The Swedish Church Law 1686 () was a Swedish law which (with some alterations) regulated the relationship between the state and the church in Sweden from 1686 until the Swedish Church Law 1992, as well as in Finland (earlier a Swedish province) until 1870. It replaced the previous Swedish Church Ordinance 1571.

History

During the reign of

Charles X Gustav of Sweden Charles X Gustav, also Carl Gustav ( sv, Karl X Gustav; 8 November 1622 – 13 February 1660), was King of Sweden from 1654 until his death. He was the son of John Casimir, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg and Catherine of Sweden. Afte ...

, two suggestions were put forward to replace the Swedish Church Ordinance 1571: one by , and one by . In 1663, an investigation to change the law was formally issued, and in 1682, the two suggestions were merged. A commission was formed to process it, consisting mainly of bishops and superintendents, including Olof Svebilius,

Haquin Spegel Haquin Spegel (Haqvin) (14 June 1645 – 17 April 1714), born ''Håkan Spegel'' in Ronneby in Blekinge (today in Sweden), was a religious author and hymn writer who held several bishop's seats. Life In 1675, the King Charles XI of Sweden appoin ...

, and . Their revised proposal was adopted as the 1686 Church Law. The Swedish Church Law 1686 abolished

canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...

and the

Law of Uppland The Law of Uppland (; ) was the law that applied in Uppland, Sweden, from 1296 to the beginning of the 1350s. It was drafted by a Royal commission, enacted at the three Folkland (Swedish provinces), Folkland Thing (assembly), Things, and given Roy ...

church charter. The state, represented by the monarch, by then the king of an absolute monarchy, was the head of the Church and thus had final say in matters of the Church, but there was to be no political administration or political bureaucracy between the monarch and the bishops of the Church. Attempts by the state to create an ecclesiastical office with political authority failed due to the resistance of the bishops and clergy. Among the notable reforms introduced were the and the

parish register A parish register in an ecclesiastical parish is a handwritten volume, normally kept in the parish church in which certain details of religious ceremonies marking major events such as baptisms (together with the dates and names of the parents), ma ...

. Henceforth, the parish

vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

of every parish of the nation was obliged to conduct a ('household interview'), an annual survey of the religious knowledge of every household in the parish to ensure all parishioners' knowledge of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

and

Luther's Small Catechism ''Luther's Small Catechism'' (german: Der Kleine Katechismus) is a catechism written by Martin Luther and published in 1529 for the training of children. Luther's Small Catechism reviews the Ten Commandments, the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Pr ...

. A consequence of this was the need for every parishioner, regardless of age and sex, to know how to read, as it would be necessary to read the Bible and the catechism to pass the annual survey. Since the predecessor law from 1571, children's schools for reading, writing and counting had already been an obligation in the cities, but this law resulted in the need for every village and rural community to organise basic schooling for their children, normally by paying a ('school master') or ('schoolmadam') to hold lessons in the local vicarage, and from this point forward,

illiteracy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in Writing, written form in some specific context of use. In other wo ...

was close to eradicated in Sweden. This law was in force until 1888. Furthermore, all parish vicars were also forced by law to keep a parish register and note every birth, baptismal and death in the parish. The 1686 Swedish Church Law – with many changes and modernisations – was the standard for both the internal organisation of the Church of Sweden and its status under public law until 1 January 1993. Changes were made, for example, during the

Age of Liberty In Swedish and Finnish history, the Age of Liberty ( sv, frihetstiden; fi, vapauden aika) was a period that saw parliamentary governance, increasing civil rights and the decline of the Swedish Empire that began with Charles XII's death in 1718 ...

, by

Gustav III Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what ...

, through the 1809 Instrument of Government, the 1868 Church Council Regulation and the Dissenter Acts of 1860 and 1873. In the

Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecessor ...

, earlier a Swedish province, the law applied until the reformed church law of 1867 was passed by the

Diet of Finland The Diet of Finland ( Finnish ''Suomen maapäivät'', later ''valtiopäivät''; Swedish ''Finlands Lantdagar''), was the legislative assembly of the Grand Duchy of Finland from 1809 to 1906 and the recipient of the powers of the Swedish Ri ...

(enacted in 1870).

Doctrinal paragraph

Doctrine Doctrine (from la, doctrina, meaning "teaching, instruction") is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a belief system ...

in Sweden was defined between 1686 and 1992 as follows: __NOTOC__ With the 1686 Church Law, the rest of the Book of Concord was added to the older formulation from the

Uppsala Synod The Uppsala Synod in 1593 was the most important synod of the Lutheran Church of Sweden. Sweden had gone through its Protestant Reformation and broken with Roman Catholicism in the 1520s, but an official confession of faith had never been declared. ...

, and until 1992 the following confessional writings were valid in Sweden: * The

Apostles' Creed The Apostles' Creed (Latin: ''Symbolum Apostolorum'' or ''Symbolum Apostolicum''), sometimes titled the Apostolic Creed or the Symbol of the Apostles, is a Christian creed or "symbol of faith". The creed most likely originated in 5th-century Ga ...

Nicene Creed The original Nicene Creed (; grc-gre, Σύμβολον τῆς Νικαίας; la, Symbolum Nicaenum) was first adopted at the First Council of Nicaea in 325. In 381, it was amended at the First Council of Constantinople. The amended form is a ...

Athanasian Creed The Athanasian Creed, also called the Pseudo-Athanasian Creed and sometimes known as ''Quicunque Vult'' (or ''Quicumque Vult''), which is both its Latin name and its opening words, meaning "Whosoever wishes", is a Christian statement of belief ...

Augsburg Confession The Augsburg Confession, also known as the Augustan Confession or the Augustana from its Latin name, ''Confessio Augustana'', is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the Protestant Re ...

of 1530 * Decision of the Uppsala Synod of 1593 *

Book of Concord ''The Book of Concord'' (1580) or ''Concordia'' (often referred to as the ''Lutheran Confessions'') is the historic doctrinal standard of the Lutheran Church, consisting of ten credal documents recognized as authoritative in Lutheranism since ...

References

Notes

Literature

* Kjöllerström, Sven: ''Kyrkolags problemet i Sverige 1571–1682.'' Samlingar och studier till Svenska kyrkans historia, 11. Stockholm: Svenska kyrkans diakonistyrelses bokförlag, 1944. * Lizell, Gustaf – Lenfvén, Edv. (eds.): ''Kyrkolag og ordning af år 1686 jämte dithörande stadganden, som utkommit till den 1 jan. 1928.'' Stockholm 1928.
Kyrkolag
in the ''

Nordisk familjebok ''Nordisk familjebok'' (, "Nordic Family Book") is a Swedish encyclopedia that was published in print from between 1876 and 1993, and that is now fully available in digital form via Project Runeberg at Linköping University. Despite their consi ...

'' (2nd ed., 1911). {{in lang, sv

External links

Kyrkio-Lag och Ordning (3 September 1686)
— the text in Swedish and Finnish. Church Law 1686 Church Law 1686 Christianity and law in the 17th century 1686 in Sweden 1686 in Christianity

Swedish Church Law 1686 The Swedish Church Law 1686 () was a Swedish law which (with some alterations) regulated the relationship between the state and the church in Sweden from 1686 until the Swedish Church Law 1992, as well as in Finland (earlier a Swedish province) u ...