Förtröstans hermeneutik : Nathan Söderbloms lutheranvändning och traditionsbearbetningens problematik

Sammanfattning: Sayings about Christian tradition and its connection to the surrounding community and culture are in a higher degree made invisible in Swedish society today. This is due to a continuing move of secularization but also to the development of other understandings of tradition within a pluralistic society. This change raises questions whether it is possible to reconstruct an area for Christian tradition so that Christian faith is considered relevant and adequate within the public sphere. What resources for this are there within Lutheran tradition? Nathan Söderblom (1866-1931) a Swedish theologian and archbishop is facing a time with similar challenges, such as ideology of anti-religious materialism and dogmatic readings of Christian tradition. While studying amongst others Friedrich Schleiemacher, Söderblom identifies another understanding of religion. That is religion grounded in experience of faith instead of dogmatic reading of scripture. Söderblom pays a lot of attention to the reformer Martin Luther and refer to Luther in diverse issues of his time. To Söderblom it becomes clear that the center of the Reformation is the person and religion of Luther. And religion for Luther was trust in Jesus Christ. Söderblom studies Luther from a psychological perspective and this together with his studies in comparative religion convinces him further that trust is the core of Lutheran tradition. Trust becomes of fundamental importance when Söderblom is addressing the issues of his time, and as such transforming the tradition.Here the hermeneutical and correlation- theological work of David Tracy and other theologian´s in the same tradition are used to make the understanding of Söderblom´s transformation of tradition deeper. In turn Söderblom´s work contributes to the ongoing discussion within the theoretical field of correlation. This theoretical discussion sheds light on conditions for a transformation of tradition of today.