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The Church of Sweden ((スウェーデン語:Svenska kyrkan)) is the largest Christian church in Sweden and the largest Lutheran denomination in the world. A member of the Porvoo Communion, the Church professes the Lutheran branch of Christianity. It is composed of thirteen dioceses, divided into parishes.〔("SFS 1998:1591" ), Riksdagen〕 It is an open national church which, working with a democratic organisation and through the ministry of the church, covers the whole nation. The Primate of the Church of Sweden is the Archbishop of Uppsala — currently Antje Jackelén — Sweden's first female archbishop. Unlike other Protestant churches, including most Lutheran churches — the Church of Sweden, along with its offshoot — the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, continues to maintain the historical episcopate. It is liturgically and theologically "high church", having retained priests, vestments, and the Mass during the Swedish Reformation. The Church of Sweden is commonly known for its liberal position in theological issues, particularly the question of homosexuality. When Bishop Eva Brunne was consecrated as Bishop of Stockholm in 2009, she became the first openly lesbian bishop in the world. Despite a significant yearly loss of members (larger than 1% annually), its membership of 6,292,264 people accounts for 64.6% of the Swedish population.〔 Until 2000 it held the position of state church. The high membership numbers are because until 1996 all newborn children were made members, unless their parents had actively cancelled their membership. Approximately 2% of the church's members regularly attend Sunday services. According to a Gallup poll conducted in 2009, 17% of the Swedish population considered religion as an important part of their daily life.〔("Liturgy and Worship" ), Church of Sweden〕 ==Theology== King Gustav I Vasa instigated the Church of Sweden in 1536 during his reign as King of Sweden. This act separated the church from the Roman Catholic Church and its canon law. In 1571, the Swedish Church Ordinance became the first Swedish church order following the Reformation. The Church of Sweden became Lutheran at the Uppsala Synod in 1593 when it adopted the Augsburg Confession to which most Lutherans adhere. At this synod, it was decided that the church would retain the three original Christian creeds: the Apostles', the Athanasian, and the Nicene. In 1686, the Riksdag of the Estates adopted the Book of Concord, although only certain parts, labelled ''Confessio fidei'', were considered binding, and the other texts merely explanatory. ''Confessio dei'' included the three aforementioned Creeds, the Augsburg Confession and two Uppsala Synod decisions from 1572 and 1593. During the 19th and 20th centuries, a variety of teachings were officially approved, mostly directed towards ecumenism: * 1878 development of the Catechism, * the Uppsala Creed of 1909, preparing for Eucharistic communion with the Church of England, * the constitutions of World Council of Churches (WCC), * the constitutions of Lutheran World Federation (LWF), * Church of Sweden's official response to the "Lima document", * a ''Council of the Bishops Letter in Important Theological Questions'', * the 1995 Treaty of Communion with the Philippine Independent Church. In practice, however, the Lutheran creed texts play a minor role, and instead the parishes rely on Lutheran tradition in coexistence with influences from other Christian denominations and diverse ecclesial movements such as Low Church, High Church, Pietism ("Old Church") and Laestadianism, which locally might be strongly established, but which have little nationwide influence. During the 20th century the Church of Sweden oriented itself strongly towards liberal Christianity and human rights. In 1957, the church assembly rejected a proposal for ordination of women, but then the Riksdag changed the law in spring 1958 and forced the church assembly to accept the new law in autumn 1958. Since 1960, women have been ordained as priests, and since 1994, men who oppose collaboration with women priests have not been allowed ordination. A proposal to perform same-sex weddings was approved on October 22, 2009 by 176 of 249 voting members of the Church of Sweden Synod. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Church of Sweden」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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