Antje Jackelén (; born 4 June 1955) is
archbishop emerita and
primate emerita (''
prima inter pares'') of the
Church of Sweden
The Church of Sweden () is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.5 million members at year end 2023, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest List ...
, the
national church
A national church is a Christian church associated with a specific ethnic group or nation state. The idea was notably discussed during the 19th century, during the emergence of modern nationalism.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in a draft discussing ...
. On 15 October 2013, she was elected the 70th Archbishop of Uppsala and formally received through a service in
Uppsala Cathedral
Uppsala Cathedral () is a cathedral located between the University Hall (Uppsala University), University Hall of Uppsala University and the Fyris river in the centre of Uppsala, Sweden. A church of the Church of Sweden, the national church, in t ...
on 15 June 2014, making her Sweden's first foreign-born archbishop since the 12th century, and the first female archbishop.
Svenska Dagbladet
(, "The Swedish Daily News"), abbreviated SvD, is a daily List of Swedish newspapers, newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden.
History and profile
The first issue of appeared on 18 December 1884. During the beginning of the 1900s the pap ...
Klimatet är en högst teologisk fråga
15 June 2014.
Jackelén was ordained a
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...
in the Church of Sweden in 1980 and became
Doctor of Theology
Doctor of Theology (, abbreviated DTh, ThD, DTheol, or Dr. theol.) is a terminal degree in the academic discipline of theology. The ThD, like the ecclesiastical Doctor of Sacred Theology, is an advanced research degree equivalent to the Doctor o ...
at
Lund University
Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...
in 1999. Previously she was
Bishop of Lund from 2007 to 2014.
Biography
Jackelén was born 4 June 1955 in
Herdecke
Herdecke () is a town in the district of Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It is located south of Dortmund in the Ruhr Area. Its location between the two Ruhr (river), Ruhr reservoirs Hengsteysee and Harkortsee has earned it t ...
,
West Germany
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
. She studied
Lutheran
Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...
theology
Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...
at the
University of Tübingen
The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...
and
Uppsala University
Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation.
Initially fou ...
.
Jackelén served as a priest in Tyresö
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
in the
Diocese of Stockholm 1981–1988, in Gårdstånga parish in the Diocese of Lund 1988–1994 and in the Cathedral parish of Lund 1995–1996. After finishing her
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...
, she worked at Lund University 1999–2001 and was assistant
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...
of Systematic Theology/Religion and Science at the
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) is a seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in Chicago, Illinois. LSTC is a member of the Association of Chicago Theological Schools (ACTS), a consortium of eleven area seminaries ...
2001–2003. From 2003 she was Associate Professor and Director of the
Zygon Center for Religion and Science until 2007.
Jackelén was elected
Bishop of Lund in 2006, and succeeded
Christina Odenberg in 2007. Unlike Odenberg, Jackelén obliged clergy who did not recognize her ministry to attend an Eucharist at which she presided. Odenberg had been the first woman to become a bishop in the Church of Sweden, and Jackelén became the third. Jackelén was the first woman to be appointed as bishop after a popular vote in the diocese, the two former (Odenberg in 1997, and
Caroline Krook, Bishop of Stockholm, in 1998) having both been appointed by the Swedish government before the separation of the Church of Sweden from the state in 2000. Jackelén was ordained Bishop of Lund by
Anders Wejryd,
Archbishop of Uppsala
The Archbishop of Uppsala (spelled Upsala until the early 20th century) has been the primate of Sweden in an unbroken succession since 1164, first during the Catholic era, and from the 1530s and onward under the Lutheran church.
Historical ove ...
, in
Uppsala Cathedral
Uppsala Cathedral () is a cathedral located between the University Hall (Uppsala University), University Hall of Uppsala University and the Fyris river in the centre of Uppsala, Sweden. A church of the Church of Sweden, the national church, in t ...
on 15 April 2007, and was received in her diocese through a service in
Lund Cathedral
Lund Cathedral () is a cathedral of the Lutheran Church of Sweden in Lund, Scania, Sweden. It is the seat of the Bishop of Lund and the main church of the Diocese of Lund. It was built as the Catholic cathedral of the archiepiscopal see of all ...
on 21 April.
As her official motto, she chose ''Gud är större ("God is greater")'', referring to a passage in the
First Epistle of John
The First Epistle of John is the first of the Johannine epistles of the New Testament, and the fourth of the catholic epistles. There is no scholarly consensus as to the authorship of the Johannine works. The author of the First Epistle is ...
(1 John 3.18–20) and this also became the title of her
pastoral letter
A pastoral letter, often simply called a pastoral, is an open letter addressed by a bishop to the clergy or laity of a diocese or to both, containing general admonition, instruction or consolation, or directions for behaviour in particular circu ...
, published in 2011. For her
coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
, she chose an oval shield design by Jan Raneke displaying triple oak leaves from her home town
Herdecke
Herdecke () is a town in the district of Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It is located south of Dortmund in the Ruhr Area. Its location between the two Ruhr (river), Ruhr reservoirs Hengsteysee and Harkortsee has earned it t ...
's coat of arms with triple mantuan pilgrim's crosses,
quartered with the flag of
Scania
Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...
symbolising her episcopal see of Lund. The oak leaves are also featured on the coat of arms of
Blekinge
Blekinge () is one of the traditional Swedish provinces (), situated in the southern coast of the geographic region of Götaland, in southern Sweden. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea. It is the country's second-smallest provin ...
which constitutes the easternmost part of the Diocese of Lund.
As Bishop of Lund, Jackelén was one of the assistant
officiants during the state
, in 2010.
She has served as representative of the Church of Sweden on the
Lutheran World Federation
The Lutheran World Federation (LWF; ) is a global Communion (religion), communion of national and regional Lutheran denominations headquartered in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The federation was founded in the Swedish city of L ...
council.

She was elected
Archbishop of Uppsala
The Archbishop of Uppsala (spelled Upsala until the early 20th century) has been the primate of Sweden in an unbroken succession since 1164, first during the Catholic era, and from the 1530s and onward under the Lutheran church.
Historical ove ...
on 15 October 2013 and was officially received in Uppsala Cathedral on 15 June 2014, in the presence of
Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
Carl XVI Gustaf (Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus; born 30 April 1946) is King of Sweden. Having reigned since 1973, he is the longest-reigning monarch in Swedish history.
Carl Gustaf was born during the reign of his paternal great-grandfather, K ...
and
Queen Silvia of Sweden
Silvia (born Silvia Renate Sommerlath; 23 December 1943) is Queen of Sweden as the wife of King Carl XVI Gustaf. She has held this title since her marriage to Carl XVI Gustaf in 1976. The king and queen have three children: Crown Princess Vict ...
, after the retirement of
Anders Wejryd. In March 2014,
Johan Tyrberg was elected to succeed her as Bishop of Lund.
On Monday, 4 May 2015, she had an official audience with
Pope Francis
Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...
in
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
. This made her the first woman and archbishop to be welcomed at the Vatican. Her and the Pope's churches, while having very important and major differences (the stances on the state of ordination and the clergy, Marian beliefs, and their stances on some contemporary social issues, for example), did publish a document on the push toward theological dialogue and communion regarding the anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. She has several points of agreement, notably on evolution and the climate, the need for dialogue between science and religion, and the need to care for the poor, and to support some continued role for the Churches in public life, even in secularized societies which tend to want to separate the two.
She once again met Pope Francis when he visited Sweden during the turn of the 2016 October–November month switch, beginning the 500th anniversary of the
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...
.
On 7 December 2021, the Church of Sweden announced that she would retire. She laid down her
bishop's staff during a church service inside the Uppsala Cathedral on 30 October 2022.
Publications
Her doctoral
dissertation ''Zeit und Ewigkeit: die Frage der Zeit in Kirche, Naturwissenschaft und Theologie'' (Lund 1999) was later republished on Neukirchener Verlag under the same title in 2002. A Swedish translation came in 2000 and an English translation ''Time & eternity: the question of time in church, science, and theology'' was published in 2005. She was the speaker at the 2003 Goshen Conference on Religion and Science, a conference that features noted academics in the field of religion and science. The proceedings were published by Pandora Press.
Private life

Her husband, Heinz Jackelén, is a retired priest, also originally from Germany, and they have two daughters and several grandchildren. The couple met as undergraduate theology students at
Uppsala University
Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation.
Initially fou ...
. The name Jackelén is believed to come from French-German
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...
ancestors (''Ja(c)quelin'').
Theological views
Jackelén has published several works which deal with the relationship between the natural sciences and religious faith, as well as the role of religion in modern society. She endorses the
theory of evolution
Evolution is the change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, resulting in certai ...
and sees no contradiction in believing both in God and in evolution.
Her election to archbishop sparked controversy when, during the election, she made statements about the virgin birth and the validity of Islam. In an interview with Swedish Christian newspaper ''
Dagen'', she stated that the
virgin birth of Jesus
In Christianity and Islam, it is asserted that Jesus of Nazareth was conceived by his mother Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary solely through divine intervention and without sexual intercourse, thus resulting in his Virgin birth (mythology), virgin bir ...
is a "mythological term to explain the unique. Those who interpret the virgin birth as a biological issue have completely missed the point." She later clarified her statement as being intended to emphasise that in her view, neither a strictly literal interpretation of the virgin birth, nor a rejection of the virgin birth on the grounds of scientific impossibility, can capture the theological tradition surrounding the virgin birth.
Before the archbishop election Jackelén was asked the question "Does Jesus give a better picture of God than Muhammed?", to which she answered "To me it is obvious that Christians, Muslims and Jews worship the same God". For this she was both criticized and praised within the church.
She supports
same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...
in church, while calling for the state to support the institution of marriage as such.
[Jackelén, A. '']Svenska Dagbladet
(, "The Swedish Daily News"), abbreviated SvD, is a daily List of Swedish newspapers, newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden.
History and profile
The first issue of appeared on 18 December 1884. During the beginning of the 1900s the pap ...
''
Äktenskapet inte sämre för att fler inkluderas
July 28, 2009
Political positions
Jackelén has spoken out against a ban on school graduation ceremonies in churches, believing a total ban on religious influences in public schools to be detrimental to the spiritual development of children, while emphasising the role of the Church of Sweden in Swedish
civil society
Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.[climate change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...]
in a Bishops' letter in 2014 and again 2019, calling for the members of the Church of Sweden as well as the Swedish state to set goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and for Sweden to enter binding international agreements on the issue. In the revised version 2019 she and the bishops stressed the importance of meeting the goals in the
Paris Agreement
The Paris Agreement (also called the Paris Accords or Paris Climate Accords) is an international treaty on climate change that was signed in 2016. The treaty covers climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance. The Paris Agreement was ...
She sees a role for the Church in the existential and spiritual parts of the climate debate, such as
eco-anxiety. She is a vocal supporter of
Greta Thunberg
Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg (; born 3January 2003) is a Swedish climate activist, climate and political activist initially known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action to climate change mitigation, mitigate the effec ...
and has called her prophetic.
Honours
In June 2017, Jackelén was awarded
The Lambeth Cross for Ecumenism by the Archbishop of Canterbury "For her services to ecumenism - especially her leadership in addressing human, theological and social issues in partnership and dialogue".
Notes
References
External links
Official Twitter feed*
Sydsvenska DagbladetInterview (in Swedish)''Time & eternity'', Templeton Foundation PressArticle on Divine Action
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackelen, Antje
1955 births
Living people
People from Herdecke
Swedish Lutheran theologians
Women Lutheran bishops
Lutheran bishops of Lund
20th-century Lutheran clergy
21st-century Lutheran bishops
21st-century Lutheran archbishops
Lutheran archbishops of Uppsala
Lund University alumni
German emigrants to Sweden
Swedish Lutheran archbishops