SWEDISH MISSIOLOGICAL THEMES SVENSK MISSIONSTIDSKRIFT

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508 Aasulv Lande Swedes to Emperor Ludwig, stating that many wanted to join the new faith; the King even wanted to have “suitable priests”. Through the Abbot in Corbie, Ansgar was commended to the task. So the calling to the missionary vocation is to a great extent the result of co-operation between church and state. And note! It is legitimised by a request from the mission country. 5 Status Ansgar, who already had undertaken a missionary tour to Denmark, now prepared for the first journey to Sweden, to Birka in mid-Sweden, traditionally dated 830. His career as a missionary and in the ecclesiastical hierarchy advances simultaneously. The missionary’s legitimacy in Rimbert’s thinking comes from his position in the hierarchy of the Church. After a year and a half in Birka, he returned to Emperor Ludwig was made Bishop of Hamburg. Hamburg was not any town. It was a small see, but significant and dangerous. Hamburg had the missionary power in the whole Church and for the whole Church north of the River Elbe. It is the work of Christ and the apostolic expansion in Ultima Thule that becomes its task. The bishopric was assigned a monastery of its own in Gallia (Torhout) for its support. Yet another factor added to the legitimisation of Ansgar. Through a reception, a papal bull and by giving him a pallium, Ansgar is appointed missionary to many peoples: Swedes, Danes, slaves and others in the north. That task was given to Ansgar and to the Archbishop Ebo of Reims. Conflict motives The whole missionary endeavour of Ansgar was marked by and interpreted as a war against the Devil. Bishop Gautbert in Birka is persecuted and becomes a martyr and the see of Hamburg is in 852 burnt by Vikings. All these conflicts are contests showing who is the strongest. Christ or the local Gods. It is told how a Swedish army in the Baltic6 does not receive help from their ancient Gods. 7 By drawing of lots, the Swedish army decided that Christ would help them and they gathered their forces again. That attack was, however, never completed since peace was made with the Baltic 5 The strength of the political motifs on the Swedish side is difficult to decide. None the less it is part of Rimberts mission theology. 6 The war on Kurland 7 Rimbert 1986: 58 pp.
The Vocation of the Missionary 509 people. According to Rimbert: “the Swedes started to praise our Lord Christ and his Power and by all their might magnify his glory, since he was truly stronger than all gods.” 8 This spiritual awakening resulted in strengthening the Christian mission. Rimbert has a problem with the interpretation of Ansgar. He did not die a martyr. He had gone through many hardships as Christ’s missionary. He gave his life daily to God, he wept, he kept awake and he held fasts, to mortify his flesh. Thereby he won the martyrdom reachable in more peaceful times. It was not courage he lacked. He had much of that. But he lived in peace and lacked persecutors – so his life could be judged as being worth as much as a martyr’s. He never had the opportunity to fall in battle. 9 Components of a Missiology If we analyse this interpretation of the mission and the missionary it is the close co-operation between state (Emperor Ludwig) and Church that first comes to mind. In this instance, furthermore, the local diocese (Hamburg) had the initiative more than the universal church represented by Pope Gregory. The mission was clearly thought biblical as the history of salvation reaching out to Ultima Thule - the end of the world. The biblical colouring from the Prophets and the Acts of the Apostles is there. The second coming of Christ was not so much in mind. The eschatology was not radically historical but spiritual-ecclesiastical-political. It was an ecclesiastical eschatology. The sending Church dominated the picture. And by all means it was a politicalreligious force that turned to Rome for support and wished to spread Christianity to the north. One could hardly call it cultural imperialism – that is something more belonging to the post-Columbian mission. The missionary was a person who was ecclesiastically legitimised. He was a missionary bishop with a task to plant churches. He had a strong home base structurally, politically and economically. He was no lone visionary travelling on a personal calling from God. It should however be added that he lived near the heavenly realm. He represented the piety of the monastery. He was 8 Rimbert 1986: 60 9 Rimbert 1986: 76
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Ecumenical Understanding of the Mis
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Swedish Missiological Themes, 91, 4
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Missionary Self-Understanding in a
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Missionary Self-Understanding in a
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Conclusion Missionary Self-Understa
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Introduction Swedish Missiological
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Missionary Identity: Attitudes and
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Rituals for the Sending Forth of Mi
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Stories of a Woman Missionary 603 m
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Returning to Sweden Stories of a Wo
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Stories of a Woman Missionary 621 N
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Missiology Today 625 of Jesus Chris
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Missiology Today 627 salvation” (
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Missiology Today 629 situation for
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Missiology Today 631 In the missiol
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From “Who Cares?” to “Why Car
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Gender, Race and Religion in Nordic
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Mission and Bible Translation in Ru
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SWEDISH MISSIOLOGICAL THEMES SVENSK MISSIONSTIDSKRIFT

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