The climate crisis is not just a physical but also an existential challenge. A new thesis in theology shows how religious faith can complement climate science. While the science often gives rise to climate anxiety, faith offers hope, meaning and motivation for continued action. The study is based on interviews with activists in Sweden and South Africa, from pastors to climate strikers.
The novel "The Surgeon’s Stories" by Zacharias Topelius has had a significant influence on the way people in Finland, and in Sweden, have come to understand their history. In the novel, the Lutheran faith has a key role in the depiction of Finland as an emerging nation. Lutheranism provides a model for the organization of society, but also dictates which religious minorities are excluded.
Churches are preserved by an antiquarian system that risks killing them instead of keeping them alive. The Swedish State and the Church of Sweden therefore need to define new joint visions and goals to enable the ecclesiastical cultural heritage to be used and developed. This is shown by historian of art Henrik Lindblad in a new doctoral thesis from Uppsala University.
