Books by Viktor Aldrin
A highly debated subject in contemporary Sweden is the practice of end of term ceremonies being h... more A highly debated subject in contemporary Sweden is the practice of end of term ceremonies being held in church buildings. The debate began in the 1990s but the practice as such can be traced back at least to the late eighteenth century. Critique of the ceremonies at a national level was probably initiated by a local prohibition in 1996 at Uddevala municipality – a decision intended to favour plurality (at first out of respect for secular Humanists, but later reinterpreted as out of respect for Muslims).
This study was aimed at not only exploring the practice of end of term ceremonies held in churches, but also to investigate negotiations and re-negotiations of the role of religion in the Swedish compulsory school (Swedish: Grundskola) apart from the school subject of Religious Education, from the 1990s to 2016.
A multitude of sources have been used for the study such as databases, minutes, policy documents, media debates, legislation (both political and ecclesiastical), guidelines and curricula. Previous research on the subject is almost non-existent, except for a number of studies regarding the shifting role of the Church of Sweden from state church to semi-independent church in the year 2000. The study is thereby intended not only as a contribution of facts concerning these ceremonies, but also as an interpretation of the facts presented.
The results show a complex and vast practice of school ceremonies held in churches beyond the acceptance or prohibition of a particular ceremony. Conflicting facts, laws and policies are made visible and implicit diverse understandings emerge regarding the role of religion in society in general and in schools in particular. Hence, the study should not be seen as taking a position on either side of the debate about prohibition of the practice, but as an exploration of different standpoints regarding the role of the Church of Sweden in contemporary Sweden’s compulsory schools. An emerging aspect is the key function of schools in enabling pupils to understand the role of religion in society and what it means to live in a global community. End of term ceremonies held in churches are viewed as a game board where debates are set in motion and where different ideals clash, are negotiated and re-negotiated. Key features in these discussions concern the use of confessional ecclesiastical space in obligatory non-confessional education; church buildings as places of education; clerical roles when leading end of term ceremonies; pupils’ compulsory presence; religious symbols in education; attendance at religious activities; and hymns as possible means of discrimination.
As far as the interpretation of the issues that have emerged in the study is concerned, three claims can be made. Firstly, end of term ceremonies held in churches have fluctuated in number during the examined period of time; secondly, there is competition between the Swedish state’s school agencies and the Church of Sweden regarding the importance of religion for children; and thirdly, the concept of religion is interpreted in secular terms by the Swedish state’s school agencies, in conflict with the Church of Sweden’s religious understanding of the concept.
The aim of this study has been to identify, explain and delineate praying among peasant communiti... more The aim of this study has been to identify, explain and delineate praying among peasant communities in late medieval Sweden. Four aspects have been examined through the perspectives of ideals and practices, namely the standards of prayer, devotional prayer, prayer in times of need and prayer cultures. The standards of prayer considered the physical and mental behaviour of the praying peasant woman or man. Devotional prayers were foremost the three ‘standard’ prayers Paternoster, Hail Mary and Apostolic Creed, and could be used separately or combined. Prayer in times of need was possibly considered a matter of praying to saints, something that cannot be proven to have been either practiced or recommended on other, ordinary occasions where God and the Virgin Mary were considered the proper recipients of prayer. A few authentic prayers exist where peasant women and men in connection with miracles constructed elaborate prayers and to propose business-like agreements with saints. Ways to maintain the prayer cultures were through mnemonic techniques, and indulgences stipulating and confirming prayers used or to be used in connection with certain churches, days and places within the churches. The prayer life of those belonging to peasant communities was both elaborate and full of nuances.
The aim of this study has been to identify, explain and delineate praying among peasant communiti... more The aim of this study has been to identify, explain and delineate praying among peasant communities in the ecclesiastical province of Uppsala, Sweden. Four aspects have been examined through the perspectives of ideals and practices, namely the standards of prayer, devotional prayer, prayer in times of need and prayer cultures. The standards of prayer considered the physical and mental behaviour of the praying peasant woman or man. The most ordinary way to act during prayer was to stand with hand... mers together, palm against palm, and to pray in the vernacular often using mental themes to enhance the devotion. Devotional prayers were foremost the three ‘standard’ prayers Paternoster, Hail Mary and Apostolic Creed, and could be used separately or combined. Prayer in times of need was possibly considered a matter of praying to saints, something that cannot be proven to have been either practiced or recommended on other, ordinary occasions where God and the Virgin Mary were considered the proper recipients of prayer. A few authentic prayers exist that were possibly said by peasant women and men in connection with miracles and these show the ability to construct elaborate prayers and to propose businesslike agreements with saints. These three prayers were required knowledge for a peasant woman or man and were put to the test in order to become a godparent, and were therefore made available in the vernacular by the parish priests. Ways to maintain the prayer cultures were through mnemonic techniques, and indulgences stipulating and confirming prayers used or to be used in connection with certain churches, days and places within the churches. Name saints could also be used, since the person and the name saint were considered to have a special bond. Prayer could also be used as protection for the living; since a prayer was considered to generate either merits or favours from a celestial patron to his or her client. The prayer life of those belonging to peasant communities was both elaborate and full of nuances.
Journal Articles by Viktor Aldrin
Syftet med denna artikel är dels att undersöka hur den existerande professionsetiken ser ut för u... more Syftet med denna artikel är dels att undersöka hur den existerande professionsetiken ser ut för universitetslärare idag, 2016, dels att pröva utforma en ny, frågebaserad professionsetik, som istället för riktlinjer utgår ifrån de didaktiska frågorna hur, vad, varför och vem? Som en grund för artikeln står dels SULF:s etiska riktlinjer från 2005 för universitetslärare, dels den problematik som breddad rekrytering innebär vad gäller studenters prestationer och förutsättningar till studier. Stora brister identifieras i SULF:s etiska riktlinjer, framför allt vad gäller synen på svaga studenter och lärarens roll att hjälpa studenterna att nå godkända betyg i sin universitetsutbildning. För att ge universitetslärare den etiska assistans som SULF:s riktlinjer talar om, behövs en ny ansats till professionsetiken i högre utbildning. En konsekvens av denna slutsats är därför artikelns konceptuella modell för en ny professionsetik för universitetslärare som benämns som frågebaserad etik där universitetsläraren inte bara grundar sin reflektion om undervisning i etiska ställningstaganden utan även låter denna reflektion mynna ut i pedagogisk handling med hjälp av de didaktiska frågorna ”Vad utgör undervisningens innehåll?”, ”Hur väljs undervisningens metod ut?”, ”Varför bedrivs undervisningen?”, samt ”Vem deltar i undervisningen”. Svaren på dessa frågor är, enligt modellen, universitetslärarens egna, och är alla beroende av etisk reflektion för att kunna formuleras och realiseras.
Academic teacher development is an educational meeting place for academics already practising the... more Academic teacher development is an educational meeting place for academics already practising the art of teaching. Yet, it is in courses for this development that academics are supposed to be taught how to teach and how to improve their teaching skills. In my article I propose a new conceptual methodological framework for teaching teachers how to teach – Didactic Reasoning. Its foundation can be traced to pragmatist philosophy and interfaith dialogue in theology. The key aspect of Didactic Reasoning is to make university teachers better teachers by the development of a didactic voice and the courage to try this voice in teaching activities. This is done through intersubjective meetings between academics to develop a respect for the ‘teaching-other’ in their colleagues and through the use of practice-focused themed conversations led by teacher educators.
The purpose of this article is to construct an ethical position of Academic Development Programme... more The purpose of this article is to construct an ethical position of Academic Development Programmes where managerial, top-down principles , are rejected because of the disciplinary resistance such positions bring in the reluctance of recognising existing teaching practices. Instead a focus on particularity through the acceptance of professional difference in an interdisciplinary dialogue is put forward where comparative didactics and interfaith dialogue bring new abilities for university teachers to become better practitioners within their own fields of teaching.
Kristendomen har en ny plats på schemat När läroplanen skrevs om fick kristendomen behålla sin sä... more Kristendomen har en ny plats på schemat När läroplanen skrevs om fick kristendomen behålla sin särställning – trots att Skolverket föreslog det motsatta. Läraren och religionsforskaren Viktor Aldrin ser dock didaktiska möjligheter med hur det blev. Det var inte tänkt att bli så här.
This article focuses on expressions of bereavement and religious coping in medieval miracle stori... more This article focuses on expressions of bereavement and religious coping in medieval miracle stories from Sweden. The stories come from the collections of St. Birgitta (Bridget) of Sweden, the Blessed Bishop Nicolaus Hermanni (Sw. Nils Hermansson) of Linköping and the Blessed Katarina of Vadstena, and were recorded in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Catherine M. Sanders’s modern five stages of bereavement have been used as the theory of analysis through Kay Talbot’s adaptation of the theory for parents in grief. This theoretical foundation has provided new insights into how parental grief was expressed in medieval Sweden – and in stark contrast to Continental research on the same topic. Parents of both sexes expressed their grief outwardly through tears and crying, and a reluctance to accept that their children were dead. Throughout the miracle stories, lay people constructed their own prayers for miraculous intervention without the aid of any priests. This makes fathers and mothers in medieval Sweden agents of their own in terms of praying to God and being able to construct their own forms of religious coping.
Denna artikel är en reflektion över högskolepedagogikens historia, nutid och framtid. I den ident... more Denna artikel är en reflektion över högskolepedagogikens historia, nutid och framtid. I den identifieras två strategier som kan ses som syftet med en högskolepedagogisk utbildning för universitetslärare: motstånd mot negativa konsekvenser av den oerhörda förändring som skett av universiteten de senaste decennierna, samt anpassning till en överlevnad och sökandet efter styrka i dessa förändringar. Artikeln för även fram en framtidsvision om en starkare skrågemenskap inom universitetslärarkåren med fokus på lärarskap genom empatisk dialog snarare än negativt ifrågasättande. På så sätt skulle de olika vetenskapsdisciplinerna tillsammans utgöra kärnan i reflektionen och agerandet för en fortsatt högskolepedagogisk utbildning för universitetslärare. Disciplinerna kan liknas vid dialekter inom ett språk -högskolepedagogik. På samma sätt som ingen enskild dialekt kan definiera hela språket, är det i den disciplinära mångfalden som högskolepedagogiken skapas och där den hämtar styrka för motstånd och anpassning.
Kursguider är en text som finns mellan kursplanens målformuleringar och själva genomförandet av e... more Kursguider är en text som finns mellan kursplanens målformuleringar och själva genomförandet av en kurs. Den skrivs om för varje kurstillfälle för att anpassas till datum och specifika examinationsformer. Som undersökningsmaterial är kursguider därmed mycket praktiknära och ger mycket god insyn i hur undervisning är tänkt att ske. Trots detta har ingen tidigare forskning gjorts i Sverige kring detta material, och internationell forskning finns endast i begränsad omfattning kring denna typ av praktiknära material. Denna artikel är en del i ett större projekt, Bättre kursguider, på Enheten för Pedagogisk utveckling och interaktivt lärande (PIL) vid Göteborgs universitet som bedrivits 2011-2012.
Book Chapters by Viktor Aldrin
Denna artikel handlar om orsaken till denna formulering, nämligen
den kyrkorättsliga debatt som f... more Denna artikel handlar om orsaken till denna formulering, nämligen
den kyrkorättsliga debatt som fördes mellan de båda professorerna Sven
Kjöllerström och Hjalmar Lindroth i Svensk teologisk kvartalskrift (STK)
åren 1945 och 1946. Josefsons inledande formulering till SKB kan förefalla
relativt oväsentlig, men i realiteten speglas här ett komplext och
kyrkorättsligt problematiskt kapitel i svensk kyrkohistoria, nämligen att
det existerar olika versioner av den augsburgska bekännelsen författad
år 1530 ,varav en är officiellt antagen för Svenska kyrkan och de andra
inte. Till problematiken hör att den version av CA som finns med i Svenska kyrkans bekännelseskrifter inte är den officiella för Svenska kyrkan.
Jenny Berglund & Göran Larsson (eds.), Religiösa friskolor i Sverige: Historiska och nutida perspektiv [Religious Private Schools in Sweden: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives], ISBN 9789144003580, Lund: Studentlitteratur, 2008 pp. 157–169., 2008
Ingvar Svanberg & David Westerlund (eds.), Religion i Sverige [Religion in Sweden] (Stockholm: Dialogos), 2088, pp. 196–7, 2008
Conference Presentations by Viktor Aldrin
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Books by Viktor Aldrin
This study was aimed at not only exploring the practice of end of term ceremonies held in churches, but also to investigate negotiations and re-negotiations of the role of religion in the Swedish compulsory school (Swedish: Grundskola) apart from the school subject of Religious Education, from the 1990s to 2016.
A multitude of sources have been used for the study such as databases, minutes, policy documents, media debates, legislation (both political and ecclesiastical), guidelines and curricula. Previous research on the subject is almost non-existent, except for a number of studies regarding the shifting role of the Church of Sweden from state church to semi-independent church in the year 2000. The study is thereby intended not only as a contribution of facts concerning these ceremonies, but also as an interpretation of the facts presented.
The results show a complex and vast practice of school ceremonies held in churches beyond the acceptance or prohibition of a particular ceremony. Conflicting facts, laws and policies are made visible and implicit diverse understandings emerge regarding the role of religion in society in general and in schools in particular. Hence, the study should not be seen as taking a position on either side of the debate about prohibition of the practice, but as an exploration of different standpoints regarding the role of the Church of Sweden in contemporary Sweden’s compulsory schools. An emerging aspect is the key function of schools in enabling pupils to understand the role of religion in society and what it means to live in a global community. End of term ceremonies held in churches are viewed as a game board where debates are set in motion and where different ideals clash, are negotiated and re-negotiated. Key features in these discussions concern the use of confessional ecclesiastical space in obligatory non-confessional education; church buildings as places of education; clerical roles when leading end of term ceremonies; pupils’ compulsory presence; religious symbols in education; attendance at religious activities; and hymns as possible means of discrimination.
As far as the interpretation of the issues that have emerged in the study is concerned, three claims can be made. Firstly, end of term ceremonies held in churches have fluctuated in number during the examined period of time; secondly, there is competition between the Swedish state’s school agencies and the Church of Sweden regarding the importance of religion for children; and thirdly, the concept of religion is interpreted in secular terms by the Swedish state’s school agencies, in conflict with the Church of Sweden’s religious understanding of the concept.
Journal Articles by Viktor Aldrin
Catherine M. Sanders’s modern five stages of bereavement have been used as the theory of analysis through Kay Talbot’s adaptation of the theory for parents in grief. This theoretical foundation has provided new insights into how parental grief was expressed in medieval Sweden – and in stark contrast to Continental research on the same topic. Parents of both sexes expressed their grief outwardly through tears and crying, and a reluctance to accept that their children were dead. Throughout the miracle stories, lay people constructed their own prayers for miraculous intervention without the aid of any priests. This makes fathers and mothers in medieval Sweden agents of their own in terms of praying to God and being able to construct their own forms of religious coping.
Book Chapters by Viktor Aldrin
den kyrkorättsliga debatt som fördes mellan de båda professorerna Sven
Kjöllerström och Hjalmar Lindroth i Svensk teologisk kvartalskrift (STK)
åren 1945 och 1946. Josefsons inledande formulering till SKB kan förefalla
relativt oväsentlig, men i realiteten speglas här ett komplext och
kyrkorättsligt problematiskt kapitel i svensk kyrkohistoria, nämligen att
det existerar olika versioner av den augsburgska bekännelsen författad
år 1530 ,varav en är officiellt antagen för Svenska kyrkan och de andra
inte. Till problematiken hör att den version av CA som finns med i Svenska kyrkans bekännelseskrifter inte är den officiella för Svenska kyrkan.
Conference Presentations by Viktor Aldrin
This study was aimed at not only exploring the practice of end of term ceremonies held in churches, but also to investigate negotiations and re-negotiations of the role of religion in the Swedish compulsory school (Swedish: Grundskola) apart from the school subject of Religious Education, from the 1990s to 2016.
A multitude of sources have been used for the study such as databases, minutes, policy documents, media debates, legislation (both political and ecclesiastical), guidelines and curricula. Previous research on the subject is almost non-existent, except for a number of studies regarding the shifting role of the Church of Sweden from state church to semi-independent church in the year 2000. The study is thereby intended not only as a contribution of facts concerning these ceremonies, but also as an interpretation of the facts presented.
The results show a complex and vast practice of school ceremonies held in churches beyond the acceptance or prohibition of a particular ceremony. Conflicting facts, laws and policies are made visible and implicit diverse understandings emerge regarding the role of religion in society in general and in schools in particular. Hence, the study should not be seen as taking a position on either side of the debate about prohibition of the practice, but as an exploration of different standpoints regarding the role of the Church of Sweden in contemporary Sweden’s compulsory schools. An emerging aspect is the key function of schools in enabling pupils to understand the role of religion in society and what it means to live in a global community. End of term ceremonies held in churches are viewed as a game board where debates are set in motion and where different ideals clash, are negotiated and re-negotiated. Key features in these discussions concern the use of confessional ecclesiastical space in obligatory non-confessional education; church buildings as places of education; clerical roles when leading end of term ceremonies; pupils’ compulsory presence; religious symbols in education; attendance at religious activities; and hymns as possible means of discrimination.
As far as the interpretation of the issues that have emerged in the study is concerned, three claims can be made. Firstly, end of term ceremonies held in churches have fluctuated in number during the examined period of time; secondly, there is competition between the Swedish state’s school agencies and the Church of Sweden regarding the importance of religion for children; and thirdly, the concept of religion is interpreted in secular terms by the Swedish state’s school agencies, in conflict with the Church of Sweden’s religious understanding of the concept.
Catherine M. Sanders’s modern five stages of bereavement have been used as the theory of analysis through Kay Talbot’s adaptation of the theory for parents in grief. This theoretical foundation has provided new insights into how parental grief was expressed in medieval Sweden – and in stark contrast to Continental research on the same topic. Parents of both sexes expressed their grief outwardly through tears and crying, and a reluctance to accept that their children were dead. Throughout the miracle stories, lay people constructed their own prayers for miraculous intervention without the aid of any priests. This makes fathers and mothers in medieval Sweden agents of their own in terms of praying to God and being able to construct their own forms of religious coping.
den kyrkorättsliga debatt som fördes mellan de båda professorerna Sven
Kjöllerström och Hjalmar Lindroth i Svensk teologisk kvartalskrift (STK)
åren 1945 och 1946. Josefsons inledande formulering till SKB kan förefalla
relativt oväsentlig, men i realiteten speglas här ett komplext och
kyrkorättsligt problematiskt kapitel i svensk kyrkohistoria, nämligen att
det existerar olika versioner av den augsburgska bekännelsen författad
år 1530 ,varav en är officiellt antagen för Svenska kyrkan och de andra
inte. Till problematiken hör att den version av CA som finns med i Svenska kyrkans bekännelseskrifter inte är den officiella för Svenska kyrkan.