31.5.2024
Doctoral thesis on political theology
B.Th., M.A. Ewa Lindqvist Hotz’ doctoral thesis in Systematic Theology will be put forth for public defence at the Faculty of Arts, Psychology and Theology at Åbo Akademi University.
The thesis is titled Faran ropar mitt namn! Lydia Wahlström som politisk teologi.
A public defence of doctoral thesis takes place on Friday 7 June 2024 at 2.15 PM at Stora Auditoriet, ASA building, Vänrikinkatu 3, Turku. Associate Professor, Senior Lecturer, Johanna Gustafsson Lundberg, Lund University, Sweden will serve as opponent and Professor Bengt Kristensson Uggla, Åbo Akademi University, as custos. You can follow the defence online.
Summary:
“Danger Calls My Name! Lydia Wahlström as Political Theology” (“Faran ropar mitt namn! Lydia Wahlström som politisk teologi”) cuts right into the very heart of two of the most burning issues of our time, namely the political status of the individual human person and the future of democracy.
The anthropological foundation of modern democracy originates from the Jewish and Christian understanding of the dignity and integrity of the singular human person. The author claims that Christian political theology has a historical duty to safeguard this theological legacy of democracy, today and for future generations, through inspiring individuals to embrace the political identity embraced by them as human beings.
This doctoral dissertation is a constructive contribution to the field of political theology by means of biography. Through writing and interpreting life stories about a specific historical person, Lydia Wahlström (1869–1954), a famous woman in Swedish public life in the first half of the 20th century, the author develops theological perspectives that defend and reinforce an anthropology which underpins democracy, i.e. the freedom and responsibility of the individual human person.
The investigation shows how an innovative use of theoretical perspectives from Scandinavian Creation Theology may be an important resource in present-day endeavours in the development of understandings of Christianity that harmonize with the anthropological foundation of democracy. The constructive result of the authors explorations is conceptualized in terms of ”Lydia Wahlström as political theology”.
The overall investigational design in this book is methodologically shaped by Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutics and his understanding of interpretation as a threefold interpretation process: prefiguration (Part I), configuration (Part II), and refiguration (Part III).
Ewa Lindqvist Hotz was born in 1972 in Lund, Sweden. She can be reached by email ewa.lindqvisthotz@svenskakyrkan.se.
Click here for a press photo of the doctoral student.
Instructions for following the doctoral defence remotely:
To follow the defence, you need the Zoom software or the Google Chrome browser. You do not need to create a Zoom account to follow the defence. If you install the application, you participate by clicking on the meeting link, after which you should allow the link to open in the Zoom app.