Cooperation and collaboration
Cooperation
Church of Sweden
a. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Tornedalianar, Kväner, and Lantalaiset
Church History received funding to conduct research on the Church of Sweden’s historical abuses against minorities within the framework of the state Truth and Reconciliation commission for Tornedalingar, Kväner, and Lantalaiset 2022–2023. The project resulted in an article that is part of the commission's report: “Att genom Svenska kyrkan återerövra Sverige inom sina gränser – en studie av en svensk nationalism och dess kyrkliga härförare i Luleå stift” (Reconquering Sweden within its borders through the Church of Sweden: a study of Swedish nationalism and its ecclesiastical leaders in Diocese of Luleå.The research results were also presented at the Reconciliation Commission's symposium in Luleå in 2022 and the final report was presented to the Swedish government in November 2023.
For the academic year 2023/2024, Church History has also been given roughly three months of full-time research time by the Church of Sweden to complete a research report on the church and land ownership in Norrland.
b. Time-limited collaborations
Teachers in the subject engage in recurring collaboration through time-limited tasks at different levels and with different actors in the Church of Sweden.
The Swedish Church History Association (Svenska Kyrkohistoriska Föreningen)
The Chair in Church History is ex officio chairperson of Svenska Kyrkohistoriska Föreningen (the Swedish Church History Association), and one of the other employees is also represented on the board's working committee. The association publishes Kyrkohistorisk Årsskrift (Church History Yearbook) and annually organizes the Church History Day in Uppsala, which constitutes an important contact point with the public interested in church history for the dissemination of current church history research results.
Collaboration
Folk church in minority
The research project "Folkkyrka i minoritet" (Folk Church in Minority) explores the Church of Sweden's ongoing shift from being a universal church to a minority folk church. The research foundation Sverige och Kristen tro (Sweden and Christian Faith) initiated the project. The first research report in the project was published in 2020 with Sven Thidevall as the editor. (LINK: http://sskt.net/aktuell-forskning )
Nordic pietism
Within the framework of Church History, there are ongoing ambitions to take particular responsibility for the revitalization of Swedish pietism research in collaboration with Interdisziplinäres Centre for Pietismusforschung (IZP) at the Martin Luther University in Halle. An anthology on Nordic pietism was recently published in collaboration with Aarhus University and IZP. The research discipline participated in the 2022 International Pietism Congress on Pietism and travel and will be represented in the upcoming congress volume.
Network for church history analysis
Since 2012, the research discipline has been represented in a multi-university network for church historical analysis, which currently is involved with a project that analyzes so-called “untidy revivals” that do not always fit into the stewardship template. In 2020, the network published the anthology Så är det inte hos er. Kyrkligt ledarskap i organisationsteoriernas värld (It's not like that with you. Church leadership in the world of organizational theories), edited by Sune Fahlgren, Joel Halldorf, Erik Sidenvall & Cecilia Wejryd. In 2023, the same editors published the anthology: Ostädade väckelser: modernitetens förtrupper (Untidy Revivals: vanguards of modernity).
Network for the Study of Independent Catholic Groups
A blog started in 2015, is a node in the study of contemporary independent Catholic groups, including those that can be considered new religious movements with Catholic roots. Preliminary research reports on around thirty different groups have been published in the blog. Academics with expertise in the field and hundreds of other people have shared their knowledge experiences via the blog, corrected misunderstandings, and in many cases provided access to otherwise unavailable source material. The blog - a religious studies research laboratory - has generated cooperation and collaboration that has enabled high-quality studies of contemporary independent groups.
Link 1: https://magnuslundberg.net/category/modern-alternative-popes/
Link 2: https://magnuslundberg.net/category/palmarian-catholic-church