Hidden Ecclesiology: How Statistics Shaped the Church of Sweden

Abstract

T Church of Sweden, in comparison with many churches, is extraordinary in its long-standing collection of data on “church service” statistics – a compilation that can serve as the basis for valuable research. What begs to be questioned, however, is the relatively one-sided manner in which these church service statistics have been interpreted since the 1960s; more specifically, the type of research methodology which usually has served as the basis for the analysis. Researchers in sociology of religion have dominated as interpreters of worship statistics and strategies with the effect that the underlying theories of the sociology of religion directly or indirectly may have influenced the church’s worship and, probably, by extension, the prevailing understandings of liturgy and church in the Church of Sweden today.