Religious Origins of Democratic Pluralism
Paul Peter Waldenstrom and the Politics of the Swedish Awakening 1868-1917
by Mark Safstrom
Paperback (No longer our product)
(January 2017)
ISBN: 9780227176191
5.98 x 9.02 inches
Price: $41.00
In stock
Focusing on the contribution of preacher and politician Paul Peter Waldenstrom, this is an examination of the role of the Swedish Church in the emergence of political pluralism and social democracy in 19th and early 20th century Sweden.
The Religious Origins of Democratic Pluralism focuses on explaining one of the riddles that fascinated historians and political scientists for much of the twentieth century, namely, the origin and development of Swedish social democracy. While othercountries in Europe experienced dramatic swings between radical and conservative political parties, which resulted in tragic experiments with totalitarian regimes, Sweden, by contrast, miraculously seemed to avoid these extremes, and instead maintained space for democratic discussion and even dissent. This peaceful transformation was facilitated by political actors who crafted the discourse of their debates in such a way that pluralism came to be valued as an ethical good and then vigorously defended. This study examines the decades leading up to the emergence of social democracy in Sweden, and in particular, the career of one prominent politician, Paul Peter Waldenstrom (1838-1917). Waldenstrom was a clergyman, revival preacher, educator,author, and newspaper editor, whose political career began in 1868 with his participation in the Church Assembly of the Church of Sweden. His role expanded during his years of service in the Swedish parliament, the Riksdag, from 1884-1905. This study places Waldenstrom in dialogue with his contemporaries and opponents as a means of identifying how the theological values and priorities of the religious awakening were articulated in the public sphere and contributed to the development of a new political order.
Mark Safstrom, PhD, is Lecturer of Swedish and Scandinavian Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has previously published The Swedish Pietists: A Reader and a translation of Paul Peter Waldenstrom’s allegorical novel, Squire Adamsson: Or, Where Do You Live?
- By (author) Mark Safstrom
"Plurality - of perspectives, principles, and persons - is a fact, not an option. So is the intense religiosity of millions amidst a 'secular age.' Safstrom's measured and finely written study of Waldenstrom not only vindicates a largely forgotten thinker, preacher, and politician, but makes one of the best cases I have read for pluralism as an ethic fit for the facts of plurality, and Christianity as a basis for democracy." Ned O'Gorman, Conrad Humanities Professorial Scholar, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign "In the nineteenth century, Sweden went through a fundamental social and economic transformation and by the mid-twentieth century, it had emerged as an influential model of social progress. In this fresh and insightful book, Safstrom highlights the interrelations between religion and politics for these processes." Dag Blanck, Swedish Institute for North American Studies, Department of English at Uppsala University
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