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Reforms and processes of change have become an increasingly pervasive characteristic of European Protestant churches in the last fifteen to twenty years. Driven by perceptions of crises, such as declining membership rates, dwindling finances, decreasing participation in church rituals, and less support of traditional church doctrine, but also changes of governance of religion more generally, many churches feel compelled to explore new forms of operations, activities, and organizational structures. What is the inner dynamic and nature of these processes? This book explores this question by applying perspectives from organizational studies and bringing them into dialogue with ecclesiological categories, seeking to provide a richer understanding of the field of processes of change in churches. Among the questions asked are: What are the implications--organizationally and ecclesiologically--of viewing reform as a church practice, and how does this relate to much more comprehensive waves of public sector reforms? How is church leadership configured and exercised, how is democratic leadership related to the authority of ordained ministry, and how does leadership take on new forms in the context of churches? And how do churches incorporate organizational practices of planned change and renewal, such as social entrepreneurship?""National Protestant Churches are challenged from below and from above, and from all sides, to adopt to the modern management standards of theirs societies. Is this what the continuing reformation of Protestant churches should look like? The analyses in these well-researched papers are critical but also aware of the dilemmas facing the churches."" --Hans Raun Iversen, Director of Center for Church Research, University of Copenhagen ""This fine collection of essays provides unique insights for an English-speaking audience, especially regarding the development in the Nordic churches in times of change. Through their theoretical grounding and comparative potential, the studies also provide valuable insights for readers in other contexts.""--Harald Hegstad, Professor of Systematic Theology, MF Norwegian School of TheologyUlla Schmidt is professor of practical theology at Aarhus University, Denmark, School of Culture and Society. She has researched and published extensively on church reform processes, in particular church-state reforms and reforms of church governance in the Nordic countries. Harald Askeland is professor of religious organization and leadership at Diakonhjemmet University College, Norway, Dept. of Diakonia and Leadership. He has researched and published on leadership and organizational issues in churches and church-related organizations.

Description:The HIV pandemic has caused serious challenges for the Church as well as for theology. The pandemic has brought enormous human suffering to individuals and has affected families and entire societies. In this context, churches need to listen and to learn, and not least to respond, to thereby mold their own actions and futures. In so doing, this book aims to enable churches to become more HIV and AIDS competent. Vulnerability, Churches, and HIV includes two kinds of contributions. First, researchers present their thoughts about theology, the church, and HIV. A pastoral letter from the bishops of the Church of Sweden provides a second perspective. The letter makes recommendations to decision-making bodies, patent holders, and decision makers in the pharmaceutical industry. The letter also guides parishes and church workers.Contributors include editor G├╢ran Gunner, Musa W. Dube, Susanne Rappmann, Kenneth R. Overberg, Edwina Ward, and the bishops of the Church of Sweden. The book is the first volume in the Church of Sweden Research Series.Endorsements:CONTRIBUTORS:Prof. Musa W. Dube, University of Botswana, Botswana;Dr. Edwina Ward, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa;Prof. Kenneth R. Overberg, Xavier University, USA;Dr. Susanne Rappman, Sweden;Archbishop Anders Wejryd, Church of Sweden, Sweden.About the Contributor(s):G├╢ran Gunner is a researcher at the Church of Sweden Research Department and an associate professor at the University of Uppsala. He is author and editor of several books in Swedish about freedom of religion and other human rights issues.

How can freedom of religion protect the dignity of every human being and safeguard the well-being of creation? This question arises when considering the competing claims among faith traditions, states, and persons. Freedom of religion or belief is a basic human right, and yet it is sometimes used to undermine other human rights. This volume seeks to unpack and wrestle with some of these challenges. In order to do so scholars were invited from different contexts in Africa and Europe to write about freedom of religion from various angles.How should faith traditions in a minority position be protected against majority claims and what is the responsibility of the religious communities in this task? When does the state risk overstepping its boundaries in the delicate balance between freedom of religion and other human rights? How can new voices, who claim their human rights in relation to gender roles, reproductive rights, and as sexual minorities, be heard within their faith traditions? These are some of the questions that are raised by the authors.This is a book for all who are engaged in faith communities, leaders as well as people trying to be recognized. It is also important reading for all interested in international legal frameworks for freedom of religion, state advisers, and human right defenders.

This volume is about ecclesiology and ethnography and what really matters in such academic work. How does material from field studies matter in a theological conversation? How does theology, in various forms, matter in analysis and interpretation of field work material? How does method matter? The authors draw on their research experiences and engage in conversations concerning reflexivity, normativity, and representation in qualitative theological work. The role and responsibility of the researcher is addressed from various perspectives in the first part of the book. In the next section the authors discuss ways in which empirical studies are able to disrupt the implicit and explicit normativity of ecclesial traditions, and also how theological traditions and perspectives can inform the interpretation of empirical data. The final part of the book focuses on the process of creating ""the stuff"" that represents the ecclesial context under study.What Really Matters is written to serve students and researchers in the field of ecclesiology and ethnography, systematic and practical theology, and especially those who work empirically or ethnographically--broadly speaking. The book might be particularly helpful to those who deal with questions of methodology in these academic disciplines. This volume offers perspectives that grow out of the Scandinavian context, yet it seeks to participate in and contribute to a scholarly conversation that goes beyond this particular location.""What Really Matters displays the importance of ethnography for the theological world. Exploring methodological challenges in sociological and theological approaches, the essays provide compelling ways to take lived faith seriously. As the book shows, by combining 'normative' and empirical research, ethnographic theology moves beyond limiting Christian theology and faith to the creedal and cognitive, enabling attention to long-ignored stories of 'practical' ecclesial community such as the 'digitization of Christian life.'""--Mary McClintock Fulkerson, Professor of Theology, Duke Divinity School""This book represents the next step in the fascinating and relatively new field of ethnographic ecclesiology, which seeks to bring theological reflection on the church out of the library and integrate it with qualitative fieldwork. . . . The book is full of engrossing and theoretically sophisticated reflections on the excitement and messiness of engagement with real church communities. I recommend it highly to anyone interested in how theology is done.""--William T. Cavanaugh, DePaul UniversityJonas Idestrom is Associate Professor of Ecclesiology at Uppsala University and researcher at the Church of Sweden Research Department. He is the editor of For the Sake of the World (2009) and co-editor of Ecclesiology in the Trenches (2015).Tone Stangeland Kaufman is Associate Professor of Practical Theology at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Oslo. She is the author of A New Old Spirituality? (2017).

The main aim of this book is to contribute to the relationship between science and religion. This book aims to do constructive theological work out of a particular cultural context. The point of departure is contemporary Swedish religion and worldviews. One focus is the process of biologization (i.e., how the worldviews of the general public in Sweden are shaped by biological science). Is there a gap between Swedes in general and the perceptions of Swedish clergy? The answer is based on sociological studies on science and religion in Sweden and the United States. Furthermore, the book contains a study of Swedish theologians, from Nathan Soderblom to the present Archbishop Antje Jackelen, and their shifting understanding of the relation between science and religion. The philosophical aspects of this relation are given special consideration. What models of the relation inform the contemporary scholarly discussion? Are science and religion in conflict, separate, or in mutual creative interaction?""Brakenhielm presents a valuable contribution to the understanding of the relationship between science and religion. Especially important is his research of how this relationship is perceived by the general public. His is among the few studies that in detail show how it is 'out there'--how science and religion interact in the minds of ordinary people. He also discloses striking differences between the contexts in Sweden and the United States, which tell us that there is more than one way to understand how science, religion and faith interact in the present."" --Jan-Olav Henriksen, Professor of Philosophy of Religion, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Oslo""This is a challenging and stimulating book which explores the relationship between science and religion. It integrates philosophical, theological, and empirical studies in a very illuminative and unique way.""--Mikael Stenmark, Professor of Philosophy of Religion, Uppsala UniversityCarl Reinhold Brakenhielm is Professor Emeritus in the study of worldviews at Uppsala University. His research concerns worldviews and values in contemporary society as well as sociological, theological, and philosophical problems related to the relationship between science and religion. He is the author of Forgiveness (1993). His latest writings in English include ""Theology and the Origins of Customized Science"" (included in The Customization of Science, 2014).

Religion has played a major role in history, affecting the course of events and influencing individuals. Today one frequently hears the expression ""the return of religion"" but opinions differ as to how this ""return"" is to be understood. It is clear that modernity and postmodernity have not meant that religion is dead or relegated to society's backyards. Religion is still of vital importance for many people. It has, to some extent, changed shape but has not lost its legitimacy and attractiveness to broad groups. Religion is public, visible, and has a sought-for voice; but it is also wrestling with extremism, ignorance, and preconceptions. Just like ideologies, religions are capable of activating diametrically opposite traits in humans. It is this dual tension that is implicit in the question mark in this book's title: Mending the World?This book's aim is to help explore whether, how, and in what ways religion, church, and theology can contribute constructively to the future of a global society. In thirty-one chapters, researchers from around the world address the relation between religion and society.

In a world where armed conflict, repression, and authoritarian rule are too frequent, human rights and peace-building present key concepts and agendas for the global and local struggle for peace and development.But are these agendas congruent? Do they support each other? Many organizations, states, and individuals have experienced how priorities of one agenda create friction with the other. For instance, are justice and reconciliation incompatible goals? If not, do they lead to counteracting initiatives? How can local and international actors develop support to societies that search a way out of violence and repression without violating universal moral standards, in an imperfect and resource-scarce situation?This study departs from the view that both human rights and peace-building are agendas with specific and unique contributions. In order to deal with overlapping claims that the two agendas sometimes formulate, in both conflict and post-conflict situations, this study suggests specific approaches in order to create synergy effects of agenda cooperation.""This is an excellent book that reaches beyond intellectual niceties that are often removed from the real-life social and economic concerns of the victims of violence and abuse in different parts of the world. It draws on five case studies (Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guatemala, Palestine, and Timor-Leste), where the lives of people are torn apart by lasting oppression, greed, slaughter, and generational defeat. It ponders realistic solutions to what are often perceived as insurmountable problems, which require nations to tackle the major dilemmas facing post-conflict societies. Goran Gunner and Kjell-Ake-Nordquist remind us that sustainable stability requires this dilemma--likely and unlikely--to be resolved.""-Charles Villa-VicencioSenior Research FellowInstitute for Justice and Reconciliation in Cape Town, South Africa""This book skillfully demonstrates that there is no lasting peace without respect of human rights. Peace and justice have to be pursued as simultaneously as possible. In fact, peace development and human rights are indivisible. The sooner the world realizes this, the safer it will be.""-Jan EliassonFormer President of the United Nations General AssemblyMinister for Foreign Affairs, SwedenGoran Gunner is Associate Professor in Mission Studies, Uppsala University, and Researcher at Church of Sweden Research Unit, Uppsala. Dr Gunner is also Senior Lecturer at Stockholm School of Theology, Stockholm, Sweden.Kjell-Ake Nordquist is Associate Professor in Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, and Visiting Professor and Head of Research Program on Human Rights and Peace-Building, Stockholm School of Theology, Stockholm, Sweden.

Reforms and processes of change have become an increasingly pervasive characteristic of European Protestant churches in the last fifteen to twenty years. Driven by perceptions of crises, such as declining membership rates, dwindling finances, decreasing participation in church rituals, and less support of traditional church doctrine, but also changes of governance of religion more generally, many churches feel compelled to explore new forms of operations, activities, and organizational structures. What is the inner dynamic and nature of these processes? This book explores this question by applying perspectives from organizational studies and bringing them into dialogue with ecclesiological categories, seeking to provide a richer understanding of the field of processes of change in churches. Among the questions asked are: What are the implications--organizationally and ecclesiologically--of viewing reform as a church practice, and how does this relate to much more comprehensive waves of public sector reforms? How is church leadership configured and exercised, how is democratic leadership related to the authority of ordained ministry, and how does leadership take on new forms in the context of churches? And how do churches incorporate organizational practices of planned change and renewal, such as social entrepreneurship?""National Protestant Churches are challenged from below and from above, and from all sides, to adopt to the modern management standards of theirs societies. Is this what the continuing reformation of Protestant churches should look like? The analyses in these well-researched papers are critical but also aware of the dilemmas facing the churches."" --Hans Raun Iversen, Director of Center for Church Research, University of Copenhagen ""This fine collection of essays provides unique insights for an English-speaking audience, especially regarding the development in the Nordic churches in times of change. Through their theoretical grounding and comparative potential, the studies also provide valuable insights for readers in other contexts.""--Harald Hegstad, Professor of Systematic Theology, MF Norwegian School of TheologyUlla Schmidt is professor of practical theology at Aarhus University, Denmark, School of Culture and Society. She has researched and published extensively on church reform processes, in particular church-state reforms and reforms of church governance in the Nordic countries. Harald Askeland is professor of religious organization and leadership at Diakonhjemmet University College, Norway, Dept. of Diakonia and Leadership. He has researched and published on leadership and organizational issues in churches and church-related organizations.

Description:The church exists for the sake of the world. The crucial ecclesiological question that this book raises is How? How does the church exist for sake of the world? One can describe the theological reflections in this book as a form of concrete ecclesiology--critical theological reflections on the way the church is manifested in social and historical contexts as a social body. By using concepts like body, queer, human rights, practices, social process, and space, the manifestations of the concrete church are critically and constructively analyzed from a theological perspective. The arguments in the articles were presented at a symposium in Sweden. The purpose of the symposium was not to reach consensus but to stimulate creative and critical discussions concerning theology, politics and the identity of the church with a focus on Church of Sweden. American theologian William T. Cavanaugh, who has made himself known as a distinct voice in the discussion of ecclesiology and politics, participated and contributes with critical and constructive reflections on the relationship between church and state. This book offers important arguments and reflections into the discussion on ecclesiology and politics that has relevance far beyond the Swedish context.Contributors: JONAS IDESTRÖM, WILLIAM T. CAVANAUGH, ARNE RASMUSSON, HENRIK WIDMARK, GÖRAN GUNNER, NINNA EDGARDH, ANTJE JACKELÉN, and OLA SIGURDSON. Endorsements:""A book like this--exploring areas of fruitful interaction between a radical discipleship ecclesiology and a onetime state church in western Europe--would have been inconceivable a generation ago. It is a testimony to the depth and power of William Cavanaugh''s scholarship that his work now engages scholars and church leaders worldwide. This is a useful book for persons interested in the vision of the church that Cavanaugh puts before us, as well as for students of contemporary European religion, politics, and culture.""--Michael L. BuddeDePaul University,_Chicago, IllinoisAbout the Contributor(s):Jonas Ideström is a doctor in ecclesiology and a minister in Church of Sweden.

Description:In a world where almost all societies are multi-religious and multi-ethnic, we need to study how social cohesion can be achieved in different contexts. In some geographical areas, as in the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent, people of different religious belonging have, through the ages, lived side by side, sometimes in harmony and sometimes in dissonance. In other geographical regions, as in Scandinavia, societies have been quite religiously homogeneous but only recently challenged by immigration. The implication in both locations is that the relation between religious minority and majority is on the agenda. In order to discuss the situation for Non-Muslims in Muslim majority societies, a consultation was convened with both Muslim and Christian participants from Pakistan, Palestine, Lebanon, and Sweden. Some of the participants work in academic settings, others in faith based organizations, some in jurisprudence and others with theological issues. This book is the result of that consultation; the articles are ""works in progress,"" and they remain tentative. The intention with this anthology is to trigger reflection and further thinking. It presents articles that discuss issues such as freedom of religion, minority rights, secular and religious legislation, and inter-religious dialogue in Muslim majority societies.Contributors include: Kajsa Ahlstrand, Göran Gunner, Mustafa Abu Sway, Johan Gärde, Yasmin Haider, Jan Hjärpe, M. Aslam Khaki, Bernard Sabella, Mehboob Sada, Guirguis Ibrahim Saleh, and Ahmad SalimThis book is the second volume in Church of Sweden Research Series.Endorsements:""In a world where religions coexist in almost every country with new problems and new challenges, this book is a genuine and authentic effort to face these challenges. Religion is expressed in a culture and influences culture. It is time to understand religions from within, as presented by the followers of those religions, to overcome prejudices and generalizations. Such a serious, comprehensive, and profound collaborative work clarifies the complexity of the questions and helps in finding solutions together. This is an indispensable book.""--Fr. Jamal Khader,Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Bethlehem University""Despite the claim of Muslims that Islam is respectful of non-Muslim faiths, this collection of essays throws more light on the real situation in many Muslim societies. Those committed to pursuing Christian-Muslim relations will find this volume a valuable resource.""--J. Paul Rajashekar,Luther D. Reed Professor of Systematic Theology and Dean of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia""This book provides a global picture, by focusing on specific cases of Christians living in societies where Muslims are in the majority. It explores what ""majority"" means theologically and politically, particularly how minority groups experience it, as one kind of inter-religious encounter today.""--Rev. Dr. Martin Lukito SinagaStudy Secretary for Theology and The ChurchDepartment for Theology and Studies in the Lutheran World FederationAbout the Contributor(s):Kajsa Ahlstrand is Professor of Mission Studies at Uppsala University.Göran Gunner is a researcher at the Church of Sweden Research Department and an associate professor at the University of Uppsala. He is the editor of several books in Swedish about freedom of religion and other human rights issues.

The field of ecclesiology is rapidly expanding as new material, theories, methods, and approaches are being explored. This raises important and challenging questions concerning ecclesiology as an academic discipline. This book takes the reader into the trenches of ecclesiological research where the actual work of reading, writing, interpreting, and analyzing is being done. The authors reflect on fundamental questions concerning theory and method in ecclesiology in relation to concrete and actual research projects. Ecclesiology is dealt with as a systematic, empirical, historical, and liturgical discipline. Essays explore theology in South Africa as shaped by apartheid, liturgical theology, the diaconate in an ecumenical context, Free Church preachership, suburban ecclesial identity, medieval church practices, liturgical texts, church floor plans, and ecclesiology as a gendered discipline.Ecclesiology in the Trenches is a book for anyone who is interested and involved in ecclesiological research. It is also an example of a reflective approach to academic work. The book can be read as an overall argument for ecclesiology as a theological discipline with great potential for studying the church as a theologically defined empirical phenomenon.""This outstanding collection of consistently high-quality essays brings the reader deep into the exciting discussions at the intersection of ecclesiology and its material, and social forms and conditions. The book convincingly displays the fruitfulness of constructive ecclesiology when it attends to these conditions. Those unfamiliar with the essential work in this area in Scandanavia will find it especially enlightening.""--Nicholas M. Healy, Ph.D., Professor, Theology and Religious Studies, St. John''s University, New York""This volume succeeds in being not just another collection of essays, but a compelling report of ecclesiology ''under construction.'' The editors skillfully gather and introduce a variety of approaches to ecclesiology, enabling the reader to see them from a complementary standpoint. Bridging divides, integrating doctrine and empirical research, truly interdisciplinary and sensitive to ethics and worship, this book is an indispensable tool for making an ecclesiology for today, and is a tribute to the clear vision of the editors.""--Professor Paul S. Fiddes, Professor of Systematic Theology, University of Oxford, Director of Research, Regent''s Park College, OxfordSune Fahlgren is Associate professor of Practical Theology at Stockholm School of Theology. He is the author of Shalom Inshallah: Encountering Jews, Christians, and Muslims (2013).Jonas Idestrom is a researcher at Church of Sweden Research Unit. He is the editor of For the Sake of the World: Swedish Ecclesiology in Dialogue with William T. Cavanaugh (2010).