Nation och folkkyrka. Nationen som ”föreställd gemenskap” i Einar Billings folkkyrkoteologi, i ljuset av William Cavanaughs nationalstatskritik

Abstract

This text examines the relationship between church and nation in the folkchurch ecclesiology of Einar Billing (1871-1939). As its point of departure the article uses the concept of “imagined communities”, combined with William Cavanaugh's theological analysis of the nation state. The article outlines how the Young Church Movement, with which Billing is associated, claims that the Christian faith and the church must be considered as an indispensable part of the massive contemporary effort to establish Sweden as imagined community. In the light of this analysis Billing's ecclesiology is then presented as, on one hand, not dependent on Sweden as a national community. On the other hand, it also becomes obvious, when compared to Cavanaugh's critical evaluation, that Billing's theology does not imply any identifiable incentive to challenge, or suggest any alternative to, the nation as a strong imagined community. As a result, it is possible to relatively easy harmonise the folk church ecclesiology of Billing, with nationalistic ideas. However, the article also demonstrates that this possibility of a nationalist-friendly ecclesiology is something that Billing himself considered as problematic.