The Denominational Space of Modern Sweden: Christianity

Abstract

This article considers spatial and temporal diffusion of Christian values in Sweden and examines the features of the country’s confessional space. The work aims to identify historical and geographical characteristics of the formation of Sweden’s Christian space and of its current transformation. Another objective is to introduce data on the economic activities of large religious organisations into scholarly use. The relevance of this work lies in the fact that Christianity is the most popular religion in Sweden, given that it is religion that has a profound effect on worldview in a society. The article describes the transformation of territorial and canonical structure of Christian denominations in Sweden. It is argued that, despite secularisation of Swedish society, religion remains a key component in both host and immigrant cultures, which requires a study of the denominational space. Special attention is paid to recent changes in Sweden’s Christian space. The authors emphasise the growing role of the parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, which is manifested in the rising number of religious facilities and a growing territorial presence. This study is the first in its kind to analyse data on the economic organisation of a foreign country’s denominational space. The authors establish a connection between migration processes in a society and changes in the internal structure of its Christian space.

Keywords

• geography of religions
• denominational space
• economic activities of religious organisations
• administrative church structure