Introduction: Christian modernities in Britain and Ireland in the twentieth century

Abstract

This introductory article contextualises relevant historiography and explores definitions of 'modernity', 'modernisation' and 'secularisation'. The twentieth century posed distinct challenges to efforts to relate faith to the social order: accelerating industrialisation, urbanisation and functional differentiation as well as the growing impact of technology and predominance of science. The subjective perspectives of Church leaders and lay Christian intellectuals as they sought to understand and respond to these conditions are historically important. This issue explores these themes in Britain and Ireland, taking into account a range of Christian reactions to transforming societies, stressing how Christians developed innovative strategies for meeting new challenges.

Sin embodied: Priest-psychiatrist Asser Stenbäck and the psychosomatic approach to human problems

“…In other words, the world view that encouraged one to subject the mind and the body to His service acquired new functions in the changing social context. As the historian John Carter Wood writes, influential Christians of the 20th century were compelled to find ways to navigate this transformed social reality (Wood, 2020). Stenbäck's unwavering condemnation of male homosexuality in the 1980s and the 1990s pointedly illustrates his pursuit of rigid strategies to confront the postmodern world (cf.…”

“…Dahlberg, 2021: 230–1). Stenbäck also promoted Christian sexual ethics through the Family Affairs Committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church from 1957 to 1970 (Yli-Perttula, 2020).…”

“…In Stenbäck's case, this potential pertains to the changing social status of Christianity. As it is well-known, the processes of secularisation, psychologisation, and medicalisation have questioned the social role of religion during the 20 th century (see, e.g., Madsen, 2014;Rakow, 2013;Wood, 2020;Kivivuori, 1999). In the Nordic countries, the shift to spiritual pluralism has undermined the previously uniform Lutheran culture (Markkola, 2015).…”