Ongoing research

Shīʿite Salafism

Professor Mohammad Fazlhashemi examines how Sunni Salafist thought has influenced theological thought within the Imāmiyya shīʿa. During the 1930s, a number of Shīʿa Muslim theologians/jurists directed criticism against notions within Imāmiyya shīʿa. Folk religiosity and philosophical theology were criticized with revelation as a point of departure. In previous research, this criticism has been presented as an expression of a reformation within the Imāmiyya shīʿa, which later came to pass. Parallels have been drawn to Martin Luther's thought, however, without showing whether the critics had come into contact with Luther's thinking. The project examines various conceivable influences with a focus on issues surrounding the emphasis of the "authentic form of Islam". The focus is on a number of Shīʿa Muslim thinkers with great influence over theological, legal and political thinking in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The folk church in operation

Docent Thomas Ekstrand is working on a conceptual analytical study on the content and function of the folk church concept as a church political rhetorical strategy, especially in connection with Benedikt Brunner's research on the development of the folk church concept in German debate. The concept of folk church is central in Swedish ecclesiological debate, not least in Swedish of Sweden, but its content has become increasingly unclear at the same time. During the fall of 2021, church elections were held in the Church of Sweden. In the election campaign, the folk church concept came to be actualized in a new way, not least in relation to the discussion about the continued role of the political parties in the church electoral system. Several nomination groups highlighted their own position as "folk church" in opposition to the church vision of other nomination groups. The term was also used to position different nomination groups in relation to the general political debate. The project intends to shed light on these events with a deeper understanding of the folk church concept.

Music and theology

Professor Mattias Martinson is working on a project on music and theology that will result in a co-authored monograph, that will be published by Routledge in early 2024. Partners in the project are Dr. Andrew Hass, Univeristy of Stirling Scotland and Professor Laurens ten Kate, University of Utrecht, Netherlands. The working title is "The Music of Theology" and is an attempt to consider music as an opportunity to ask new types of theological questions, not – as is often the case – trying to illuminate common theological conclusions based on music, as if the music itself had a given religious or theological essence or function. Three main sections are planned, with the first being Martinson's responsibility: music and language, music and space, music and silence.

Forming death and the power of words

Associate professor Maria Essunger works with material where language and storytelling are driving forces for theological thinking about the significance of death for the life lived. She starts partly from witness literature, where Primo Levi's and Etty Hillesum's texts form the basic material, partly from Hélène Cixous's poetic and political philosophy. The disparate production of these three thinkers is clearly linked to a Judeo-Christian (religious and secular) tradition based on the need to write in face of death and on the performative power of writing in relation to life. Throughout the texts attention is also drawn to the boundaries that distinguish people from each other, from other animals and/or from a divine reality. Great emphasis is placed on issues related to resistance, representation (in a literary and existential sense) and gender. The goal is a monograph in Swedish that presents and develops research that has previously been presented in English-language forums.

Contemporary Islamic Liberation Theology

Associate Professor Emin Poljarevic examines the dynamics of the development of Islamic political theology and liberation theology of various Muslim thinkers, theologians and activists in a range of different Muslim minority and majority contexts. An example of a committed Muslim thinker and activist is Malcolm X, who attempted to formulate and apply a range of Islamic ethical and theological principles in a civil rights activist context. In connection with this, Islamist-oriented movements' understanding of the concept of sovereignty within the framework of their various political theologies, as well as the development of liberation theological discourse by a number of Muslim thinkers in a European and North American context, are also examined in order to meet a number of different challenges faced by Muslim minorities after the turn of the millennium.

Theology and Sufism in Morocco 1400–2000

Assistant professor Tobias Andersson currently seeks funding for a major research project that will examine the relation between theology and Sufism in Morocco in the period 1400 to 2000 from both historical and theological perspectives.