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Dopets gagn, gåva och verkan: Svenska kyrkans dopteologi i ljuset av de lutherska bekännelseskrifterna

Kullberg, Martin LU (2025) KRMK10 20252
Centre for Theology and Religious Studies
Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology
Abstract
The main purpose of this study is to analyse how the inherent plurality in the Lutheran theological tradition is shown in the Church of Sweden’s interpretation of the sacrament of baptism. Since most recent studies on the theology of baptism have focuses on lived theology, this study is instead focused on normative and formal theology. In this study have analysed the baptismal motifs in two current normative documents in the Church of Sweden: the episcopal letter Leva i dopet and the Church of Sweden’s liturgical handbook, and compared these to a) the baptismal motifs in three normative documents, namely the Augsburg confession and Martin Luther’s small and large catechisms, and b) the baptismal motifs in three recent academic works on the... (More)
The main purpose of this study is to analyse how the inherent plurality in the Lutheran theological tradition is shown in the Church of Sweden’s interpretation of the sacrament of baptism. Since most recent studies on the theology of baptism have focuses on lived theology, this study is instead focused on normative and formal theology. In this study have analysed the baptismal motifs in two current normative documents in the Church of Sweden: the episcopal letter Leva i dopet and the Church of Sweden’s liturgical handbook, and compared these to a) the baptismal motifs in three normative documents, namely the Augsburg confession and Martin Luther’s small and large catechisms, and b) the baptismal motifs in three recent academic works on the Church of Sweden’s theology of baptism. The analysis has been done by first identifying the baptismal motifs in the Augsburg confession and Luther’s catechisms, and then categorising these into four central theological themes. This same modus operandi has then been applied to the baptismal motifs in the academic works, which have then been compared to the ones in the Augsburg confession and the catechisms. In the third and main part of the study, the baptismal motifs in the episcopal letter and the liturgical handbook have been identified and categorised in the same way, and then been compared to the former sources. The purpose of this has been to track a line of theological progress: from the normative theology of the reformation, through the recent formal theology, to the current normative theology. The study’s main conclusions point to a clear development, where a re-interpretation of original sin from being viewed as inherited from generation to generation to being viewed as a structural problem in Creation has caused the theology of baptism to be centered more around God protecting the baptised in a corrupted world, and less around God saving the baptised from their own original sin. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Kullberg, Martin LU
supervisor
organization
course
KRMK10 20252
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Lutheranism, Church of Sweden, plurality, baptism, normative theology, formal theology
language
Swedish
id
9219122
date added to LUP
2026-01-19 07:07:54
date last changed
2026-01-19 07:07:54
@misc{9219122,
  abstract     = {{The main purpose of this study is to analyse how the inherent plurality in the Lutheran theological tradition is shown in the Church of Sweden’s interpretation of the sacrament of baptism. Since most recent studies on the theology of baptism have focuses on lived theology, this study is instead focused on normative and formal theology. In this study have analysed the baptismal motifs in two current normative documents in the Church of Sweden: the episcopal letter Leva i dopet and the Church of Sweden’s liturgical handbook, and compared these to a) the baptismal motifs in three normative documents, namely the Augsburg confession and Martin Luther’s small and large catechisms, and b) the baptismal motifs in three recent academic works on the Church of Sweden’s theology of baptism. The analysis has been done by first identifying the baptismal motifs in the Augsburg confession and Luther’s catechisms, and then categorising these into four central theological themes. This same modus operandi has then been applied to the baptismal motifs in the academic works, which have then been compared to the ones in the Augsburg confession and the catechisms. In the third and main part of the study, the baptismal motifs in the episcopal letter and the liturgical handbook have been identified and categorised in the same way, and then been compared to the former sources. The purpose of this has been to track a line of theological progress: from the normative theology of the reformation, through the recent formal theology, to the current normative theology. The study’s main conclusions point to a clear development, where a re-interpretation of original sin from being viewed as inherited from generation to generation to being viewed as a structural problem in Creation has caused the theology of baptism to be centered more around God protecting the baptised in a corrupted world, and less around God saving the baptised from their own original sin.}},
  author       = {{Kullberg, Martin}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Dopets gagn, gåva och verkan: Svenska kyrkans dopteologi i ljuset av de lutherska bekännelseskrifterna}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}