Introduction

It gives me great pleasure to introduce the first issue of Studia Theologica: Nordic Journal of Theology 2024. This will be my last issue as editor-in-chief, as I am getting ready to hand the post over to Teemu Pauha, University of Finland. I wish him all the best in his new role. It has truly been a great honour and privilege to serve as editor-in-chief for the past five years. To keep up the high standard of an academic journal like Studia Theologica Nordic Journal of Theology in a highly competitive publishing environment requires good cooperation from everybody involved in the publishing process, but first and foremost a steady stream of articles with first-class scholarship. I would like to use this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the authors who have provided excellent articles for publication in our journal and will hopefully continue to do so in the years to come. I wish to thank my wonderful colleagues on the editorial board, who have been a great support and an infinite source of insight and wisdom. I would like to thank the staff at Taylor & Frances, particularly ElisaBeth Alexis, for excellent collaboration. Last but not least, I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to the editorial secretary of Studia Theologica, Andrew Wergeland, for his outstanding service and partnership.

There are six very different and highly inspiring articles in this issue, together with a list of doctoral dissertations in theology in the Nordic countries during 2022 and 2023. The first article is written by Kjetil Kinglebotten, an ordained minister within the Church of Norway. In his article, entitled “Christian Theurgy and Divine Indwelling”, Kinglebotten discusses Charles Stang’s understanding of a Pauline and Pseudo-Dionysian concept of deification prayer, and the role of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer. He maintains that a theurgic perspective cannot only help to discover parallels and divergences between Christianity and Pagan Platonism, but also provides language and metaphysics which prove helpful when it comes to explicating the work of the Holy Spirit.

In an article on religion, fiction, and facts, Timo Koistinen, University of Helsinki, introduces religious fictionalism, a philosophical theory that aims to provide an alternative to the metaphysically realistic view of the nature of religious discourse. After outlining the main ideas of religious functionalism, Koistinen underlines some problems inherent to it, having to do with the “make-believe” attitude of the fictionalist account of faith and questions of personal integrity. In the end of the article he elaborates on metaphysical and epistemic presuppositions fundamental to religious fictionalism.

Laura Kallatsa and Sini Mikkola, University of Eastern Finland, are the authors of the third article, which focuses on the question of online communion in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. In their article, Kallatsa and Mikkola examine the views of Finnish Lutheran ministers and parishioners regarding online Communion, using empirical data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. In their analysis of the data, they identify two main stances towards online Communion, which they categorize as preservers and transformers. While preservers value adherence to canonized ritual most, transformers, on the other hand, are keen to create new ritual practices and consider ritual objects anew. Despite the differences, the majority of respondents were rather negative towards online Communion, as for most of them, preserving a key religious ritual serves as a means of maintaining stability in unstable times.

The fourth article, entitled “Dance in between Ritual and Liturgy: an Exploration of Theory and Practice in the Field of Dance and Theology” is written by Laura Hellsten, Åbo Akademi University. The focus in this article is on recent writings on dance and theology by Riyako Cecilia Hikota and the authors of Heike Walz's Dance as Third Space (2022). According to Hallsten, a more rigorous understanding of practice is needed in the field of Dance and Theology. She proposes a theoretical framework and Vincent Lloyd's distinctions between ritual and liturgy as a way to understand the gap between practice and norms, which she thinks is often missing in theological discussions. As an example, Hallsten examines Hikota’s criticism of the current use of the term “perichōrēsis” in theological discussions intended to promote dance.

“Ecumenism of the Wounded Hands: a Feminist Theological Inquiry”, is an article authored by Sara Gehlin, University College Stockholm. In her article, Gehlin probes the nature of strategic and self-critical thinking in receptive ecumenism. Having consulted with feminist theologians who have written on vulnerability, power, and dependence, Gehlin perceives both gains and risks of strategic thinking in the framework of an ecumenism of the wounded hands. By highlighting both communal and personal dimensions of a receptive ecumenical disposition, she identifies a need for caution concerning the possible risks entailed in a personal commitment to an ecumenism of the wounded hands. In order to respond to this need, the author recommends an open dialogue between ecumenical and feminist theology.

Peter Søes, The Lutheran School of Theology in Aarhus, writes about Tertullian’s paradoxical statement that Christ’s death is credible because it is silly. While this statement has been understood as a rejection of human rationality, Søes maintains that there is scholarly consensus that this interpretation cannot be sustained. In his article, Søes proposes a new interpretation of Tertuallian’s text by highlighting the paradox between the incarnation and the crucifixion, as one being in line with God the creator, and the other constituting a genuine paradox to God´s nature. Being an impossible event, Søes argues, Christ’s death still happened with the same necessity as the incarnation, because of human sinfulness. Consequently, Søes asks what role this paradox– and paradoxicality as such – is to play in Christian thought.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).