Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Dopsed i förändring : studier av Örebro pastorat 1710-1910

Sjölin, Ingegerd LU (1999) In Bibliotheca Historico-Ecclesiastica Lundensis 40.
Abstract
From the time of the establishment of Christianity in Sweden to the middle of the Nineteenth Century all childeren were baptised. In Örebro, in central Sweden, the baptism custom was subsequently broken and weakend. Örebro is in many ways an extreme case. In 1910 only 82 percent of children were baptised. The old dodparent custom was almost extingct in 1910. The dissertation shows the course of change and the underlying causes behind it. The source material has been drawn from birth and baptism registers for the benefice of Örebro from 1710 to 1910 which have been entered in three databases. One database consists of 7,157 children, another covers 184 families, while a third covers children baptised in Örebro Methodist congregation between... (More)
From the time of the establishment of Christianity in Sweden to the middle of the Nineteenth Century all childeren were baptised. In Örebro, in central Sweden, the baptism custom was subsequently broken and weakend. Örebro is in many ways an extreme case. In 1910 only 82 percent of children were baptised. The old dodparent custom was almost extingct in 1910. The dissertation shows the course of change and the underlying causes behind it. The source material has been drawn from birth and baptism registers for the benefice of Örebro from 1710 to 1910 which have been entered in three databases. One database consists of 7,157 children, another covers 184 families, while a third covers children baptised in Örebro Methodist congregation between 1869 and 1910.



With the introduction of Christianity in Sweden came a gradual integration fo the Crristian and social spheres in society. This integration reached its peak in the canon law of 1686. To be Swedish and to be baptised were one and the same thing. The first moves towards a separation between the religious and the social show themselves during the first decades of the Eighteenth Century. By the midNineteenth Century the separation was a fact, at least in relation to baptism. For many centuries baptism had had a strong official-social function. This was definitely ended in 1887, when the paragraph concerning compulsury baptism was made obsolete. From the Reformation onwards there was an aspiration within the church that baptism should be celebrated publicly, in church, with a congragation present. This proved to be impossible to put into practice. Children were baptised as soon as possible after birth. There was a great fear of leaving children unbaptised. Baptism was therefore normaly celebrated privately, thus reducing the official-religious function. Baptism and godparent customs were strongly socially differentiated during the entire perion of study. During the second half of the Nineteenth Century, baptism and godparent customs remained largely unchanged among the upper classes, while the age of baptism rode dramatically and godparents were no longer appointed in the broader social layers. A contributory factor to parents still baptising their children in 1910 was the relatively strong private religious function of baptism. The priamry cause of the weakening of the custom of baptism was the demystification which took place during the last decades of the Ninetiinth Century and not, as is often maintained, the influence of the Baptist movement. The magical conceptions surrounding baptism, which had been present had, even in the broader layers of the population, been conisigned to the world of fable. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Popular Abstract in Swedish

Det finns en schablonblid av dopseden förr och nu. Lite karikerat skulle den kunna sägas se ut på följande sätt. Förr döptes alla barn. Skälen till att man döpte sina barn var djupt religiösa. Så kom baptismen och bröt barndopsseden. När baptisterna slutade döpa sina barn och sekulariseringesvågen blev allt starkare följde snart många efter. Idag döps barnen framfö allt av social skäl. Dopet är en familjehögtid. Ingegerd Sjölin har i avhandlingen undersökt det som kan betecknas som "förr". Visst döptes alla barn. Men dopseden var knappast så enhetlig som den kan verka vid ett första påseende. Dopets funktioner var långr ifrån enbart religiösa. Baptisterna var de första som utnyttjade det nya... (More)
Popular Abstract in Swedish

Det finns en schablonblid av dopseden förr och nu. Lite karikerat skulle den kunna sägas se ut på följande sätt. Förr döptes alla barn. Skälen till att man döpte sina barn var djupt religiösa. Så kom baptismen och bröt barndopsseden. När baptisterna slutade döpa sina barn och sekulariseringesvågen blev allt starkare följde snart många efter. Idag döps barnen framfö allt av social skäl. Dopet är en familjehögtid. Ingegerd Sjölin har i avhandlingen undersökt det som kan betecknas som "förr". Visst döptes alla barn. Men dopseden var knappast så enhetlig som den kan verka vid ett första påseende. Dopets funktioner var långr ifrån enbart religiösa. Baptisterna var de första som utnyttjade det nya samhället som vuxit fram där den religiösa tron sakta förpassades bort från den officiella sfären till den privata. Av rädsla för att inte vara tillräckligt tydliga när det gäller dopets religiösa funktioner överbetonas dessa på många håll inom Svenska kyrkan idag. Detta görs på bekostnad av dopets privata funktion. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
supervisor
opponent
  • Prof. Brohed, Ingmar, Uppsala
organization
publishing date
type
Thesis
publication status
published
subject
keywords
religious change, godparents, Örebro, Methodists, Baptists, Baptism, infant baptism, Theology, Teologi
in
Bibliotheca Historico-Ecclesiastica Lundensis
volume
40
pages
272 pages
publisher
Lund University Press
defense location
Carolinasalen, Lundagårdshuset
defense date
1999-04-23 14:15:00
external identifiers
  • other:ISRN: LUREDN/RERS-1999/1007-SE+272
ISSN
0346-5438
ISBN
91-7966-562-4
language
Swedish
LU publication?
yes
id
5bb85f46-6a6b-4a2f-935b-e05edb2e5a64 (old id 27709)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 16:25:08
date last changed
2019-05-21 10:16:05
@phdthesis{5bb85f46-6a6b-4a2f-935b-e05edb2e5a64,
  abstract     = {{From the time of the establishment of Christianity in Sweden to the middle of the Nineteenth Century all childeren were baptised. In Örebro, in central Sweden, the baptism custom was subsequently broken and weakend. Örebro is in many ways an extreme case. In 1910 only 82 percent of children were baptised. The old dodparent custom was almost extingct in 1910. The dissertation shows the course of change and the underlying causes behind it. The source material has been drawn from birth and baptism registers for the benefice of Örebro from 1710 to 1910 which have been entered in three databases. One database consists of 7,157 children, another covers 184 families, while a third covers children baptised in Örebro Methodist congregation between 1869 and 1910.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
With the introduction of Christianity in Sweden came a gradual integration fo the Crristian and social spheres in society. This integration reached its peak in the canon law of 1686. To be Swedish and to be baptised were one and the same thing. The first moves towards a separation between the religious and the social show themselves during the first decades of the Eighteenth Century. By the midNineteenth Century the separation was a fact, at least in relation to baptism. For many centuries baptism had had a strong official-social function. This was definitely ended in 1887, when the paragraph concerning compulsury baptism was made obsolete. From the Reformation onwards there was an aspiration within the church that baptism should be celebrated publicly, in church, with a congragation present. This proved to be impossible to put into practice. Children were baptised as soon as possible after birth. There was a great fear of leaving children unbaptised. Baptism was therefore normaly celebrated privately, thus reducing the official-religious function. Baptism and godparent customs were strongly socially differentiated during the entire perion of study. During the second half of the Nineteenth Century, baptism and godparent customs remained largely unchanged among the upper classes, while the age of baptism rode dramatically and godparents were no longer appointed in the broader social layers. A contributory factor to parents still baptising their children in 1910 was the relatively strong private religious function of baptism. The priamry cause of the weakening of the custom of baptism was the demystification which took place during the last decades of the Ninetiinth Century and not, as is often maintained, the influence of the Baptist movement. The magical conceptions surrounding baptism, which had been present had, even in the broader layers of the population, been conisigned to the world of fable.}},
  author       = {{Sjölin, Ingegerd}},
  isbn         = {{91-7966-562-4}},
  issn         = {{0346-5438}},
  keywords     = {{religious change; godparents; Örebro; Methodists; Baptists; Baptism; infant baptism; Theology; Teologi}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  publisher    = {{Lund University Press}},
  school       = {{Lund University}},
  series       = {{Bibliotheca Historico-Ecclesiastica Lundensis}},
  title        = {{Dopsed i förändring : studier av Örebro pastorat 1710-1910}},
  volume       = {{40}},
  year         = {{1999}},
}