”Front mot plattkyrkligheten” : Tillkomst och strävanden hos Sodalitium Sancti Christofori 1921–1939 i organisationsteoretisk belysning

The beginning of the 20th century saw an emergence of new ideals for and ways of living a Christian life in Church of Sweden. As a consequence of both a revival for Sweden’s own medieval heritage as well as intensified ecumenical contacts with, principally the Church of England, several Christian communities took similar form to that of “Third orders”, but without any canonical status. This present study focuses such an order, Sodailitium Sancti Christofori,(Fraternity of Saint Christopher), founded in the university town of Uppsala in 1921 by students of theology studying for the priesthood in Church of Sweden. The fraternity’s work is outlined during its complete lifespan, approximately 20 years. A total of 19 men were received as novices, 17 of these went on to become brothers. Some of these became profiled churchmen in Church of Sweden, for example Gustaf Adolf and Sven Danell, dean of Växjö and bishop of Skara respectively, Bengt Sundkler, bishop of Bukoba as well as professor of missiology at Uppsala university, and Harry Ljungar, long-time vicar of Moheda, diocese of Växjö. They were influenced by the Youth Church movement, the emerging High Church movement, as well as likeminded groups in Denmark, England and Germany. As time went on, the brothers were ordained and sent out to different parts of Sweden and new brothers were received, keeping in touch through extensive letter correspondence. Sometime during the 1930s, activity in the fraternity went down drastically, and the last sign of life within the fraternity is a chronicle of a general chapter in 1939