Lex orandi, lex credendi eller lex credendi, lex orandi. Om liturgi och ecklesiologi i Teologiska grundprinciper för arbetet i 2006 års kyrkohandboksgrupp och Mässans grundordning

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyze the ecclesiology implicit in the documents Teologiska grundprinciper för arbetet i 2006 års kyrkohandboksgrupp [Basic Theological Principles for the work in the Church manual group of 2006] and Mässans grundordning [Basic order of the Mass]. These documents, composed on behalf of the Church of Sweden’s Church board, are intended as the basis for a new church service manual in 2015. By means of ecclesiological theories drawn from Avery Dulles and Alexander Schmemann, I analyze the documents in the light of the Swedish Folk Church tradition. A shift over time in this tradition is described, from the understanding of the Church as "Church for the people", to the Church as "the people's Church". My underlying hypothesis is that this shift has generated a dualism where two different aspects of the church have drifted apart, namely, with Dulles´ terminology, the Church as “a mystical communion of grace” and the Church as “a network of friendly interpersonal relationships”. In this process, the latter has come to dominate. This pattern is revealed in Basic order of the Mass, in which frame and content tend to be separated. The dualism also stands out in the Basic Theological Principles in terms of the identity and role of the Church. Finally, I offer a discussion of this dualism inspired by Schmemann’s account of the Church and secularism, and I remark on the lack of understanding of the Church as “body of Christ” in later Lutheran perceptions of sacrament.