The article describes spiritual care offered by the Church of Sweden to people in the last phase of their lives and to the bereaved. The Church ministers in a secularized society. Its changed place in the culture can be seen in the fact that it was recently officially separated from the State. The article contrasts the languages of spiritual care about the support given to those in their last phase of life, compared to those in grief. Traditional theological language is used with the dying, while the newer psychological “clinical lore” is used with the bereaved. These contrasts are expressions of the different positions linked to expectations that are connected with roles that the representatives of the Church are trying to meet.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AllardtE. (1975). Att ha, att älska, att vara. Om välfärd i Norden [To have, to love and to be. About welfare in the Nordic countries]. Lund: Argos.
2.
AnderssonB., & ParnellSjömar G. (2003). Att leda en sorgegrupp. [Leading a griefcounseling group]. Uppsala: Benedictum.
3.
BennettK. M., & Vidal-HallS. (2000). Narratives of death: A qualitative study of widowhood in later life. Ageing & Society, 20, 413–428.
4.
BenzeinE. (1999). Traces of hope. Umeå: University of Umeå.
5.
BenzeinE.NorbergA., & SavemanB. (2001). The meaning of the lived experience of hope in patients with cancer in palliative home care. Palliative Medicine, 15(2), 117–126.
BergstrandG. (2005). Själavård [Pastoral Care]. Nationalencyklopedin. Internet version.
9.
BolmsjöI. (2002). Existential issues in palliative care. Lund: Lund University.
10.
BotvarP.K. (2000). Kristen tro i Norden. Privatisering og svekkelse av religiöse dogmer. In GustafssonG. & PetterssonT. (Eds.), Folkkyrkor och religiös pluralism—Den nordiska religiösa modellen [Folk churches and religious pluralism—The Nordic religious model]. Stockholm: Verbum.
11.
BäckströmA.BeckmanEdgardh N., & PetterssonP. (2004). Religious change in Northern Europe. The case of Sweden. Stockholm: Verbum.
12.
DavisC. G., & Nolen-HoeksemaS. (2001). Loss and meaning. How do people make sense of loss?American Behavioral Scientist, 44(5), 126–141.
13.
DeMarinisV. (2003). Pastoral care, existential health, and existential epidemiology. A Swedish postmodern case study. Stockholm: Verbum.
14.
DeMarinisV. (2004). Själavård, existentiell hälsa och existentiell epidemiologi i det postmoderna Sverige. [Pastoral care, existential health, and existential epidemiology in postmodern Sweden]. In EkedahlM-A. & WiedelB. (Eds.), Mötet med den splittrade människan. Själavård i postmodern tid. [Meeting the distracted man. Existential care in a postmodern era]. Stockholm: Verbum.
15.
EinhornS. (1999). Svårt sjuka patienters andliga behov försummas i vården. [The spiritual needs of seriously ill patients are neglected in palliative care]. Läkartidningen, 96(19), 2362–2366.
16.
EkedahlM-A. (2004). Att hålla samman sig själv—Själavården i ljuset av några postmoderna teman. In EkedahlM-A. & WiedelB. (Eds.), Mötet med den splittrade människan. Själavård i postmodern tid. [Meeting the distracted man. Existential care in a postmodern era]. Stockholm: Verbum.
17.
EkedahlM-A., & WiedelB. (Eds.). (2004). Mötet med den splittrade människan. Själavård i postmodern tid. (Meeting the distracted man. Existential care in a postmodern era). Stockholm: Verbum.
18.
ForssellE. (1999). Äldres död. Anhöriga och personal berättar. [The death of the elderly. The recounts of families and staff]. Stockholm: Ersta Sköndal University College. Report no 13.
19.
FyhrG. (2003). Hur man möter människor i sorg [Meeting people in grief]. Stockholm: Natur och kultur.
20.
GrimbyA. (1995). Aspects of quality of life in old age. Studies on life events, bereavement and health. Göteborg: University of Gothenburg.
21.
GrimbyA. (2001). Sorg bland äldre. [Grief among the elderly]. Stockholm: SPF.
22.
GustafssonG., & AhlinL. (1995). Två undersökningar om Estonia och religionen (Two studies about Estonia and Religion). Lund: University of Lund. Religionssociologiska studier, no 1.
23.
HockeyJ.PenhaleB., & SibleyD. (2001). Landscapes of loss: Spaces of memory, times of bereavement. Ageing & Society, 21, 739–757.
24.
InglehartR. (1997). Modernization and postmodernization. Cultural, economic, and political change in 43 societies. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
25.
InglehartR.BasáňezM.Diéz-MedranoJ.HalmanL., & LuijkxR. (2004). Human beliefs and values. A cross-cultural source-book based on the 1999–2002 value surveys. Mexico: Siglo Veintiuno (Eds.).
26.
GrassmanJeppsson E. (2001a). Socialt arbete i församlingens hägn. [Social work in the parish]. Stockholm: Verbum.
27.
GrassmanJeppsson E. (2001b). Medmänniska och anhörig. En studie av informella hjälpinsatser [Fellow being and next of kin. A study of informal helping]. Stockholm: Ersta Sköndal University College. Report no 17.
28.
KautK. (2002). Religion, spirituality, and existentialism near the end of life. Implications for asssesment and application. American Behavioral Scientist, 46(2), 220–234.
29.
KlassD.SilvermanP. R., & NickmanS. L. (Eds.). (1996). Continuing bonds: New understandings of grief. London: Taylor & Francis.
30.
McGrathP. (2003). Religiosity and the challenge of terminal illness. Death Studies, 27, 881–899.
31.
MossM. S., & MossS. Z. (2001). Four siblings' perspectives on parent death: A family focus. In HockeyJ.KatzJ., & SmallN. (Eds.), Grief, mourning and death ritual. Buckingham: Open University Press.
32.
NBHW. (2004). God vård I livets slut. En kunskapsöversikt om vård och omsorg om äldre. [Good end of life care. Review of the elderly care]. Stockholm: National Board of Health and Welfare.
33.
NBHW. (2000). Äldreuppdraget. Slutrapport.Stockholm: National Board of Health and Welfare. Report 2000:4.
34.
OlbyB. (1997). “Gör sjukhuskyrkan någon nytta?”: En studie av attityder till sjukhuskyrkan. [Is the hospital chapel of any use? A study of attitudes towards the hospital chapel]. Stockholm: Ersta Sköndal University College.
35.
PetterssonP. (1996). Implicit service relations turned explicit. A case study of the Church of Sweden as service provider in the context of the Estonia disaster. In EdvardssonB. & ModellS. (Eds.), Service management. Stockholm: Nerenius & Santérus.
36.
PetterssonP. (2000). Kvalitet i livslånga tjänsterelationer [Quality in life-long service relationshsips]. Stockholm: Verbum.
37.
RandallF., & DownieR. S. (1999). Palliative care ethics. A companion of all specialities. New York: Oxford University Press.
38.
RappaportH.FosslerR. J.BrossL. J., & GildenD. (1993). Future time, death anxiety, and life purpose among older adults. Death Studies, 17, 369–379.
39.
ReimersE. (2003). A reasonable grief—Discursive constructions of grief in a public conversation on raising the shipwrecked M/S Estonia. Mortality, 8(4), 325–341.
40.
HermanssonRinell A. (1990). Det sista året—Omsorg och vård vid livets slut. Uppsala: Uppsala University.
41.
SaundersC., & KastenbaumR. (Eds.). (1997). Hospice care on the international scene. New York: Springer Publishing Co.
42.
SmallN. (2001). Theories of grief: A critical review. In HockeyJ.KatzJ., & SmallN. (Eds.), Grief, mourning and death ritual. Buckingham: Open University Press.
43.
SOU (Swedish Government Official Reports). (2000:6). Döden angår oss alla. Värdig vård vid livets slut. [Death concerns us all. Good care at the end of life]. Stockholm: Fritzes.
44.
StewartA.TenoJ.PatrickD. L., & LynnJ. (1999) The concept of quality of life of dying persons in the context of health care. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 2, 93–108.
45.
StrangS. (2002). Spiritual/existential issues in palliative care: With special reference to patients with brain tumors and their spouses. Göteborg: University of Gothenburg.
46.
StroebeM. S. (2001). Bereavement research and theory: Retrospective and prospective. American Behavioural Scientist, 44(5), 854–865.
47.
StroebeM., & StroebeW. (1991). Does “grief work” work?Journal of Consulting an Clinical Psychology, 59(3), 479–482.
48.
SundbackS. (2000). Medlemskapet i de lutherska kyrkorna i Norden. In GustafssonG. & PetterssonT. (Eds.), Folkkyrkor och religiös pluralism—Den nordiska religiösa modellen [Folk churches and religious pluralism—The Nordic religious model]. Stockholm: Verbum.
49.
SverkströmL. (2004). Samtal om sorg: Samtalsgrupper med sörjande ur ett ledarperspektiv. [Conversations about grief: Grief counseling groups from a management perspective]. Stockholm: Verbum.
50.
TernestedtB-M. (1998). Livet pågår! Om vård av döende. [Life goes on! About care of the dying]. Stockholm: Vårdförbundet.
51.
WalterT. (1996a). Developments in spiritual care of the dying. Religion, 26, 353–363.
52.
WalterT. (1996b). A new model of grief: Bereavement and biography. Mortality, 1(1), 7–25.
53.
WalterT. (1993). Death in new age. Religion, 23, 127–145.
54.
WalterT. (1999). On bereavement: The culture of grief. Buckingham: University Open Press.
55.
WhitakerA. (2004). Livets sista boning. Anhörigskap, åldrande och död på sjukhem. [The final home. Family ties, ageing and death in a nursing home]. Stockholm: Stockholm University.
56.
WikströmO. (2004). Själavården mellan språk och erfarenhet—Religionspsykologiska perspektiv. In EkedahlM-A. & WiedelB. (Eds.), Mötet med den splittrade människan. Själavård i postmodern tid. [Meeting the distracted man. Existential care in a postmodern era]. Stockholm: Verbum.
57.
YeungA. B. (2004). Individually together. Volunteering in late modernity: Social work in the Finnish church. Helsinki: The Finnish Federation for Social Work and Health. Helsinki University, Faculty of Theology.
