New Faces of the Folk Church - Lived Religion, Spiritual Practices and Theological Legitimacy
Research on lived religion has frequently turned its focus from institutions and organised religion to study the everyday life of laypeople. The purpose of the proposed study is to investigate everyday spiritual activities laypeople engage in within ecclesial institutions and how these practices are linked to notions about religion and health. Today eight of ten parishes in the diocese of Stockholm offer new spiritual practices like sacred dance, medical yoga, hatha yoga, meditative movement, and qigong.
The proposed project combines competence from Religious Studies and Theology to investigate the growing presence of such practices within church institutions. It aims to answer the following:
1. Which strategies have Protestant churches in the Nordic countries developed to meet a growing quest for spirituality and new spiritual practices?
2. Which new spiritual practices are arranged under the auspices of the Church of Sweden?
3. How are such practices used and negotiated on an individual level, i.e. who practices what, when, how, and why? How are notions of religions and health linked?
4. How are they negotiated on an institutional level, i.e. who arranges these courses and new spiritual practices, how and by whom are they given theological legitimacy? How are the practices integrated in Lutheran theologies and to the idea of the folk church? Or – if they are not given theological legitimacy – what are the arguments against them?
The project will use field methods to collect data.
Final report
Project Aim and Development
This project has aimed to investigate how embodied, everyday-oriented, and holistic spiritual practices—such as meditation, yoga, qigong, and dance—have been integrated into the activities of the Church of Sweden, with a particular focus on the Diocese of Stockholm. The project sought to understand how these practices are legitimized, shaped, and interpreted within ecclesial contexts, as well as the theological, corporeal, and organizational implications they entail. A central objective has been to contribute to a deeper understanding of contemporary Protestant spirituality in a Nordic context, where the boundaries between the religious, the secular, and the therapeutic are being renegotiated in novel ways.
The project evolved from a broad mapping of parish activities to an in-depth analysis of three types of practice: stillness practices (e.g., Christian deep meditation and other forms of meditation), slow movement practices (e.g., yoga, Tikva, qigong), and intensive movement practices (e.g., dance meditation, Groove, the Five Rhythms). During the course of our work, we also developed conceptual tools, including religious entanglement, glowing religiosity, and bodily neo-pietism, to analyze and conceptualize these transformations.
Brief Overview of the Research Process
The study was conducted in three stages. First, a netnographic survey was conducted of 53 parish websites within the Diocese of Stockholm. We analyzed calendars, activity descriptions, and parish guidelines to identify the presence of embodied spiritual practices. This quantitative mapping formed the basis for two rounds of qualitative coding, through which we identified the most frequent practices and thus those most relevant for further study.
In the next stage, participant observations, conversations, and interviews were conducted with both leaders and participants engaged in these practices. We also analyzed archival material from the Cathedral Chapter and examined practice literature—that is, texts authored by key individuals who introduced new spiritual practices into ecclesial settings. By combining ethnographic methods with analysis from theological and religious studies, we were able to approach these practices as expressions of lived religion and lived spirituality.
The project was carried out by Katarina Plank (principal investigator) and Helene Egnell, with Linnea Lundgren serving as research assistant responsible for data collection during the first two years. The findings have been presented in several scholarly articles (2022–2026) and form the basis for an upcoming monograph.
Three Key Findings and Conclusions
1. Institutional Integration of Embodied Practices
Holistic spiritual practices have become an integral part of parish life in many congregations. In the Diocese of Stockholm, eight out of ten parishes offer some form of such practice, accounting for approximately 15 per cent of all non-liturgical activities. These activities often take place within church spaces, are led by clergy, deacons, and laypersons, and are framed by Christian symbols, prayers, and liturgical elements. This indicates a far-reaching normalization and a reconfiguration of what constitutes ecclesial activity. The practices are frequently presented under headings such as “health and well-being”, “stillness”, or “spiritual deepening”, reflecting their positioning at the intersection of pastoral care, health, and spirituality.
2. Theological and Corporeal Reorientation
The project demonstrates that the sacred in contemporary Protestantism is increasingly located in the body, presence, and relationality—rather than in dogma, structure, or transcendence. Practices such as meditation, yoga, and dance function as low-threshold, therapeutically coded ritual environments where participants can experience stillness, meaning, and belonging without the requirement of confessional adherence. These spaces are characterized by a carefully curated aesthetic—light, music, silence, bodily postures—creating transitions from the rhythms of everyday life to another mode of presence. The theological and the therapeutic coexist in practice, often without participants perceiving any conflict between them. This challenges traditional Protestant emphases on the verbal and cognitive, opening the way for a more corporeally grounded piety.
3. Conceptual Development: Religious Entanglement and Bodily Neo-Pietism
To analyze these transformations, we have developed the concept of religious entanglement, which captures how Christian, secular, and alternative elements are integrated into new forms of spiritual practice. The empirical material reveals how Christian contemplative traditions—often rooted in pre-Reformation Orthodox and Catholic practices—are combined with techniques drawn from Buddhist mindfulness, bodily stillness, visualizations, and therapeutic discourse.
The concept of bodily neo-pietism describes a movement in which critique of ecclesial stagnation is expressed through the body rather than through words. This piety is glowing rather than muted, seeking holiness in movement, rhythm, and presence. The presence of dance in church also raises questions concerning incarnation, spiritual knowledge, and theological expression—not as a rupture with tradition, but as a return to a more embodied form of Christian devotion.
Conclusion
The project demonstrates that these new spiritual expressions are not peripheral but integral to how faith and holiness are lived and understood in contemporary Protestantism. They signal a shift in the Church’s theological self-understanding—from a transmitting institution to an enabling community. This transformation can be understood as part of a broader immanent turn within Protestant spirituality, in which the sacred is located in the everyday, the bodily, and the relational. This shift has been underway since the 1970s and significantly shapes the Nordic ecclesial landscape today.
This shift does not constitute a break with Protestant tradition but may instead be seen as an extension of its internal logic. Luther’s emphasis on vocation in everyday life, the idea of the priesthood of all believers, and the aspiration to bring the spiritual close to the people reappear in a new guise—not solely in the form of the Word, but in body, presence, and everyday practice. The new piety is thus not merely a response to late modern individualism but also an expression of a Protestant heritage seeking its form in a new era.
Emerging Research Questions
The project raises several questions for future research. In what ways can churches be understood as therapeutic communities, and how does this function affect their traditional religious identity and practice? How is religious experience shaped and mediated through corporeality in ecclesial practices, and what significance does this have for the establishment of authority and authenticity? How are the boundaries between the religious, the secular, and the therapeutic expressed and contested in ecclesial contexts, and what consequences does this boundary dissolution have for the Church’s position in society?
To what extent can churches be understood as actors in a spiritual marketplace, and how do competition and coexistence with other religious and spiritual actors influence their liturgical, social, and organizational expressions? How do other religious and spiritual actors respond to the Church’s appropriation of therapeutic and spiritual practices, and what forms of dialogue, competition, or mutual influence can be identified in this field? How are authority and tradition negotiated in contemporary ecclesial practices, and in what ways can these processes both preserve and transform established power structures?
Finally, how do these changes relate to global trends in Christian spirituality, such as the embodied expressions of Pentecostalism or the growing interest in contemplative practices? Comparative studies across dioceses, denominations, and countries are necessary to understand how these transformations manifest differently in various contexts.
Dissemination of Research Findings
The research team has participated annually in several international conferences and seminars at various Swedish universities and has also presented the project in ecclesial contexts.
Conference Presentations
IAHR, Krakow. Presentation: Yoga in the Church of Sweden. 2025-08-26.
Majority Churches and Contemporary Spirituality. Karlstads universitet. Presentation: Folkkyrkans nya ansikten. 2024-12-05/06.
Beyond Tradition? Religions in a Changing World. Nordic Conference on Sociology of Religion, Aarhus University. Presentations: Yoga in the Church of Sweden, Buddhism in Sweden, and societal tensions. 2024-08-14/16
Nordic Yoga Network, Umeå University. Presentation: Yoga in the Church of Sweden. 2024-05-30.
Religion and Spirituality as Sites of Learning, Donner Institute Symposium, Åbo. Presentation: The New Ritual Specialists. 2023-05-15.
Buddhism and Theosophy in the Nordic Countries. Lund University. Presentation: Buddhism in Sweden: Religious Institutions, Secular Applications and Christian Meditations. 2022-05-11.
Beyond the textual realm of faith, Lund University. Presentation: The New Faces of the Folk Church. 2022-03-31.
Seminar Presentations
250212, Högre seminarierna i religionshistoria och praktisk teologi, Centrum för teologi och religionsvetenskap, Lunds universitet
241014 Högre seminariet i religionsvetenskap, Malmö universitet
240227 Högre seminariet i religionshistoria och global kristendom, Uppsala universitet
231113, Webbinarium, Institutet för mångreligiositet och sekularitet, Södertörns högskola.
220223 Högre seminariet i religionsvetenskap, Karlstads universitet
Presentations in Ecclesial Contexts
250908 Västerås domkyrka, öppen föreläsning
250311 Utbildningsdagar “Religionsteologi i en folkekirkelig virkelighed. Om mødet med andre religioner og åndeligt søgende” vid Folkekirkens Uddannelses- og Videnscenter, Aarhus
240418 Utbildningsdag för medarbetare i sjukhuskyrkan i Stockholms stift
240228 Webinarium Folkekirke og Religionsmøde ”Hvordan møder folkekirken den åndelige søgen idag?”
20230325, Årsmöte för Folkekirke og Religionsmøde, Middelfart, Danmark
220516, Präst- och diakonmöte, Stockholms stift
Other Public Presentations
231118 Värmlands bokfestival
This project has aimed to investigate how embodied, everyday-oriented, and holistic spiritual practices—such as meditation, yoga, qigong, and dance—have been integrated into the activities of the Church of Sweden, with a particular focus on the Diocese of Stockholm. The project sought to understand how these practices are legitimized, shaped, and interpreted within ecclesial contexts, as well as the theological, corporeal, and organizational implications they entail. A central objective has been to contribute to a deeper understanding of contemporary Protestant spirituality in a Nordic context, where the boundaries between the religious, the secular, and the therapeutic are being renegotiated in novel ways.
The project evolved from a broad mapping of parish activities to an in-depth analysis of three types of practice: stillness practices (e.g., Christian deep meditation and other forms of meditation), slow movement practices (e.g., yoga, Tikva, qigong), and intensive movement practices (e.g., dance meditation, Groove, the Five Rhythms). During the course of our work, we also developed conceptual tools, including religious entanglement, glowing religiosity, and bodily neo-pietism, to analyze and conceptualize these transformations.
Brief Overview of the Research Process
The study was conducted in three stages. First, a netnographic survey was conducted of 53 parish websites within the Diocese of Stockholm. We analyzed calendars, activity descriptions, and parish guidelines to identify the presence of embodied spiritual practices. This quantitative mapping formed the basis for two rounds of qualitative coding, through which we identified the most frequent practices and thus those most relevant for further study.
In the next stage, participant observations, conversations, and interviews were conducted with both leaders and participants engaged in these practices. We also analyzed archival material from the Cathedral Chapter and examined practice literature—that is, texts authored by key individuals who introduced new spiritual practices into ecclesial settings. By combining ethnographic methods with analysis from theological and religious studies, we were able to approach these practices as expressions of lived religion and lived spirituality.
The project was carried out by Katarina Plank (principal investigator) and Helene Egnell, with Linnea Lundgren serving as research assistant responsible for data collection during the first two years. The findings have been presented in several scholarly articles (2022–2026) and form the basis for an upcoming monograph.
Three Key Findings and Conclusions
1. Institutional Integration of Embodied Practices
Holistic spiritual practices have become an integral part of parish life in many congregations. In the Diocese of Stockholm, eight out of ten parishes offer some form of such practice, accounting for approximately 15 per cent of all non-liturgical activities. These activities often take place within church spaces, are led by clergy, deacons, and laypersons, and are framed by Christian symbols, prayers, and liturgical elements. This indicates a far-reaching normalization and a reconfiguration of what constitutes ecclesial activity. The practices are frequently presented under headings such as “health and well-being”, “stillness”, or “spiritual deepening”, reflecting their positioning at the intersection of pastoral care, health, and spirituality.
2. Theological and Corporeal Reorientation
The project demonstrates that the sacred in contemporary Protestantism is increasingly located in the body, presence, and relationality—rather than in dogma, structure, or transcendence. Practices such as meditation, yoga, and dance function as low-threshold, therapeutically coded ritual environments where participants can experience stillness, meaning, and belonging without the requirement of confessional adherence. These spaces are characterized by a carefully curated aesthetic—light, music, silence, bodily postures—creating transitions from the rhythms of everyday life to another mode of presence. The theological and the therapeutic coexist in practice, often without participants perceiving any conflict between them. This challenges traditional Protestant emphases on the verbal and cognitive, opening the way for a more corporeally grounded piety.
3. Conceptual Development: Religious Entanglement and Bodily Neo-Pietism
To analyze these transformations, we have developed the concept of religious entanglement, which captures how Christian, secular, and alternative elements are integrated into new forms of spiritual practice. The empirical material reveals how Christian contemplative traditions—often rooted in pre-Reformation Orthodox and Catholic practices—are combined with techniques drawn from Buddhist mindfulness, bodily stillness, visualizations, and therapeutic discourse.
The concept of bodily neo-pietism describes a movement in which critique of ecclesial stagnation is expressed through the body rather than through words. This piety is glowing rather than muted, seeking holiness in movement, rhythm, and presence. The presence of dance in church also raises questions concerning incarnation, spiritual knowledge, and theological expression—not as a rupture with tradition, but as a return to a more embodied form of Christian devotion.
Conclusion
The project demonstrates that these new spiritual expressions are not peripheral but integral to how faith and holiness are lived and understood in contemporary Protestantism. They signal a shift in the Church’s theological self-understanding—from a transmitting institution to an enabling community. This transformation can be understood as part of a broader immanent turn within Protestant spirituality, in which the sacred is located in the everyday, the bodily, and the relational. This shift has been underway since the 1970s and significantly shapes the Nordic ecclesial landscape today.
This shift does not constitute a break with Protestant tradition but may instead be seen as an extension of its internal logic. Luther’s emphasis on vocation in everyday life, the idea of the priesthood of all believers, and the aspiration to bring the spiritual close to the people reappear in a new guise—not solely in the form of the Word, but in body, presence, and everyday practice. The new piety is thus not merely a response to late modern individualism but also an expression of a Protestant heritage seeking its form in a new era.
Emerging Research Questions
The project raises several questions for future research. In what ways can churches be understood as therapeutic communities, and how does this function affect their traditional religious identity and practice? How is religious experience shaped and mediated through corporeality in ecclesial practices, and what significance does this have for the establishment of authority and authenticity? How are the boundaries between the religious, the secular, and the therapeutic expressed and contested in ecclesial contexts, and what consequences does this boundary dissolution have for the Church’s position in society?
To what extent can churches be understood as actors in a spiritual marketplace, and how do competition and coexistence with other religious and spiritual actors influence their liturgical, social, and organizational expressions? How do other religious and spiritual actors respond to the Church’s appropriation of therapeutic and spiritual practices, and what forms of dialogue, competition, or mutual influence can be identified in this field? How are authority and tradition negotiated in contemporary ecclesial practices, and in what ways can these processes both preserve and transform established power structures?
Finally, how do these changes relate to global trends in Christian spirituality, such as the embodied expressions of Pentecostalism or the growing interest in contemplative practices? Comparative studies across dioceses, denominations, and countries are necessary to understand how these transformations manifest differently in various contexts.
Dissemination of Research Findings
The research team has participated annually in several international conferences and seminars at various Swedish universities and has also presented the project in ecclesial contexts.
Conference Presentations
IAHR, Krakow. Presentation: Yoga in the Church of Sweden. 2025-08-26.
Majority Churches and Contemporary Spirituality. Karlstads universitet. Presentation: Folkkyrkans nya ansikten. 2024-12-05/06.
Beyond Tradition? Religions in a Changing World. Nordic Conference on Sociology of Religion, Aarhus University. Presentations: Yoga in the Church of Sweden, Buddhism in Sweden, and societal tensions. 2024-08-14/16
Nordic Yoga Network, Umeå University. Presentation: Yoga in the Church of Sweden. 2024-05-30.
Religion and Spirituality as Sites of Learning, Donner Institute Symposium, Åbo. Presentation: The New Ritual Specialists. 2023-05-15.
Buddhism and Theosophy in the Nordic Countries. Lund University. Presentation: Buddhism in Sweden: Religious Institutions, Secular Applications and Christian Meditations. 2022-05-11.
Beyond the textual realm of faith, Lund University. Presentation: The New Faces of the Folk Church. 2022-03-31.
Seminar Presentations
250212, Högre seminarierna i religionshistoria och praktisk teologi, Centrum för teologi och religionsvetenskap, Lunds universitet
241014 Högre seminariet i religionsvetenskap, Malmö universitet
240227 Högre seminariet i religionshistoria och global kristendom, Uppsala universitet
231113, Webbinarium, Institutet för mångreligiositet och sekularitet, Södertörns högskola.
220223 Högre seminariet i religionsvetenskap, Karlstads universitet
Presentations in Ecclesial Contexts
250908 Västerås domkyrka, öppen föreläsning
250311 Utbildningsdagar “Religionsteologi i en folkekirkelig virkelighed. Om mødet med andre religioner og åndeligt søgende” vid Folkekirkens Uddannelses- og Videnscenter, Aarhus
240418 Utbildningsdag för medarbetare i sjukhuskyrkan i Stockholms stift
240228 Webinarium Folkekirke og Religionsmøde ”Hvordan møder folkekirken den åndelige søgen idag?”
20230325, Årsmöte för Folkekirke og Religionsmøde, Middelfart, Danmark
220516, Präst- och diakonmöte, Stockholms stift
Other Public Presentations
231118 Värmlands bokfestival