was presented in the 1520 treatise "To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation." We will discover that in this treatise Luther's attack on papal authority was, in Gramscian terms, a counter-hegemonic revolutionary act.     

The Questions We Left Behind: Reflections from a Teaching Theologian

Abstract : While the ordination of women made great strides in ending gender injustice for women in church‐related vocations, women also have raised other questions, specifically: the appropriate role of experience in theological discourse and moral deliberation; the displacement of advocacy by representation; and the tension between the personal and the political. Fore‐mothers leave behind these issues for their after‐daughters, as they meet challenges their fore‐mothers in the faith could hardly imagine.     

Predictors of opposition to and support for the ordination of women: insights from the LDS Church

Female ordination is an important component of gender equality in Christian religious communities. While prior research has examined societal, institutional, and organisational factors that predict changes in ordination policies in Christian denominations, there is very little research examining individuals’ attitudes regarding the ordination of women. In this research, we use data from two surveys of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) to examine the factors that predict attitudes towards the ordination of women using two polity-specific measures of support or opposition. Results indicate greater support for the ordination of women when framed in a way that takes into account LDS church governance. While several demographic variables predict attitudes towards ordination, the strongest correlate is perceptions of inequality.     

Moral injury and the priesthood of all believers1

This article proceeds from the conviction that moral injury suffered by many combat veterans is a deeply spiritual matter requiring spiritual resources for healing. The tradition of the care of souls commends itself. It takes into account that the “soul” is an expression of the whole person in all its physical, spiritual, and social realities. Moral injury affects all those dimensions of personhood or soul. Since the Reformation the care of souls has been a vocation for the ministry of the whole people of God under the theology of the priesthood of all believers. A caring community is essential to healing for many dealing with moral injury. Indeed, the veterans themselves, in sharing their stories and their pain, become part of that ministry of the priesthood of all believers and may well find healing in the meaningfulness of their mutual ministry.     

A brilliant jewel: sex,celibacy, and the Roman Catholic Church

As clerical sexual abuse scandals hit the news and the crisis of vocations worsens each year, debate about the merits of mandatory clerical celibacy continues to grow. The fact remains, however, that supposedly celibate priests have been sexually active in significant numbers throughout history and that their sexual activity has barely affected the power of the Church. In this article, I focus on the ‘everyday’ nature of sexual ‘incontinence’ among a group of Northeast Brazilian priests and analyse the relative systematicity with which vow-breaking is accommodated. Such systematicity, I suggest, reveals an ongoing stable-instability at the heart of the Church as an institution; a dynamic which, if better understood, can help to explain the most characteristic (but often overlooked) feature of institutions more generally: their impressive longevity.     

The Church's Vocation in Society through the Ministry of the Laity in the Languages of Their Daily Lives

Abstract : The vocation of the priesthood of all believers is rooted in the forgiveness of sins. We are freed for ministry. Grounded biblically and by the creeds, when we begin by using the images and vocabulary of daily life we can meet people where they are in their particular human problems, responding with the good news people can then really hear, empowering them for diverse ministries in a world in need.