Hyvää pääsiäistä!

The whole Laestadian-ism team wishes everyone a peaceful and inspirational holiday period. We would also like to welcome in our team MSocSc Sandra Wallenius, who officially begins her postgraduate research in our project today.

Mika

Greetings and a good blog FYI

It's 2010 and we are officially up and running. As of 1.1.2010 the project employs Tapio Nykänen; Sandra Wallenius begins on 1.4.2010, and rest of the team will join them later. All the researchers employed by the project will contribute to this blog: tell us about their research and comment on topical issues regarding laestadianism and political theology/religion in general.

The Prosblogion is a blog on the philosophy of religion I just added on Lars' blogroll. Looks like like quality posts and regular updates. If you are interested in the current debates in theism/atheism and apologetics, go have a look.

Mika

Eating, drinking and sleeping political theology

The International Research Network on Religion and Democarcy (IRNRD) held its annual conference on 14.-15.12.2009 at the Corvinus University in Budapest, Hungary. The theme of the conference was Political Theology for the 21st Century: Trends and Tasks. Among speakers invited were Lieven Boeve (Catholic University Leuven), Michael Hoelzl (University of Manchester), Peter Jonkers (Tilburg University), András Lánczi (Corvinus University) and Theo de Wit (Tilburg University). I gave a talk on the laestadian movement in Finland and presented an outline of our research project.

From the left: Tom Bailey (John Cabot University), Peter Losonczi (University of West Hungary), Aakash Singh (LUISS University Rome), David Tombs (Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin), Lieven Boeve, Peter Jonkers and the hand of Domenico Melidoro (LUISS University, Rome).

The venue of the conference was faithful to its theme. The participants stayed at Kálvin Ház -- A hotel in downtown Budapest I can warmly recommend -- and the conference dinner was served in Spinoza Restaurant:



Well done by the organizers! Corvinus University itself was originally established to honour Karl Marx, whose politico-theological relevance may appear less obvious.

My first meeting with the network can only be described as a massive succé! It was indeed a privilege to work with such an esteemed line-up of colleagues. My notes are rich with interesting excursions into new political theologies and intriguing ideas to work with over the next couple of years. Thanks again for Peter Losonczi and Akaash Singh for their effort and for inviting me along. Next year’s meeting will be held in Rome and we are planning to bring the network to Rovaniemi in 2011 or 2012. Excellent stuff!

Mika

Political dimensions of the Laestadianism in the research focus funded by Academy of Finland

Thanks freepathways for the heads-up:

Political dimensions of the Laestadianism in the research focus funded by Academy of Finland: "

The Academy of Finland’s Research Council for Culture and Society has recently decided to fund a new research project on Laestadianism from the political point of view:  Laestadian-ism: Political Theology and Civil Religion in Secularizing Finland. The project  will be managed  by Dr. Mika Luoma-aho (Assistant Professor of International Relations, University of Lapland), to the tune of 375,000 Euro over the period 1 January 2010 through 31 December 2012.
The research project is welcome and important  in this global situation. We need more understanding about both national and international religional movements, especially about their societal and political roles and impacts.  It is expectable that the results of the project will be appreciated by the researcers and the field of the practice in the society, especially in Finland where the Laestadian movement is a largest, powerful separatistic movement in the The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.

(Via Omat polut - etnisten vanhoillislestadiolaisten kertomuksia ja kokemuksia.)

Mika

Congrats Sanna!

One of the post-docs of the Laestadian-ism team, MSocSc Sanna Valkonen, successfully defended her doctoral thesis at the University of Lapland on Friday, 4th of December. Her examiners Veli-Pekka Lehtola (University of Oulu) and Elina Penttinen (University of Tampere) also performed their duties exceedingly well. Sanna's dissertation titled Poliittinen saamelaisuus was published by Vastapaino. Go get it now!

The karonkka was an absolute blast! Sanna (far left) and the Girls performed a number of Finnish evergreens for the enjoyment of all.

Mika

Political Theology in Budapest, December 2009

On 14--15 December your host will attend an international conference at the Corvinus University in lovely Budapest. Political Theology for the 21st Century is the title of the meeting and it is organized by the International Research Network on Religion and Democracy (IRNRD).

Looking at the program I will give a talk about our project on Laestadian-ism on Monday and chair a panel on Tuesday. Our partner Péter Losonczi, a college associate professor at the West Hungarian University (Szombathely), will present a paper on Johann Baptist Metz's categories for a politics of peace on Monday. Hopefully we will get a chance to talk about project collaboration and come up with a plan to bring Peter to Lapland!

Mika

First things: who are we and why are we here?

This weblog is the home of a research project focusing on the political dimension of laestadianism, a lutheran revival movement based on the heritage of a Sami botanist and preacher Lars Levi Laestadius -- click the picture on top of the right column to learn more. The project is funded by the Academy of Finland's board of culture and society for 2010-2, with the University of Lapland's Faculty of Social Sciences as its home institution. In our research we combine current theoretical literatures on political theology and civil religion with an empirically oriented approach to the movement in Finnish society.

This weblog will be updated with current information on project events and public relations, commentary and analysis on issues touching the laestadian movement in Finland and elsewhere, as well as debates on political theology and civil religion in general. For more up-to-date updates do follow me on Twitter!

Mika