"Allt detta lovar jag" : löftesmomentet vid prästvigning, med särskild hänsyn till debatten om prästeden vid kyrkomötena 1868–1893 och dess senare följder

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to describe and analyse changes in the pledge element of the ordination in the Church of Sweden. The transition in 1893 from a clerical oath to an affirmation will be particularly in focus and its causes and effects identified. My intention is thus to contribute to the history of the Swedish clerical oath, describing its complexity and multifarious range of meaning. In addition my purpose is to discuss the criteria of the oath. The arguments concerning the clerical oath as expressed in the debates of the General Synod are accounted for and analysed. The study shows the special prerequisites of taking the oath, the consequences of it and the close connection between the swearing of the oath and some form of admission to power. In order to make sure that the exercise of power is as constructive as possible the person taking the oath will be in conscience bound by his sworn duty. The oath is situated in a border area between theology and jurisdiction, church history and legal history. The religious elements in the oath have often been that the name of God has been pronounced and sacred objects touched. Part I provides a brief summary of how the oath has been used at the ordination up to the mid-nineteenth century. To be able to assess this practice of the oath it proves vital to include a longer historical perspective regarding both the clerical oath and oaths in general. I have also included a section on thought structures and events of importance to the debate on the clerical oath, forming its ideological context. Part II presents a chronological survey of the process of decision leading to the clerical oath being replaced by an affirmation with an account of the members appearing in the General Synod and of the arguments used in the debates about the clerical oath. After the chronological account follows a logical survey of the arguments. This survey is arranged so as to show the main aspects of the use of the oath emerging during the lengthy synodal debate. Part III. Here some of the arguments from the 25-year-long synodal discussion are critically scrutinized and central issues concerning oath and pledge penetrated. Changes of the ordination vows and affirmation in the course of the 20th century have been followed up.