There is no consensus on whether Church of Sweden should comment on political issues and participate in the political debate or not. The opponents argue that religion and politics should be kept apart, while others claim it is the duty of the church to raise its voice on political issues when it witnesses injustice and oppression. As an Evangelical Lutheran church, Martin Luther's two kingdoms doctrine is a part of the theological tradition in which Church of Sweden stands. The purpose of this essay is to analyze parts of the debate about Church of Sweden as a political actor during the 21st century, based on Luther's two kingdoms doctrine and later interpretations and comments on it. Debate articles from Swedish newspapers have been the primary source in the study of this debate, along with both historical and contemporary Lutheran documents on the two kingdoms doctrine. The outcome of this argumentation analysis shows that the arguments defending a politically active church are to be considered the strongest. A prophetic political theology can be partially supported in the 16th century interpretation of the two kingdoms doctrine. The Lutheran World Federation, in its document The Church in the Public Space, speaks even more in favour of this view of the relationship between church and politics. The Lutheran tradition of keeping an ongoing interpretation and exposition of the faith in each new era is also an important factor in assessing what can be considered a reasonable view of the Church of Sweden's role as a political actor. To legitimize its political commitment, it is crucial for the church that this always derives from and is motivated by its faith. The 16th century reformists as well as the Lutheran World Federation of today identifies the political task of the church to be to take action motivated by its faith, when the governing power pursues a policy incompatible with the word of God. Thus, it is crucial that the church can motivate its political commitment theologically. If the church does, it can justifiably act as an non-governmental organization in political debates.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-402357 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Pålsson, Veronica |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Systematisk teologi med livsåskådningsforskning |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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