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The Quest for a Nordic Church Fellowship Challenged by the Formation of the Nordic Ecumenical Institute/ Council.” (Mthesis)

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The Quest for a Nordic Church Fellowship Challenged by the Formation of the Nordic Ecumenical Institute/ Council.” (Mthesis) 2011 University of Uppsala Lennart Sjöström ”The Quest for a Nordic Church Fellowship Challenged by the Formation of the Nordic Ecumenical Institute/ Council.” (MThesis) An Essay on ecumenism in the Nordic region and on the Nordic Ecumenical Institute, (NEI), in particular with regards to how NEI understood the Membership Structure of the emerging World Council of Churches (WCC) and how that understanding was put into practice in the Nordic region. 1. Introduction. 1.1 The Object of the Present Investigation? 1.2 Presentation of the Problem. 1.3 Method. 1.4 Author’s thesis. 1.5 Research on the Nordic Ecumenical Institute. 1.6 Outline. 2. Setting the Scene. 2.1 At the Stockholm Central Railway Station on September 1st 1939. 2.2 Ecclesiastical regions and the Nordic region. 2.2.1 Institute and Council. 2.3 Abstract. A A Background to the formation of the Nordic Ecumenical Institute, NEI 3 The Nordic Region. 3.1 A General Description of the Nordic Region and its Folk churches. 3.2 Denmark and the Church of Denmark. 3.3 Norway and the Church of Norway. 3.4 Iceland and the Church of Iceland. 3.5 Sweden and the Church of Sweden. 3.6 Finland and the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland. 3.7 The Significance of the Nordic region. 4 Ecumenism and cultural/political cooperation in the Nordic Region. 4.1 Earlier Scandinavian Attempts to Establish a Cultural /Political or Church cooperation in the Nordic region. 4.2 Scandinavian Church Assemblies. 4.3 A Remarkable Political Initiative. 4.4 Proposals Regarding a Nordic Church Council in 1871 and in1946. 4.5 Examples of Other Nordic Joint Church Activities. 4.5.1 Missionary Conferences. 4.5.2 Nordic Christian Students´ Meetings. 4.5.3 Nordic Sunday School Conferences /Diaconal Conferences. 4.6 Nordic Bishops´ Council. 5 Attempts to Create a Nordic Ecclesiastical Body. 5.1 Some Post-Great War Ecclesiological Observations -in a new political landscape, that embraced a renewed willingness to engage in cooperation in the Nordic region. 5.1.1 Political Development. 5.1.2 Cultural Development. 5.1.3 Ecclesiastical Development. 6. The Regional Membership Structure Agreed in Utrecht 1938. 7. Observations along the Road Leading to the Nordic Ecumenical Institute, Established in 1940 as an Intended Regional Body for the Emerging World Council of Churches. 7.1 The Meaning of Oikoumene. 7.2 Svenska Missionsrådet (Swedish Missionary Council). 7.3 Ecumenical Meetings of Missionary Societies in 1888, 1890 and the Meeting in Edinburgh in 1910. 1 7.4 The International Missionary Council. 7.5 World Alliance (WA) for Promoting International Friendship through the Churches. 7.6 Trends in Theology between Wars, a Meeting in Oud Wassenar in 1919, and proposals for a World Council of Churches, WCC. 7.7 Koinonia ton Ekklesion proposed in 1920 by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. 7.8 Anglican- Lutheran Relations Develop through the Lambeth Conferences. 7.9 The Stockholm/Uppsala Meeting 1925 and the Ecumenical Secretariat. Operating in Geneva from 1930. 7.10 The Meeting in Lausanne in 1927. 7.11 A New Theology in Sweden. 7.12 Meetings in Oxford and Edinburgh in 1937. 7.13 The Utrecht Conference in 1938, Preparations for the Amsterdam Assembly 1948. 7.14 The Provisional Committee of WCC (in Process of Formation). 7.15 International Lutheran Cooperation and WCC. 7.16 Considerations on Competence and Representation for the World Council of Churches, WCC, and the Role of the International Missionary Council, IMC. 7.17 Regional Ecumenism and Amsterdam 1948. 7.18 Christian National Councils. 7.19 The Changing Character of National Christian Councils after the Second World War. 7.20 The International Missionary Council, IMC, and the Regional Councils. 7.21 The Nordic Missionary Council. 7.22 Three Important Sources of Inspiration for the Nordic Ecumenical Institute, NEI. 8. The World Council of Churches, WCC, Inaugurated in 1948, as a Vehicle was Meant to Reflect and Build upon Regional Structures. 8.1 The World Council of Churches, WCC, and Further Considerations on the Membership Structure. 8.2 Clarifications of the Confessional System. 8.3 Ecclesiology of the World Council of Churches, WCC. 8.4 An Ecclesiology Expressed at the World Council of Churches, WCC, Faith and Order Conference in Lund in 1952, Focusing on Christ and His Church. B The Formation of the Nordic Ecumenical Institute, NEI. 9 Prominent Nordic Leaders Working for the Unity of the Churches. 9.1 Further Plans for a Nordic Ecumenical Institute, NEI. 10 The Establishment, Initial Considerations and Activities of the Nordic Ecumenical Institute/Council NEI/ NEC. 11 The Nordic Bishops. 11.1 Bishops in the Church of Denmark. 11.2 Bishops in the Church of Norway. 11.3 Bishops in the Church of Iceland. 11.4 Bishops in the Church of Sweden. 11.5 Bishops in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. 2 11.6 Informal Meeting of the Nordic Bishops in Copenhagen in 1945. 11.7 Formal Meeting of the Nordic Bishops in Sweden in August 1946. 11.8 The Porvoo Common Statement. C The transformation from a Nordic Ecumenical Institute, NEI, to a Nordic Ecumenical Council, NEC. 12. Cooperation in the Nordic region after the Second World War. 12.1 Looking back at the Nordic Churches in the 19th Century. 12.2 The Nordic Ecumenical Institute/Council after the Second World War, a Future Role of the Nordic Ecumenical Institute, NEI; a Change from Institute to Council. D Collapse and Reconstruction of the Nordic Ecumenical Council, NEC. 13 Nordic Ecumenical Council, NEC, Continued Activities and Continued Questioning. 13.1 Collapse and Reconstruction. 13.2 Matters dealt with by the Nordic Ecumenical Institute/Council, NEI/ NEC. 13.2.1 Matters Related to Politics. 13.2.2 Research Projects. 14. The Road from Utrecht to Amsterdam and some Post-War Roadblocks between Nordic Churches, Principal Conclusions. 14.1 From Utrecht 1938 to Amsterdam 1948 via Sigtuna 1940. Further Conclusions: 14.2 On Episcopacy and the Nordic Bishopsʼ Council. 14.3 On Regionalism. 14.4 On Research Institute. 14.5 On Institute or Council. 14.6 On Scandinavism in Church and Society. 14.7 On a Nordic Church Council. 14.8 On Patterns of Church Cooperation in a Political Landscape. 14.9 A Brief Summary and Considerations regarding the Conceivable Survival of Ecumenism in The Nordic Region, EIN. 14.10 Further research 15 Bibliography. 3 1 Introduction. 1.1 The Object of the Present Investigation. The Nordic Ecumenical Institute NEI, from its very establishment in 1940, remained controversial in the eyes of Nordic churches. Over and over again NEI was put in question. NEI was accused of being too Swedish, too Academic and generally out of touch with what the churches in the Nordic region really saw as essential. In 2003 the Nordic Ecumenical Council’s membership disintegrated. Eventually, the organisation was restructured in 2004. The purpose of this essay is to look into the background and context of NEI in order to endeavour to establish if there were from the very start innate defects that eventually brought NEI to its breakdown. Hence my focus is on the background and context for the Nordic Ecumenical Institute, established in 1940, as well as on the collapse of the Nordic Ecumenical Council in 2003. 1.2 Presentation of the Problem. In the 20th Century, the Nordic Region was often regarded as a politically, socially and ecclesiastically homogenous area. Archbishop Söderblom was partly responsible for that conception by creating a Nordic Bishopsʼ Council and by conducting its business with intent to coordinate actions and declarations by the Nordic Folk churches. In this paper I intend to inquire into the fate of the Nordic Ecumenical Institute and in doing so also look at the notion of Scandinavism and a Nordic region. I shall explore regions as areas for Christian cooperation. Furthermore the terms Institute and Council (as in the Nordic Ecumenical Institute and, from1991, the Nordic Ecumenical Council) will be studied. I intend to look at Manfred Bjorkquist’s attempts to create a Nordic Ecumenical Institute, and his strategies to deal with considerable scepticism in the Nordic region, expressed particularly by the Church of Norway. Is it correct to say that the Institute from its very beginning did not have sufficient support in the Nordic region and that the very lack of support eventually led to an enforced restructuring in the 21st Century? If that is so, this paper will endeavour to find the cause or causes of the lack of support for the Nordic Ecumenical Institute from 1940 and onwards. Attempts to do so will necessitate a survey also into the historical background of the Institute. In this paper I will try to give an answer to the question regarding whether the Nordic churches truly wanted to cooperate or if they simply preferred to coexist in the Nordic region without any complicating or embarrassing coordinating structure. My ambition is to focus particularly on the first years of operations for the NEI in order to, if possible, identify any early causes for its disintegration much later. 1.3 Method. Using relevant literature and archive documents, the rise & fall, as well as the reconstruction of the Nordic Ecumenical Institute/ Council will be studied against a backdrop of the Nordic Region and of the Ecumenical Movement. The forming of the Nordic Ecumenical Institute, the objects eventually agreed and the Institute’s role in relation to the Nordic Folk churches and to the International ecumenical movement will be studied. In the process different perspectives could be utilised. In research regarding the 1940s and the Second World War one may often discern a moral perspective on motives and responsibility for actions and crimes.
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