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The article begins with a description of how ecclesiological research within Practical Theology (PT) has changed over time. By a critical analysis of the ecclesiologies "the new view of the Church" (den nya kyrkosynen), and "the service-centric view of the Folk Church" (den tjänsteinriktade folkkyrkosynen), the use of empirics and theory in church research and its impact on church practices is problematized. While “the empirical turn” in the 1960’s became associated with PT, the empirical turn in Sweden instead developed within the social sciences of religion. One underlying possible factor for this development was a predominant scientific view that emphasized the difference between descriptive and normative science. Theology was criticized for resting on metaphysical assumptions and theologians reacted by making a clear distinction between what they saw as "scientific" and "Church" theology. Hence, theory and practice came to be separated. On the basis of the two ecclesiologies both a “top-down perspective” without empirical approach in Church research, and a typical “bottom-up perspective” without a theologically normative approach are problematized. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of intradisciplinary research for dynamic interaction between empirical analysis and theological interpretation, and interaction between induction and deduction that allows continuous interplay between theory and empiricism. This enables a critical attitude to be maintained both to the Church practice that is empirically analyzed, and to the ecclesiological theories by which analysis and interpretation are made.

In this study, 110 Swedish upper secondary students use a historical database designed for research. We analyze how they perceive the use of this digital tool in teaching and if they are able to use historical thinking and historical empathy in their historical writing and presentations. Using case-study methodology including questionnaires, observations, interviews and text analysis we find this to be a complex task for students. Our results highlight technological problems and problems in contextualizing historical evidence. However, students show interest in using primary sources and ability to use historical thinking and historical empathy, especially older students in more advanced courses when they have time to reflect upon the historical material. Media Places

The aim of this article is to analyze the ecclesiology implicit in the documents Teologiska grundprinciper för arbetet i 2006 års kyrkohandboksgrupp [Basic Theological Principles for the work in the Church manual group of 2006] and Mässans grundordning [Basic order of the Mass]. These documents, composed on behalf of the Church of Sweden’s Church board, are intended as the basis for a new church service manual in 2015. By means of ecclesiological theories drawn from Avery Dulles and Alexander Schmemann, I analyze the documents in the light of the Swedish Folk Church tradition. A shift over time in this tradition is described, from the understanding of the Church as "Church for the people", to the Church as "the people's Church". My underlying hypothesis is that this shift has generated a dualism where two different aspects of the church have drifted apart, namely, with Dulles´ terminology, the Church as “a mystical communion of grace” and the Church as “a network of friendly interpersonal relationships”. In this process, the latter has come to dominate. This pattern is revealed in Basic order of the Mass, in which frame and content tend to be separated. The dualism also stands out in the Basic Theological Principles in terms of the identity and role of the Church. Finally, I offer a discussion of this dualism inspired by Schmemann’s account of the Church and secularism, and I remark on the lack of understanding of the Church as “body of Christ” in later Lutheran perceptions of sacrament.

Introduktion: Estetik och pedagogik

In the meeting between women from office- and library work and the computer technology and organizational changes, different actions were found. The purpose of the thesis is to analyse this meeting to consider the situation of the employed when computer technology and new organization are implemented, to discuss the importance of prior social and working life with regard to the understanding of the meeting and to address the working conditions in the 1980s with special attention to women. The starting point for the analysis of the meeting is an empirical study. The study uses qualitative data from interviews with 30 women. 24 women expresses criticism, 6 expresses consent, with the renewals. The analysis has three levels. At the first level the contents of the interviews are described. At the second level, from a theory of action, criticism and consent are considered for both foundations and forms of action. At the third level these forms of action are discussed in relation to a list of historical conditions for the social and working life of women generally. The thesis shows, firstly, that in the criticism and the consent there are three forms of action. These are the department-based form of action, the solidarity form and the individual form. Secondly, that in light of the socio-historical structures it becomes possible to see the three forms of action as three types of interest for development of work and organization. Thus behind both criticism and consent there is an interest in development and change. In the context of the socio-historical perspectives this interest is emphasized. The thesis shows, thirdly, that both the hopes and the disappointments of womens prior working life are reproduced in the 1980s. Lastly, that the forms of action and the types of interest reflect the limited possibilities for women in the female-occupations to change their position in the working life. digitalisering@umu

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.

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.