A time to speak: A qualitative hermeneutical study of ten church leaders’ views of the relationship between interreligious dialogue and evangelism in northern Sweden
2022 (Engelska)Självständigt arbete på avancerad nivå (masterexamen), 20 poäng / 30 hp
Studentuppsats (Examensarbete)
Abstract [en]
This study aims to give an in-depth insight into how Church leaders in a rural context reflect upon encountering people of other faiths, interreligious dialogue and evangelism, and their relationship. Methodologically, the study relies on qualitative interviews with ten church leaders from the Luleå Diocese, situated in Norrbotten and Västerbotten, Northern Sweden. The interviews are analyzed through hermeneutic thematic analysis.
The missional theoretical framework of prophetic dialogue of Stephan Bevans and Roger Schroeder was implemented. This study finds that the theory challenges the congregations in the Luleå diocese to work with inculturation at every step, from presenting the gospel to becoming a Christian and a part of the church’s community. The participants in the study stressed that the motivation for interreligious dialogue is to reach social cohesion in society. This study shows that the lack of counterparts to have e dialogue with hinders the church from contributing to social cohesion. Prophetic dialogue urges the Church to go beyond the narrative thinking of who can be a counterpart and consider interreligious dilemmas like “Can we sell desacralized churches to other religious faith communities?”. Secondly, Prophetic dialogue motivates interreligious dialogue with the theological framework of seeing the Spirit of God in other religions is rejected by the evangelical movements in the Luleå diocese; therefore, another theological framework is preferable. Based on the participants' motives in this study for why the church should engage in interreligious dialogue, the theological framework could be that God creates all people and therefore have inherent human dignity, that Jesus calls Christians to love their neighbor as themselves and to establish God's kingdom where peace and justice reign.
Ort, förlag, år, upplaga, sidor
2022. , s. 89
Nyckelord [en]
Mission, evangelism, interreligious dialogue, interreligious encounters, Hermeneutic, Prophetic dialogue, Missio Dei, Church of Sweden, Swedish Evangelical Mission, religion, Luleå diocese, Christianity in Northern Sweden
Nyckelord [sv]
mission, evangelism, vittna, religionsdialog, religionsmöten, hermeneutik, profetisk dialog, Svenska kyrkan, EFS, Luleå stift, Norrbotten, Västerbotten
Nationell ämneskategori
Religionsvetenskap
Identifikatorer
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-495512OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-495512DiVA, id: diva2:1732083
Ämne / kurs
Religionsvetenskap
Utbildningsprogram
Masterprogram i religion i fred och konflikt
Handledare
Examinatorer
2023-01-302023-01-302023-01-30Bibliografiskt granskad