Pufendorf redivivus: Stat-kyrka-relationen i ett katolskt perspektiv

Abstract

Pufendorf redivivus: The state-church relationship in a catholic perspective. Locating the beginning of the modem State-Church debate at the end of the Protestant Reformation, the article briefly traces the development of Pufendorf s theory of the Church as a collegium under State law and the opposing Catholic doctrine of the Church as a societas perfecta independent of the State; surveys the State-Church relationship in Germany, Switzerland and France; and summarises the development in Swedish law towards greater freedom of religion up to the most recent reforms, decoupling the (Lutheran) Church of Sweden from the State machinery (whilst retaining ultimate State control). Noting that, apart from the Church of Sweden, religious groups may only, now as previously, organise themselves in private-law associations, it concludes that the recent reform has preserved the traditional Swedish structure along majoritarian lines by endorsing Pufendorf s theory, thus in a sense further pursuing the Protestant Reformation in Sweden.