Teologisering i predikan : Vad det är och hur det skedde i Svenska kyrkan år 2020

Sammanfattning: Every Sunday, sermons are delivered in over a thousand churches within the Church of Sweden. In each of them, theology is not just applied but also ”done”, or formulated. Using the concept of “theologizing” and building on theories from two professors in homiletics, David Schnasa Jacobsen and Leonora Tubbs Tisdale, this thesis empirically investigates in what ways preachers in the Lutheran Church of Sweden (CoS) formulate and shape theology in their sermons with the help of biblical texts, traditions, and references to context. It also explores some of the main motifs in the theologies formulated.Two main questions frame this research:1. In what ways do preachers in the Church of Sweden use contexts, biblical texts and traditions to formulate theology in their sermons?2. How are some of the main motifs in these theologies formulated?Using an analytical model developed for this purpose, I analyzed 228 sermons collected in the year 2020 from the Lutheran Church of Sweden. The approach was abductive in that the model was based on a theoretical framework, but also influenced to a certain extent by what emerged in the material. In addition to thematic sorting and searching for patterns, I examined certain aspects more closely in a smaller number of sermons.Presenting the results of the analysis, I use the image of a macramé, a type of handicraft where threads are tied together by knots to form a pattern. In this image, the different kinds of threads represent biblical texts, contexts, and traditions. I show that the preachers interpret not only the biblical texts, but also the contexts and traditions and that the interpretations mutually influence each other. Using the concept of juxtaposition, I point to the significance of how preachers select from traditions, contexts, and biblical texts.I also introduce the concept of crux in sermons and define it as “what emerges in the sermon about what makes its message necessary to be heard right now”. I explore the crux as a form of knot in the macramé; a means by which the messages of the sermons are tied to the needs, difficulties, and questions that the preachers have identified among the listeners. The concept of crux exposes the theologizing done by the correlation method, as associated with theologian Paul Tillich, where theology is supposed to formulate answers to people's existential questions.I illuminate another aspect of theologizing in preaching through a focus on verbal images in the material. I argue from both homiletic literature and analysis of the material that verbal images – analogies, examples, and metaphors – are not theologically neutral. With their help, the preachers shape theology.The main motifs I investigate are: images of God; anthropologies; missions given to the listeners; and ‘the Gospel’.