• 2017-2021close
• Open Access close
• Publications close
• Research software close
• Other research products close
• SE close
• Danish close
• Publikationer från Umeå universitet close

This article analyzes the use of metaphysics to speak of God within theology. More specifically, the charge of ontotheology levelled against Thomas Aquinas, in particular by Jean-Luc Marion and John Caputo, are being analyzed and criticized, not only with the help of thinkers like John Knasas and W. Norris Clarke, but also Marion himself. Because this article also examines the change of heart that Marion had about Aquinas's metaphysics during the 1990s, his position now being that Aquinas was not a producer of ontotheology. However, the article also asks a specific question of whether there can be a metaphysics that safeguards an objective standard for our knowledge and assertions, but that does not reduce the divine mystery to the categories of human reason, something that ontotheology allegedly does. With this question in mind, I examine Erich Przywara's version of the doctrine of the analogy of being, that he derived from Aquinas, and which he developed, at least in part, to answer Karl Barth's criticism against this doctrine. I look specifically at his idea of essence in-and-beyond existence, which describes a dynamic in our ontological constitution that Przywara sees as fundamental for all contingent existence. Other parts of his doctrine that are mentioned are the difference between "philosophical metaphysics" and "theological metaphysics" and the idea of the principle of non-contradiction as "negative reductive formality". My conclusion is that although Przywara's doctrine avoids the charge of ontotheology, it does not suffice as a metaphysic that offers an objective standard.

Extractive violence on Indigenous peoples’ lands is not only a violation against nature but also a violation against Indigenous peoples who experience close connection to land. This paper explores how Australian Aboriginal people and reindeer herding Sámi in Sweden connect with their lands and how these connections are threatened by extractivism. Extractive activities cause destruction of reindeer grazing lands and interrupts reindeer migratory patterns. The reindeer is the backbone of Sámi history, culture and society and is the foundation for language and traditional Sámi livelihoods. Reindeer herding Sámi communities in Sweden depend on the reindeer to exercise their rights to land, as the rights are connected to reindeer grazing. In Australia, where Indigenous peoples can be awarded certain land rights through Native Title, they are nonetheless still fighting to become recognized in the Australian constitution. Many Indigenous Australians also desperately work to save sacred sites from destruction due to extractivism. This creates complex dynamics between connection to land, rights and extractivism on Indigenous lands. Denna artikel är en omarbetad version av en presentation som hölls av författarna vid konferensen La Responsabilité de Protéger. Écologie et Dignité (The responsibility to protect. Ecology and dignity) vid Université Laval i Quebec i början av oktober 2017. Kristina Sehlin MacNeil och Niila Inga lärde känna varandra som forskare och forskningsdeltagare under Kristinas avhandlingsarbete, vilket avslutades i februari 2017. De har sedan dess inbjudits att tala tillsammans vid en rad olika konferenser. Detta är deras första gemensamma publikation, samt den första artikeln på svenska som behandlar Sehlin MacNeils resultat från hennes avhandling Extractive Violence on Indigeneous Country (2017), där hon med utgång i begreppet ”Extraktivt våld” diskuterar om urfolks perspektiv på marken och på kopplingen mellan människa och mark.

Biographical item

The aim of this article is to discuss contemporary perspectives on preaching and worship in the Church of Sweden. The starting point of the analysis is venia concionandi (permission to preach) and the way the organization of lay preaching changed in connection with the relational change between church and state in 2000. The article continues with a discussion about a changed understanding of the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers and its possible implications for the way we perceive preaching and worship. The discussion relates to research by Swedish theologians Henry Cöster and Ragnar Persenius, together with Timothy J. Wengert who provides perspectives from international Luther research. The general ecclesiological pattern that the article brings to the fore indicates that the understanding of the church as a community in the Word has lost ground. The position of preaching in the contemporary Swedish folk church can thus be seen as weakened. This raises the question of what long-term consequences this will have with regard to the Lutheran tradition’s understanding of the preaching of the gospel as constitutive for the church.