Ongoing research

Shīʿite Salafism

Professor Mohammad Fazlhashemi has investigated the impact of Sunnī Salafist thought on theological discourses within Imāmī Shīʿism. During the 1930s, several Shīʿite Muslim theologians and jurists articulated a critique of established doctrines and practices within Imāmī Shīʿism, challenging forms of popular religiosity and philosophical theology on the basis of revelation. Previous scholarship has interpreted this critique as a short-lived reform movement within Imāmī Shīʿism, often drawing analogies with Martin Luther’s reformist thought, albeit without establishing any concrete historical or intellectual connection. The project reassesses these interpretations by exploring a range of possible intellectual influences, with particular attention to how the call for an “authentic” form of Islam within Shīʿite theology reflects elements of the Salafist intellectual tradition. It demonstrates that this line of thought did not end in the 1930s but continued to inform the work of prominent Shīʿite theologians and jurists, even though such influences were rarely, if ever, explicitly acknowledged. The study focuses on a number of influential Shīʿite Muslim thinkers whose ideas shaped theological, legal, and political discourses throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The project resulted in the monograph Shīʿite Salafism? (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022).

Islamic Ecotheology

Islamic ecotheology engages with the question of humanity’s relationship to the natural world within the broader discourse on environmental degradation and climate change. A central concern is whether Islam has contributed to ecological problems or offers resources for their resolution. Critics have argued that the traditional religious conception of humans as the “crown of creation” has legitimised the exploitation of nature, thereby underpinning environmental and climatic crises. Muslim scholars, however, challenge this reading, arguing that the true drivers of ecological disruption are anthropocentrism, individualism, and capitalist modes of production rather than Islamic theological traditions. In his research, Professor Mohammad Fazlhashemi investigates Islamic ecotheology, highlighting the Western anthropocentric worldview that emerged during the Renaissance as a decisive factor in the present environmental crisis. Within this discourse, the necessity of a return to a theistic worldview is emphasised. Islamic ecotheology foregrounds Islamic ethics and theology of creation as a platform for re-establishing a sacred understanding of the cosmos, one that supports a long-term sustainable relationship between humans and the natural world. This is an ongoing scholarly project that has so far yielded a number of articles and book chapters in both Swedish and English.

The folk church in operation

Docent Thomas Ekstrand is working on a conceptual analytical study on the content and function of the folk church concept as a church political rhetorical strategy. The concept of folk church is central in Swedish ecclesiological debate, not least in Swedish of Sweden, but its content has become increasingly unclear at the same time. In the church election campaigns, the folk church concept often come to be actualized in relation to the discussion about the continued role of the political parties in the church electoral system. The term was also used to position different nomination groups in relation to the general political debate. The project intends to shed light on these events with a deeper understanding of the folk church concept.

The Theology of the University

Professor Mattias Martinson is preparing a cultural-theological project that he will perform more actively from the autumn of 2026. The heading is “The Theology of the University.” More precisely, this means that he will carry out a theological interpretation of the Western university/university system in light of: 1. Its ancient and medieval roots, 2. Its modern ground in a kind of revelatory tradition, often associated with Enlightenment ideals, 3. Its contemporary cultural, societal, and political pragmatics. A monograph is planned for publication no later than 2028. Martinson has to some extent already approached science and the university from a theological point of view, first in his dissertation Perseverance without Doctrine (Peter Lang, 2000) and later in the text “Provisoriets välsignelse och vetenskapernas drottning” (The blessing of the provisional and the queen of the sciences, STK, 100:2024). The ambition of the new project is to modify and translate certain theoretical insights from the earlier dissertation into an updated discussion of university practices, as these may appear after a long career of leadership at a university with medieval roots.

Forming death and the power of words

Associate professor Maria Essunger works with material where language and storytelling are driving forces for theological thinking about the significance of death for the life lived. She starts partly from witness literature, where Primo Levi's and Etty Hillesum's texts form the basic material, partly from Hélène Cixous's poetic and political philosophy. The disparate production of these three thinkers is clearly linked to a Judeo-Christian (religious and secular) tradition based on the need to write in face of death and on the performative power of writing in relation to life. Throughout the texts attention is also drawn to the (constructed) boundaries that distinguish people from each other, from other animals and/or from a divine reality. Great emphasis is placed on issues related to resistance, representation (in a literary and existential sense) and gender. The goal is a monograph in Swedish that presents and develops research that has previously been presented in English-language forums.

Contemporary Islamic Liberation Theology

Associate Professor Emin Poljarevic conducts research on contemporary Islamic political theology and Muslim liberation theology, with a focus on how thinkers, theologians, and activists formulate ethical and theological responses to oppression and marginalisation in both minority and majority Muslim contexts. One key point of reference is Malcolm X, whose civil rights activism illuminates how Islamic principles are translated into practices of liberation. Another is Taha Abderrahmane, whose ethical–philosophical thought generates new intellectual perspectives explored in the project. These references ground the project’s core questions: how can Islamic theology and ethics function as a method for analysing and challenging contemporary structures of power and inequality? What concepts and practices of liberation theology emerge when Muslim actors themselves articulate responses to the crises of their time?

A New Way of Doing Theology

Anna Sjöberg works with her post-doctoral project ”A New Way of Doing Theology: Christianity, Modernity and Secularization in the Thought of Ivan Illich” The aim of the project is to study the Austrian 20th century philosopher, social critic and Catholic priest Ivan Illich’s thinking pertaining to theological questions, specifically with regard to his idea of modernity as a secularized form of Christianity. It will examine the possible relations between Illich’s early writings on the Church, his critique of the institutions of modern society and his late interviews in which he developed his ideas on modernity as an extension of church history. The project is funded by the Swedish Research Council.

Ashʿarī theology and Shādhilī Sufism in Morocco

Dr. Tobias Andersson is working on a study on the relationship between Ashʿarī theology and Shādhilī Sufism in Morocco during the period 1400–2000. The study focuses on four scholars who remain highly influential in Sunni contexts: Aḥmad Zarrūq (d. 1493), al-Ḥasan al-Yūsī (d. 1691), Aḥmad b. ʿAjība (d. 1809) and Muḥammad b. al-Ḥabīb (d. 1972). The aim is to clarify their views on the relationship between Ashʿarī theology and Shādhilī Sufism, as expressed in their writings, and to show how they integrated Ashʿarī theology with Shādhilī teachings and practices. In addition, the study will explore what contributions their works may offer to contemporary theological and philosophical discussions about the relationship between metaphysical and ethical commitments in spiritual traditions.