Europaische Hochschulschriften/European University Studies/Publications Universitaires Europeennes Reihe 23: Theologie/Series 23: Theology/Serie 23: Theologie – serie

The twentieth century is said to have been the century of the nation and of the church. This has been asserted in various quarters. It is European nationalism and confessionalism that have constrained into being, constituted and made permanent nation-states, national churches and confessions. In this study modern theories on nationalism and ecclesiology are brought together and Sweden is employed as an historical example. The concepts nation and church, the superideologies nationalism and confessionalism, and the institutions nation-state and national church are viewed as parallels. The connections between them are described as symbiotic, although the nationalistic discourse, primarily in its rhetoric, has had a more parasitic relation to Christian traditions. The national discourse in the Lutheran State Church in Sweden during the first four decades of the twentieth century is depicted with source material such as church historiography, hymns and popular lectures. Two churchmen are focused on: the nationalist Johan Alfred Eklund and the internationalist Nathan Soederblom. Both were however firmly rooted in nationalism and inter-nationalism. Globalisation was not yet on the agenda.

This book provides a new way of understanding community. It draws from previous definitions and interpretations of the concept to come to one that takes into account the growing pluralism in the socio-political strata of the world of today. The author's extensive analysis of three approaches to community by Ferdinand Toennies, Emile Durkheim and Heinrich Pesch gives the study a solid sociological foundation. His inclusion of authors like Martin Buber, Jacques Maritain, Emmanuel Mounier, John MacMurray, Louis Janssens and Stanley Hauerwas in the study underlines not only the philosophical but also the theological stronghold of the book. The discussion on how the notion of God as Trinity can affect the meaning of community adds to its theological relevance. By introducing personalism and the Trinitarian notion of God into how he thinks community should be understood today, the author challenges his readers, individually and collectively, to review the traditional attitudes to diversity and differences in society. A generally thematic study, the work also reveals the author's commitment to a historical-critical approach.Taken seriously the vision of community espoused in the book can lead to answering questions on conflicts in the world today.

Baptism is the sacrament of faith par excellence, and Christian faith, the principal and fundamental factor of our salvific process, is ordinarily baptismal. Our Christian existence through faith is, therefore, fundamentally baptismal, that then lives on the Eucharist. This work expounds this theological fact in the light of the New Testament baptismal theology and Vat. II sacramental theology, with corresponding theological-pastoral perspectives, in view of strengthening the baptismal consciousness of today's Christians and Christian communities.