Ecotheology from the Sámi church council of the Church of Norway

An ecocritical analysis of statements

Bibliographic Data

ID10793153
AuthorsTom Sverre Bredal-Tomren (0000-0002-3441-1612, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume79
Issue2
Pages122-143
Publication date2025-07-03
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueStudia Theologica - Nordic Journal of Theology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0039-338X • E-ISSN: 1502-7791
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0039338x.2024.2443491
OpenAlexW4406406473
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited8

Since as far back as the 1990s, different theologians have proclaimed that Sámi spirituality provides useful wisdom for churches seeking to develop ecotheological reflection. I explore to what degree statements from the Sámi church council (SCC) confirm this claim. I do so by analysing statements from the SCC on environmental questions, using methods from established ecological hermeneutics. I show that the minutes from the SCC contain an ecotheology that places more emphasis on social than on ecological sustainability and that the theology embedded in the statements reflects the dominant ecotheology of the Church of Norway (CoN). This finding stands in contrast to previous studies that conclude that Sámi ecotheology challenges the CoN and other Western churches to focus more on the connection between humans and non-human nature in future ecotheological statements. The gap between previous findings and those presented here invites discussion of whether this type of text and the Western analytical methods used here are suitable for studying Sámi ecospirituality. In the conclusion, I state that Western researchers and church leaders are faced with a challenge in terms of selecting relevant data and developing a methodology that bridges Sámi spirituality and Western contemporary ecotheology

Archaeology · Art · Church History · Theology · Classics · History · Philosophy · Religion, Ecology, and Ethics · Religion, Society, and Development · Religious studies · Religious Tourism and Spaces

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