Monthly Talk – March

Luennoitsija: Titus Hjelm

Paikka: Aikala, Historicum, Kaivokatu 12, Turku

Aika: 21.3.2019 klo 14–16

Uskontotieteen apulaisprofessori Titus Hjelm (Helsingin yliopisto), pohtii CSCC:n maaliskuun esitelmässä kansankirkon käsitettä ja merkitystä keskustelussa, jota käydään Suomen evankelisluterilaisen kirkon asemasta suhteessa Suomen valtioon. Esitelmä on englanninkielinen ja sen otsikko on “One Volk, One Church? A Critique of the “Folk Church” Ideology in Finland”.

Esitelmän abstrakti:

Is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (ELCF) a state church, as international comparisons suggest? Or is it instead a “folk church,” nationally important, but detached from the state, as Finnish research, the ELCF itself, and some politicians claim? This talk provides a critical historicization of the concept of “folk church” in Finland. Using methods of contemporary ideology critique, it asks what is being done discursively when the ELCF is called a “folk church.” Analysing Finnish and international scholarship, the ELCF’s official representations of the relationship between church and state, and a debate in the Finnish parliament, it is argued that the concept of “folk church” functions ideologically by obfuscating the privileged status of the ELCF vis-à-vis the state. By doing so, this folk church ideology reproduces religious inequality in Finland.

Otsikkokuva:  Helsingin tuomikirkko ja Senaatintori 1947. Ruth Träskman/Yle Elävä arkisto – Yle Archives from Yleisradio, Finland [No restrictions].