Applications of the three-estate doctrine : Swedish local sermons and the social order, 1790–1820

Abstract

This chapter places the religio-political messages conveyed from Swedish pulpits at the centre of attention. By means of a close analysis of sermons delivered in seven different kinds of local parishes in the Swedish realm at the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth, it demonstrates the impact of and the remarkable continuity in discourses defending the idea of a corporate state system. Instead of the individual benefit, the common good was seen as the fundamental idea for maintaining obedience. The writer argues for the continued strength of a traditional, Lutheran orthodox definition of the social order, but also for its adaptability at a time when new ways of life increasingly came to influence local societies.