Led by the Spirit and the Church: Finland's Licensed Lutheran Lay Preachers, c.1870–1923

2021 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 277-299
Author(s):  
Matleena Sopanen

This article examines the interplay between religious agency and institutional control. The Church Law of 1869 gave members of the Lutheran Church of Finland the right to apply to chapters for permission to preach. Men who passed the examinations became licensed lay preachers, who could take part in teaching Christianity and give sermons in church buildings. Applicants had varying backgrounds, skills and motivations. In order to avoid any disruption in church life, they had to be screened carefully and kept under clerical supervision. However, licensed lay preachers could also be of great help to the church. In a rapidly changing modern society with a growing population and a recurring lack of pastors, the church could not afford to disregard lay aid. The article shows how the Lutheran Church both encouraged and constrained the agency of the licensed lay preachers.

2015 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-63
Author(s):  
Bent Christensen

Kirke og menighed i Grundtvigs teologi og kirkepolitik 1806-61[Church and Congregation in Grundtvig’s Theology and Church Politics 1806-61]By Bent ChristensenFrom his 1806 work “Om Religion og Liturgie” (On Religion and Liturgy) and forthe rest of his life, N. F. S. Grundtvig was preoccupied with the substance andthe conditions of the church. In this paper, however, the latest text consideredis the final chapter of his book Den christelige Børnelærdom (Christian Childhood Teachings) (1861).The paper presents and analyses a number of statements showing whatGrundtvig understood by the terms “church” and “congregation” through threemain periods: 1. 1806-25 when Grundtvig by criticizing tried to clear the StateChurch of the Danish absolute monarchy of the current heterodox teachings andpractices. - 2. 1825-32 when Grundtvig had to admit that the battle was lost and that he himself was close to ending up as a separatist - 3. The years after 1832 when Grundtvig developed a freedom strategy based on the right of eachparishioner to choose another vicar or minister than the official incumbent ofthe parish (the so-called “sognebåndsløsning”).“On Religion and Liturgy” (written 1806 and printed 1807) was conceivedunder the State Church of the Danish absolute monarchy, a situation in whichit was not feasible to distinguish between the state and the church, nor betweenpeople and congregation. Grundtvig in his harsh criticism of contemporary clergy, however, was moving in the specific Christian dimension. He strove to change the state of things by criticizing them. In a poem dated 1811 he described in a strongly pentecostal and Apostolic perspective how he experienced his recent ordination and his future clerical calling.In his treatise “Om Kirke, Stat og Skole” (On Church, State and School)(1818-19), Grundtvig endeavoured to define the word and the conception of“church” and to examine the relationship between the church and the state. Heused the word “church” in a very broad sense, whereas he defined the Christian“kirkesamfund” (i.e. the community of Christians within the church) quiteprecisely.In his great poem Nyaars-Morgen (New Year’s Morn) (1824), Grundtvigfor the last time expressed his daring dream of a joint Christian and popular revival in Denmark, and in 1825 in the pamphlet Kirkens Gienmæle (The Church’s Retort) he used his “mageløse opdagelse” (i.e. his “matchless discovery”, as he termed it, that the confession of the Apostles’ Creed at the baptism is the only true basis for the authentic Church) for an attack on a heterodox professor of divinity. Grundtvig’s experiment to enforce true Christianity in this way was a failure. He lost the ensuing libel action brought against him by his victim, thus automatically, according to the Freedom of the Press Act of 1799, incurring life-long censorship.“Skal den Lutherske Reformation virkelig fortsættes?” (Should the LutheranReformation Really Continue?) (1830-31) represents Grundtvig’s last attemptto preserve the state church as a Christian community. From the autumn of 1831 until February 1832 he and his revivalist friends approached a separatist solution. However, the outcome was that on 1 March 1832 Grundtvig was granted permission to officiate in a Copenhagen church as a free preacher.From then on Grundtvig took on a radical freedom strategy. The state churchwas to be preserved as an institution embracing heterodox as well as orthodoxbelievers. This would be possible if the parish-defined obligations were abolished(the possibility of “sognebåndsløsning”) so that those Christians who did not feelconfident with the incumbent of their parish might choose to avail themselvesof the services of another vicar. This model was presented in two papers: OmDaabs-Pagten (On the Baptismal Covenant) (1832) and Den Danske Stats-Kirke upartisk betragtet (An Impartial View of the Danish State Church) (1834).Grundtvig could now, at one and the same time, be an orthodox Christianamong his co-orthodox supporters and engage in realizing the cultural programme presented in the comprehensive Introduction to his Nordens Mythologi (Norse Mythology) (1832). From around 1835 he was seized by strong optimism.In 1861 the final part of Den christelige Børnelærdom was published, subtitled“The Eternal Word of Life from the very Mouth of our Lord to his Congregation”.In it, Grundtvig took as a supposition the most radical version of a freechurch, i.e. one with a congregation of perhaps only a few thousand members.Above all, however, this was meant to legitimate that Grundtvig and his friendsremained in what was now, pursuant to the new Danish democratic constitutionfrom 1849, labeled the Danish People’s Church. With the possibility of secessionfrom the People’s Church, and after the passing in 1855 of the law legalizing“sognebåndsløsning”, there actually might be several good reasons to stay.Grundtvig now viewed the People’s Church as a state institution withroom for anything which could in any way be defined as Christianity, and indeedfor the true congregation of orthodox believers. Things never went so far,however. The 1849 Constitution states that the Evangelical-Lutheran Church is the Danish People’s Church. In practice, however—and to a high degree thanks to Grundtvig—there is a great liberality in the People’s Church, and those who desire so may break their ties to their parish and attach themselves to a minister they trust or even form their own elective congregation within the People’s Church. 


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 455
Author(s):  
Efidoren L Nainggolan ◽  
Muhammad Syahrizal ◽  
Saidi Ramadan Siregar

Canonical law is an internal church law governing the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion. How the laws of the church are governed, interpreted and sometimes examined differ fundamentally between the three church bodies. in all three traditions, a canon was originally a rule accepted by an assembly, these canons formed the basis for canon law. Raita algorithm is part of the exact string matching algorithm, which is matching the string exactly with the arrangement of characters in the matched string that has the same number or sequence of characters in the string. Matching strings on the raita algorithm is done through a shift from the right of the character then to the left of the character and to the middle of the character. The problem in this research is the content of canon law in general consists of a very large number of pages of books, this makes it difficult for canonical law users to find the contents needed, then in the search it takes time to find the contents of canonical law that are searched for too many search problems. that is, too much time must be needed to find the contents of the canonical law sought


Author(s):  
Katarina Mitrovic

The St George Abbey was founded on an island near Perast by the Benedictine Monastic Order by the beginning of the 11th century. From the mid-13th century, the community of Kotor had the right of patronage over the abbey, which allowed the patriciate of Kotor to elect abbots as well as have a say in numerous monastery affairs, including propriety rights. Therefore, on November the 2nd 1530, Minor Council of Kotor named Pompejus de Pasqualibus, a nobleman from Kotor, the abbot of the St George Abbey. After the official consent from Rome and Venice, father Pompejus took over the abbey. Soon after, a gruesome crime took place on the island, a crime unseen in the history of the Kotor church. On the Feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross, May 3rd 1535, a group of Perast locals, armed with sticks and daggers, broke into the abbey and killed abbot Pasqualibus at the altar as he was saying Pater Noster. Nikola Krosic, the chaplain of the St George Abbey, and a few others tried to stop the murderers, but to no avail. The killers went on to humiliate the body of the deceased by throwing it out of the church and dumping it into a nearby pit, which added to the resentment, especially among the patriciates of Kotor. Three days later, on the Feast of the Ascension, the bishop of Kotor, Luka Bizanti, publicly excommunicated the killers and their men in the cathedral, while Pope Paul III forbade all service at the church where the crime had been committed. The interdict wasn?t recalled until 1546. In the decree of excommunication, Bishop Luka Bizanti emphasized the fact that father Pompejus hadn?t said or done anything to provoke the killers. What are the reasons of such an outpour of mass anger among dozens of Perast locals? Around that time, for several decades, Perast, a village founded on St George?s fief, started to improve its economy as a result of the expansion of ship-building and trading. More and more inhabitants of Perast started to sail and take part in the trade, especially on the rye and salt market. They had the support of the Venetian authorities, which caused envy among the inhabitants of Kotor, who considered Perast a part of their district. The tendency to achieve a full emancipation from the community of Kotor included church interests as well. After a gradual weakening of church life on the island, the St George church took on the role of a parish church under the patronage of Kotor. Perast locals were evidently dissatisfied with the idea of their parish priest being a noble Pasqualibus of Kotor, whose descent and position were representative of everything they despised and fought against. The motive of the murder was a trivial one - father Pompejus refused to hold service at the St Church on the Feast of the Holy Cross, which deeply insulted the people of Perast. The exceedingly long process of turning the Benedictine abbey into a parish church and a sepulchral chapel of Perast reached its peak on November the 17th1634 with the edict of the Venetian Senate taking the right of patronage away from the community of Kotor. From then on, ius patronatus belonged to the Venetian Senate, while the choice of the abbot, the parish priest of Perast in fact, was left to the locals.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Nunuk Rinukti

A woman is more often become second-class citizens in terms of leadership. Although age has become the time of emancipation, however, in some sectors of life, a women have not got the right place and in accordance with nature. This also happens in church life. Many of the rules and procedures that the church does not provide flexibility for women to lead. There are many reasons, such as reasons for prohibiting the biblical text, up to a certain cultural reasons, including certain church culture that has not provided the opportunity for women to lead. Therefore, in this Tulsan authors highlight the role of women in the New Testament for the development of women's leadership in the church. Abstrak Perempuan atau wanita lebih sering menjadi warga kelas dua dalam hal kepemimpinan. Walaupun zaman ini telah menjadi zaman emansipasi, namun demikian di beberapa sector kehidupan, perempuan atau wanita belum mendapat tempat yang pas dan sesuai dengan kodratnya. Hal ini juga terjadi di dalam kehidupan bergereja. Banyak peraturan dan tata gereja yang tidak memberikan keleluasan bagi perempuan untuk memimpin. Ada banyak alas an, seperti alas an teks Alkitab yang melarang, sampai alas an budaya tertentu, termasuk budaya gereja tertentu yang belum memberikan kesempatan kepada perempuan untuk memimpin. Oleh karena itu, dalam Tulsan ini penulis menyoroti peranan perempuan dalam Perjanjian Baru demi perkembangan kepemimpinan perempuan di dalam gereja.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimmo Ketola ◽  
Eila Helander

AbstractThe effect of legislative changes on same-sex unions on people’s attitudes toward homosexuality is a fairly well-researched topic. There is less research on how state legislation on same-sex unions has affected churches’ attitudes and policies on registered partnership and same-sex marriage. In this paper we focus on attitudinal polarisation in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (ELCF) in the matter of same-sex marriage and why there is a gap in the attitudinal development of the church and the society. The analysis is based upon six sets of representative surveys among the Finnish population, the employees of the ELCF and the elected officials of the ELCF between the years 2012–2017. Whereas the majorities (55%) among the Finnish population and among the ELCF members (54%) are already favourable to the idea that same-sex couples should have the right to marry in the church, the ELCF has not approved of it. This situation has polarised the ELCF from within. Empirical analysis shows that the reason for the discrepancy between popular opinion and the ELCF stance stems from the fact that ELCF decision makers are older and more religious than the general membership. However, the data also shows that even among the most religious, younger age groups are already more favourable towards the same-sex marriage. Therefore, it is likely that the polarisation will lessen over time as more and more religious people accept same-sex marriage.


2006 ◽  
Vol 49 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 31-66
Author(s):  
Witold Jemielity

In the Catholic Church it is a religious dogma that Jesus Christ established Holy Sacraments, therefore they are constant. Whereas, practising of these sacraments by the congregation is defined by the Church common law and regional Church law, moreover, there are local and country habits added. Regulations of both kinds of law, common and regional, have changed within the centuries, what influenced the time, place and way of practising sacraments. The author showed these changes as regards the time of the child’s baptism after his birth, Confirmation and frequency of confession. In the nineteenth century the child had to be baptized until he was three days old, later it was eight days after his birth and in the midway period parents brought their children to be baptized in the period of two weeks. After the IIWW this period was much longer and reached even several months. For many centuries Confirmation seemed to be forgotten. The Bishop’s vicarious visited their Parishes and, despite being priests, they did not have the right to practise this sacrament. Considerable change as regards confirmation was introduced in the twentieth century. Sacraments of penance were associated especially with the Easter time. Numerous representants of the congregation confessed and received the Holy Communion once a year. More frequent confession and repeated receiving of the Holy Communion have become more and more popular in the several past decades.


Author(s):  
I. Tsyperdiuk

<div><p><em>The milestones of the activity of the Ukrainian editorial office of Vatican Radio during its 80-year history are considered in the article. The reasons for the creation of the Ukrainian editorial office, the peculiarities of its work under the pressure of Soviet propaganda during the Cold War are analyzed. It was found that the broadcast of the Ukrainian editorial office of Vatican Radio was intended to help the faithful preserve unity with the church in the conditions of the destruction of the UGCC and the total onset of militant atheism. It was demonstrated that the work of the Ukrainian editorial office of Vatican radio was still aimed at defending the truth, although it was much easier to conduct evangelization in the conditions of confrontation between the USSR and the West. Rapid information and communication development of society has allowed everyone to speak publicly. At the same time, it made it possible to manipulate public opinion and to disseminate disinformation instantly and in the end contributed to the emergence of a post-truth phenomenon that not only replaced traditional propaganda but also made it part of it. The appeal to the foundations of the Christian being in a changing world distinguishes programs of the Ukrainian editorial office from materials of other broadcasters, the main focus of which is on socio-political events.</em> <em>The reform of the information system implemented by the Vatican has shown that there has been a shift from preaching in the conditions of aggressive propaganda during the confrontation between the two systems to counteracting post-truth, which destroys the objective perception of the world. It is shown that the main task of the editorial office is to unite Ukrainians around Christian values, to preserve and promote the key principles of human existence in the conditions of spreading populism, disinformation, secularization, and relativism of modern society. In its programs, the Ukrainian editorial office of Vatican Radio encourages the audience to cultivate faith, to rely on Christian values and beliefs, emphasizing its unchanging purpose of serving God, people, and the church.</em></p></div><p><strong><em>Key words: </em></strong><em>the Ukrainian editorial office of Vatican Radio, Vatican News, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, post-truth, Christian values.</em></p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 268-279
Author(s):  
Abbot Vitaly Utkin

With reference to Yu. F. Samarin’s thesis on “Formalism” of the Church Life in the Pre-Petrine Period, the article examines the issue of the role of fasts, eating patterns and daily routine in general among most radical groups of Old Believers. The author of the article draws the conclusion that such conceptions were rooted in the Pre-Nikon Russian religious (monkish) traditions. The author pays special attention to the social and political aspect of the connection between food and payer for the Tsar in the context of the “spiritual Antichrist” teaching.


2019 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 235-246
Author(s):  
Alexey L. Beglov

The article examines the contribution of the representatives of the Samarin family to the development of the Parish issue in the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The issue of expanding the rights of the laity in the sphere of parish self-government was one of the most debated problems of Church life in that period. The public discussion was initiated by D.F. Samarin (1827-1901). He formulated the “social concept” of the parish and parish reform, based on Slavophile views on society and the Church. In the beginning of the twentieth century his eldest son F.D. Samarin who was a member of the Special Council on the development the Orthodox parish project in 1907, and as such developed the Slavophile concept of the parish. In 1915, A.D. Samarin, who took up the position of the Chief Procurator of the Most Holy Synod, tried to make his contribution to the cause of the parish reforms, but he failed to do so due to his resignation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Gallego García ◽  
Rayco Rodríguez Reyes ◽  
Manuel García García

Abstract Designing, changing and adapting organizations to secure viability is challenging for companies. Researchers often fail to holistically design or transform organizations. Thus, the aim of this study is to propose a holistic approach how organizations can be designed, changed or managed considering also its implications to production management following lean management principles. Hereby the Viable System Model was applied. This structure can be applied to any kind of structured organization and for its management with goals to be achieved in modern society; however focus of the research is the cluster of manufacturing and assembly companies. Goal of the developed organizational model is to be able to react to all potential company environments by taking decisions regarding organization and production management functions correctly and in the right moment based on the needed information. To ensure this, standardized communication channels were defined. In conclusion this proposed approach enables companies to have internal mechanisms to secure viability and also in production to reduce necessary stocks, lead times, manpower allocation and leads to an increase of the service level to the final customer.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document