Nordic Majority Churches as Agents in the Welfare State: Critical Voices and/or Complementary Providers?

Authors

  • Anne Birgitta Pessi Collegium for Advanced Study, University of Helsinki
  • Olav Helge Angell Diakonhjemmet, University College in Oslo, Norway.
  • Per Pettersson TF - Service Research Center, Karlstad University, Sweden.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33356/temenos.7901

Abstract

The article compares the role in welfare provision of the majority churches in Finland, Norway and Sweden. The Nordic welfare state model implies a large public sector and a correspondingly small contribution to welfare provision by the voluntary sector, of which church-based welfare activities, as defined in the article, are part. The data used in the article are derived from a European project, ‘Welfare and religion in a European perspective’, concerning the role of European majority churches as agents of welfare provision. The findings show many similarities between the Nordic cases, but also some differences. In all cases it is clear that both the church and the public authorities take the Nordic welfare state model more or less for granted. The Swedish and Norwegian cases, unlike the Finnish one, show that the public authorities at the municipal level are fairly unfamiliar with local church-based welfare activities. The article raises topical questions as to the role of the Nordic churches in social policy and as moral authorities in contemporary society.

Keywords: Welfare, Church, Finland, Norway, Sweden

Author Biographies

Anne Birgitta Pessi, Collegium for Advanced Study, University of Helsinki

ANNE BIRGITTA PESSI, ThD, has a title of Docent in Theology (University of Helsinki) and in Sociology (University of Eastern Finland). Pessi works as an Academy Research Fellow and a Deputy Director at Collegium for Advanced Study, University of Helsinki.

 

Olav Helge Angell, Diakonhjemmet, University College in Oslo, Norway.

OLAV HELGE ANGELL, PhD, is Associate Professor at Diakonhjemmet, University College in Oslo, Norway.


Per Pettersson, TF - Service Research Center, Karlstad University, Sweden.

PER PETTERSSON is Associate Professor at CTF - Service Research Center, Karlstad University, Sweden.

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Published

2009-09-01

How to Cite

Pessi, A. B., Angell, O. H., & Pettersson, P. (2009). Nordic Majority Churches as Agents in the Welfare State: Critical Voices and/or Complementary Providers?. Temenos - Nordic Journal for the Study of Religion, 45(2). https://doi.org/10.33356/temenos.7901

Issue

Vol. 45 No. 2 (2009)

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2009 Temenos - Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion

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