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Self-Reform and Swedish Christianity 247 Self-Reform and Swedish Christianity Erik Sidenvall More than in many other European nations the concept of religious homogeneity had become a tangible reality in Sweden.1 In 1780, at a time when a limited religious liberty had manifested itself in many regions, church and nationhood were still intertwined at every level, from the national Diet to the rural household. In such a context the issue of the ‘self-reform’ of the church poses particular problems. When the church was made visible at every level of society, and comprised virtually every individual, what could be the meaning of self-reform? Or, perhaps better, what was not self-reform? What actions, that had a bearing on the Christian life of the nation, could not be considered as measures bent on making the church better suited to its divine calling? Such a line of reasoning rests on what I would like to call a maximalist definition of self-reform; selfreform could then be undertaken, in the end, by every baptised man or woman (it can indeed be argued that the extension of arenas where lay influence could be felt was one of the central features when we consider self-reform during this period). The problems inherent in such an approach are obvious, but it also has certain indisputable merits. It draws our attention to groups of agents that might otherwise have been left below the scholarly horizon. Furthermore, by using the maximalist definition we may avoid a certain a-historical teleology when looking at church reform - in other words, we need to include measures undertaken by groups of people that in the long-run led to the formation of schismatic bodies in our concept of self-reform. It is those very mistakes that are so easily made when instead we attempt to define self-reform in a minimalist way. In the standard version this approach targets the clergy (or even certain leading Romantikens och liberalismens tid; Lenhammar, Individualismens och upplysningens tid. 1 This chapter is built on the recent multi-volume history of Swedish Christianity, see Bexell, Folkväckelsens och kyrkoförnyelsens tid; Jarlert, Erik Sidenvall 248 clerics, i.e. the episcopacy) as the principal originators of change; sometimes they are accompanied by a choice selection of top laymen. Such a definition is easily put into operation within a scholarly study, but the objection that it imposes too rigid restrictions on our present subject carries much weight. I will here operate with a concept of self-reform that approaches the maximalist definition. In this chapter I will paint the contours of an extensive reform process that virtually transformed church life in Sweden between 1780 and 1920. Four interlocking aspects of reform have here been singled out for scrutiny: the reform of the laity, the reform of church life, the reform of church workers and the reform of church theology . Under these headings the most important facets of self-reform in Sweden can be captured. A diverse group of people can be found as the originators of this process; to be sure we find several members of the clergy and other elite groups, but we will also find many a humble male or female Christian enthusiast. It remains one of the paradoxes of Swedish church history that, even though I argue that we can speak of extensive self-reform during the 140 years here under consideration, we must be aware of the fact that, seen from another perspective, reform was only in its infancy. Save a few periods around the year 1810 and 1860 the legal framework within which the church operated underwent very few changes. Indeed, change of church life as initiated from above remained limited in scope. Since most of these alterations have been dealt with in Volume I of the present series, and since my own maximalist definition of self-reform implies a ‘from below’ perspective, I will mostly leave these shifts aside. Reform of the Laity The cornerstone of ecclesiastical self-reform during the long nineteenth century was the new ideal of the layman that had begun to appear in the late 1700s. Whereas the laity in Lutheran orthodox teaching were assigned a series of essential roles within the church, their position was still circumscribed; in the affairs of the church the clergy were generally held to be the ones responsible for managing the affairs of the church. The relatively passive role of the laity under the ancien régime was now gradually...

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