Bengt Vilhelm Hägglund (22 November 1920 – 8 March 2015) was a Swedish

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

. Hägglund, who was

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

intellectual history Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualization, conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of ...

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 ...

, has written several books, of which ''Teologins historia'' ( English: ''History of Theology'') is his most widely known work. The book, translated, ''inter alia'', to English, German, Portuguese and Russian, was first published in 1956.

Biography

Upon graduation from secondary school in 1938, Hägglund enrolled at Lund University, writing his dissertation in 1951. From 1951 until 1958 he was associate dogmatics professor. In the 1958–59 term he was acting professor of dogmatics. In 1958 he was a guest lecturer at Germany's

Heidelberg University Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is Germany's oldest unive ...

before returning to

Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and ) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...

as a ''forskardocent'' (research fellow, 1960–69). In 1966-67 he was again a guest lecturer, this time in

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

and

Greifswald Greifswald (), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (, Low German: ''Griepswoold'') is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. In 2021 it surpa ...

.In 1980 he was a short time guest lecturer in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was professor of

Christian history The history of Christianity began with the life of Jesus, an itinerant Jewish preacher and teacher, who was crucified in Jerusalem . His followers proclaimed that he was the incarnation of God and had risen from the dead. In the two millen ...

(1969–1987) at

Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and ) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...

. In 1971

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Missi ...

, a private

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

institution, awarded Hägglund an honorary

doctorate of divinity A Doctor of Divinity (DD or DDiv; ) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity (i.e., Christian theology and ministry or other theologies. The term is more common in the English-speaking world than elsewhere. In the United Kin ...

, and in 1981 he received an honorary doctorate of theology from

Ruhr University Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began ...

. From 1975 to 1995 he was vice-president of the north German Luther-Akademie in

Ratzeburg Ratzeburg (; Low German: ''Ratzborg'') is a town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is surrounded by Ratzeburger See, four lakes—the resulting isthmuses between the lakes form the access lanes to the town. Ratzeburg is the capital of the distri ...

. On 10 November 2007 the

Oberursel Oberursel (Taunus) (, , in contrast to " Lower Ursel") is a town in Germany and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. It is located to the north west of Frankfurt, in the Hochtaunuskreis county. It is the 13th largest town in Hesse. In ...

Lutheran theological seminary (''Lutherische Theologische Hochschule'') bestowed on Hägglund its Hermann Sasse Prize for theological literature.Michael Schätzel,
Hermann-Sasse-Preis verliehen
" ("Herman Sasse Prize awarded"), in ''Lutherische Kirche'', Selbständigen Evangelisch-Lutherischen Kirche, Vol. 39, No. 1 (2008), page 3. The denomination awards the €1,500 prize every two years.

Selected works

* 1951: ''Die Heilige Schrift und Ihre Deutung in der Theologie Johann Gerhard: eine Untersuchung über das altlutherische Schriftverständnis'' ("Holy scripture and its interpretation in the theology of Johann Gerhard: a study of Conservative Lutheran understanding of scripture", Thesis) * 1955: ''Theologie und Philosophie bei Luther und in der occamistischen Tradition. Luther's Stellung zur Theorie von der Wahrheit doppelten'' ("Theology and philosophy in Luther and the Ockhamist tradition. Luther's position on the doctrine of double truth") * 1956: ''Teologins historia: En dogmhistorisk översikt'' ("History of theology: a historical overview of dogmatics", , translated into English by Gene J. Lund as ''History of theology'', * 1959: ''De homine: Människouppfattningen i äldre luthersk tradition'' ("Of man: Conception of human nature in the Conservative Lutheran tradition), * 1969: ''Semantik och traditionsforskning: ett kompendium i metodfrågor'' ("Semantics and the research of tradition: a compendium of methodological issues"). * 1971: ''The background of Luther's Doctrine of Justification in Late Medieval Theology'', * 1982: ''Trons mönster: en handledning i dogmatik'' ("Patterns of faith: a tutorial in dogmatics"), * 2000: ''Traktat om liturgin i den svenska kyrkan'' ("Treatise on the

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

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 ...

"), * 2002: ''Arvet från reformationen: teologihistoriska studier'' ("Legacy of the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

: studies in theological history, * 2003: ''Sanningens regel = Regula veritatis: trosregeln och den kristna traditionens struktur'' ("The rule of truth = ''Regula veritatis:'' the rule of belief and the structure of the Christian tradition") * 2003: ''Chemnitz-Gerhard-Arndt-Rudbeckius. Aufsätze zum Studium der Theologie altlutherischen'' ("

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...

, Gerhard, Arndt and Rudbeckius. Essays on the study of Conservative Lutheran theology"). Texts and studies on Protestantism of the 16th to 18th centuries, Volume 1, * 2007: ''Tro och verklighet'' ("Belief and reality"), * 2011: ''Kunskapsteori och metafysik i teologin'' ("

Epistemology Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...

and

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

in theology"),

Sources

* 1985: ''Tro och tradition: festskrift till Bengt Hägglund på hans 65-årsdag'' ("Belief and tradition: In honour of Bengt Hagglund on his 65th birthday"),

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hagglund, Bengt Swedish theologians Systematic theologians Academic staff of Lund University 1920 births 2015 deaths 20th-century Protestant theologians 20th-century Lutherans