Hur förkunnas evangeliet i Göteborgs stift? En homiletisk studie med hermeneutisk ansats av predikningar tredje söndagen i fastan.

Abstract

Abstract The main purpose of this essay is to examine how the gospel is preached by priests in the Church of Sweden in the diocese of Gothenburg on the Sunday chosen for the essay. To be able to investigate this, I have watched, listened to, and transcribed six sermons from three different regions in Gothenburg that was broadcasted via the Internet on the seventh of March 2021. These sermons have then been processed based on an analysis schedule that has been prepared and revised during the work of this thesis. Along with this schedule, I have used a hermeneutic approach in the processing and analysis of the sermons. The theoretical framework of the thesis is based on selected parts of the Church of Sweden's own materials such as literature from its educational institutes, episcopal letters, and selected articles from the Augsburg Confession. This material has been processed and analyzed in order to find what can be argued to be a normative definition of what "preaching the gospel" means within the Church of Sweden. Based on the definition specified within the framework of the essay, I have then examined the sermon material. The results show that in five out of six examined sermons there was preaching of the gospel based on the thesis definition in its theoretical framework. The results further show that there is a great breadth and freedom in how the priest can choose to preach the gospel. The categories I have used in my analysis move within a broad framework without sacrificing the core of the gospel. All six sermons I used in the survey are different. This becomes clear through how the priests choose to preach on Sunday's theme and how the gospel was preached. The examined material contains a range of theological and personal points of departure where five out of six sermons have in common that they preach the gospel according to the theoretical framework and the definition found in the framework of the thesis. The consensus on the proclamation of the gospel indicates that the Church of Sweden emphasizes and maintains the importance of the proclamation both in its historical theological roots and in the priest's education and ministry role and that the gospel can be preached based on both an individual and collective breadth.