Research

As a part of the Ph.D. program, I am currently engaged in a research project regarding empirical theology and empirical church research, which is a field of study that finds itself bordering between the more modern empirical theological disciplines “Practical Theology” and “Science of Diakonia”.

While dogmatic or systematic theology traditionally concerns itself with what churches principally and theoretically believe, “empirical theology” and “empirical church research” instead concerns itself with what people and church actually in reality believe and practice.

As the word suggests, in “Practical Theology” one takes a closer look at how the theology can be practiced in a context - both in the church itself and in society. And “Science of Diakonia” takes, as an example, a closer look as to how churches, organizations and people relate and engage themselves to social challenges and social problems within church and society.

The term diakonia means both “to serve others” and “to be sent by someone to others, either with a message, an action or with both”. And in research, Science of Diakonia concerns itself with how churches, organizations and people relate and engage themselves with various social needs, distress and unjust.

Practical Theology (with the inclusion of Science of Diakonia) is one of the core components of the bachelor’s program in Theology at Ilisimatusarfik.

In autumn of 2017, the Church of Greenland was criticized in the Greenlandic press by a help-organization who emphasized the lack of cooperation between the two and accused the church of “turning its back” and “closing its eyes” to the social problems in Greenlandic society. But no investigation or description, that shows or maps the actions of the church exists, nor does any that revolves around the church’s role in the post-colonial Greenlandic welfare-society.

The goal of this Ph.D.-project is to examine how the Church of Greenland addresses both the criticism, but also as to what the church can and aims to address the social problems in society. This will be done based on the current research question: “What characterizes the Church of Greenland’s diaconal identity and contributions, and how does this contribute to new knowledge in the national and international field of research?”

With the underlining questions:

• Which understanding can be found in the church about its role as a societal actor?
• Which practice does that church have?
• What opportunities and limitations does it have?
• What are the authorities’, NGO’s and the populaces understanding and expectations to the Church of Greenland as a societal actor in the Greenlandic welfare-society?
• How can the Greenlandic context and practice contribute with new knowledge to the national and international field of research?

The research project has a qualitative-explorative design, wherein completed ethnographic field study of both the overarching institutional church and various parishes in different parts of Greenland, with document analysis, observations with field notes and individual- and group research interviews.