Martin Lönnebo, vän till de heliga bilderna

Abstract The object which this paper will investigate is the icon theology of the former Swedish bishop in Linköping diocese Martin Lönnebo (bishop between the years 1980-1995). I will do this by first analyzing his icon theology as described in his books considering icons (see c. 1.5 Material och avgränsningar). After this analysis i will compare Lönnebo’s icon theology with two other priests in Church of Sweden namely, Göran Larsson, former director of the Swedish Theological institute in Jerusalem, and Mats Hermansson current dean of Visby cathedral. After this comparison I will compare Lönnebo’s icon theology with the icon theology of the Orthodox church. I will give an account for the icon theology in the Orthodox church by showing how it is described by Church father St. John of Damascus (ca 676-749) and by the Orthodox theologian Leonid Ouspensky’s work ”Theology of the Icon” from the year 1990. Issues posed in this paper is the following: What icon theology does Bishop Emeritus Martin Lönnebo have? What similarities and differences are there between Lönnebo’s icon theology and Göran Larsson’s and Mats Hermansson’s icon theology? What similarities and differences are there between Lönnebo’s icon theology and the icon theology of the Orthodox Church? The reason why I have chosen to do these comparisons is that I wish to see how different or alike theology considering icons is in the Church of Sweden and how much Lönnebo’s theology considering icons agrees with the church tradition which has used icons since the times of early Christianity. Does a Lutheran bishop have to change some Orthodox theological positions considering the icons or can he accept it as it is? This paper can also be seen as a first step in exploring what the Church of Sweden wants to achieve with its use of icons. I will accomplish this paper by first presenting Lönnebo’s icon theology, later move on to Larsson’s and Hermansson’s icon theology and then present the icon theology of the Orthodox church. After these presentations I will do my careful comparisons and then present my conclusions. My paper will then be concluded with a summary