Alkohol till min nästa? Hur nattvardens gemenskapsmotiv i möte med Lögstrups etik, skulle kunna motivera ett alkoholfritt nattvardsvin i Svenska kyrkan

Abstract

How the Eucharist’s motive of communion in combination with Lögstrup’s ethics could motivate a non-alcoholic sacramental wine in the Church of Sweden. The purpose of this essay is to illuminate the meeting between the person who gives out bread and wine in the Eucharist and the person who receives the wine, from tree perspectives: the communion in the Eucharist, the ethical demand of K.E. Lögstrup, and today’s knowledge of alcohol and it’s negative effects on the human being. I want to study how these three perspectives can affect the interpersonal meeting in the Eucharist when it comes to giving out alcoholic wine, and to investigate if Lögstrups ethical demand could be used by the Church of Sweden when to decide about a sacramental wine with or without alcohol. I have started to study K.E Lögstrup and his theory about the ethical demand, and then researched the Eucharist in the Church of Sweden and the results of recent sociological and medical research of alcohol’s effect on the individual and on society. This has been done through relevant literature studies. The motive of communion in the Eucharist has become more prominent in the 20th century and this has brought on questions of ethical standpoints. Many people today think of the Eucharist as communion and meeting and that it results in actions of love towards my neighbour. According to Lögstrup and his theory about the ethical demand, the individual shall be unselfish and sacrifice his own gaining. Not to get happy, but because life is a gift to the individual and to the neighbour, and the individual has the neighbour’s life in his hand. When studying the meeting between the individual and the neighbour in the Eucharist with the eyes of Lögstrup and his demand, my conclusion is that it is hard to practice Lögstrup’s ethical demand in this particular interpersonal situation, but if the Church of Sweden is put in the individual’s place then the concern about the vulnerable must be considered before the church’s own expectations.