From the middle of the 19th century onwards the number of protestant missionaries in China increased tremendously. The evangelical revival movement played an important role in this development with pioneers like J. Hudson Taylor and his China Inland Mission (CIM) on the frontlines. The Swedish Holiness Union (SHU) decided to join CIM in the northern parts of China were the union established its missionary field in 1890. This essay aims to explore changes in how other religious practices, groups and subjects are constructed within SHU missionary letters from China published 1891-1950. The source material consists of missionary letters published in the Unions own periodical Trons Segrar 1891, 1928 and 1950. By basing the analysis on Laclau’s and Mouffe’s discourse theory the study will explore how different discursive formations change, affirm or undermine each other and how different religious practices, groups and subjects are constructed and characterized within a discursive framework.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between evangelicalism and modernity with the Swedish holiness preacher Emil Gustafson (1862–1900) as a case. This is achieved by comparing Gustafson’s spirituality with Charles Taylor’s characterization of modernity. The investigation identifies five central themes in Gustafson’s spirituality: conversion, calling, suffering, sanctification, and spiritual experience. With regard to these themes paral-lels with modernity are noted. For example, the analysis shows that modern individualism influenced Gustafson’s view of conversion, and that instrumental rationality informed his evaluations of his own work as a preacher. But there are also instances where he distanced himself from modernity. He did not embrace a modern optimistic anthropology, or the view of suffering as purely negative. It is concluded that Gustafson is neither anti-modern, nor identical to Taylor’s depiction of modernity. He represents one kind of modernity. One that is theocentric rather than anthropo-centric. In order to uphold this theocentric character Gustafson’s opposition to the basic struc-ture of modernity had to be grounded in social practices. For instance, his negative anthropol-ogy was grounded in the revival-meeting where outsiders were called to repent and rely on God rather than themselves. Based on the results from this study it is suggested that evangelicalism should be inter-preted as neither in conflict with modernity, nor in continuity with it, but rather as a kind of modernity. There are multiple modernities, and evangelicalism is one of them.

The Maiden Association in Asker was founded in 1865 20 kilometers southwest of Örebro in the county of Närke. A group of unmarried women closely connected to the Asker Baptist congregation met for prayer, bible reading and conversations with early democratic overtones. They gathered in a time of change in a variety of areas, both social as well as church-related. The surviving material from these women – in the form of protocols, membership registers, etc. – provides an insight into their reflexive process. The local Maiden Association in Asker becomes a window, a vantage point into something that would otherwise be hard to access: in other words, the situation and thinking of "ordinary" women. The overall aim of this study has been to contribute to the understanding of how continuity and changes during the latter part of the 19th century, mainly in the realm of church history, could influence the thinking and life ideals of nonconformist Christian women. Based on my meeting with the source material, two central questions have been formulated: 1. How did the Maiden Association in Asker, during the time period 1865–1903 and in its context, formulate and shape the identities as Christian, woman and young? 2. Why were they formulated and shaped in this way? The method selected may be described as church historical and hermeneutic, with an inductive approach. The source material is derived from two distinct periods in the life of the association, 1865–1880 and 1888–1903, which has given the opportunity to identify changes over time. Two theoretical perspectives have been established – one based on identity and one based on intersectionality. The investigation shows the clear influence of the holiness movements at the local level in the shape of the Holiness Union and the Örebro Mission Association. But the study also shows that the lives and thinking of women were not only characterized by change, but also by continuity. The church historical changes that the nonconformist religious women in Asker took part in were not a clean-cut break with previous lutheran traditions and conventions. / Jungfruföreningen i Asker startade 1865 två mil sydväst om Örebro i Närke. En grupp ogifta kvinnor i nära relation till Askers baptistförsamling möttes för bön, bibelläsning och samtal med tidigdemokratiska förtecken. De hade en egen vald styrelse bestående av uteslutande kvinnor. I föreningen gällde allas rätt att rösta och göra sin röst hörd i samtalen långt innan kvinnlig rösträtt genomfördes i Sverige. I sammankomsterna formulerade de själva frågor, vilka de resonerade kring och sedan nedtecknade de sina slutsatser i samtalsprotokoll. Den lokala Jungfruföreningen i Asker blir ett fönster, ett titthål in i historien. Föreningens kvarlämnade spår i form av protokoll m.m. ger en möjlighet att se in i en svunnen tid och in i en grupp frikyrkligt präglade kvinnors tänkande och livsideal. Dessa ”vanliga” unga kristna kvinnor, de flesta och för de flesta okända, konstruerade sina identiteter som kristen, kvinna och ung i en tid av samhälleliga och inte minst kyrkohistoriska förändringar. Studiens frågeställningar fokuserar på hur dessa identiteter formulerades och gestaltades och varför det skedde på detta sätt, under perioden 1865–1903.

In 19th century Sweden women preached in the popular revival movements as they did in the other Nordic countries, in Great Britain and the United States. One of the most famous preachers in Sweden was Nelly Hall (1848–1916). Internal and external evidence of her public life is the main focus of the study, and in this way it seeks to uncover the origin of her inspiration and to specify her connection to the spiritual movements of the time, at the same time that it analyses the reception and the debate of women as preachers in the period when she was active. Nelly Hall studied at the Royal School for Women’s Higher Teacher Education and worked as a teacher for ten years before she decided to enter into the ministry of preaching. She was influenced by the Anglo-American Holiness movement and had close contacts with the Salvation Army in London. From 1883 she travelled in the southern parts of Sweden. Thousands of people listened to her and as part of her ministry she practised faith healing. She went on preaching tours to Finland, Norway, Germany and the United States. When the Swedish Holiness Mission started as a small mission society in 1887 it was to some extent a result of the preaching work carried out by Nelly Hall. She was elected a member of the first board and worked as a mission secretary for ten years. Around 1900 there was a shift in her theological thinking and she became more absorbed by apocalyptic ideas. In 1901 she went for the second time to the United States and lived there until 1916 when she died in Brockton, Massachusetts. Little is known about the last fifteenth years of her life. The ministry of Nelly Hall and other women raised considerable public interest and in the Swedish context her time of ministry coincided with the emerging movement for the emancipation of women. Many were against women preaching in public and the discussions often occurred in the press. Parts of these discussions as well as several pamphlets in favour of women’s preaching are analysed in this study. / <p>Contains a summary in English</p>