The Impact of Scandinavian Practical Theology on Welfare State-Building

Nation-state-building and, moreover, welfare state-building in Scandinavia have indeed been nation-state-building and state-building with the configuration of the church-state relations as one of the manifestations of the state, alongside the peasant-state and the workers-state. Thus a special form of solidarity between political and social forces was formed in Scandinavian society, and the reflection of all these forces in the Nordic government became a special model of solidarity and governance in this society. Scandinavian nationalism, therefore, offers a special model of nationalism. The question that arises is what effect Scandinavian practical theology had on the formation of the welfare state-building in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Lutheran practical theology due to its influence on the definition of the nation as a source of national identity on the one hand, and providing readings such as the mission of labor, the mission of productivity, and the mission of production, on the other hand, was a source of welfare state-building in the Scandinavian region.