Antje Jackelén

Biography

Jackelén was born June 4, 1955 in Herdecke, West Germany. She studied Lutheran theology at the University of Tübingen and Uppsala University.

Jackelén served as a priest in Tyresö parish in the Diocese of Stockholm 1981–1988, in Gårdstånga parish in the Diocese of Lund 1988–1994 and in the Cathedral parish of Lund 1995–1996. After finishing her doctorate, she worked at Lund University 1999–2001 and was assistant professor of Systematic Theology/Religion and Science at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago 2001–2003. From 2003 she was Associate Professor and Director of the Zygon Center for Religion and Science until 2007.

Jackelén was elected Bishop of Lund in 2006, and succeeded Christina Odenberg in 2007. Unlike Odenberg Jackelén obliged clergy who did not recognize her ministry to attend a eucharist at which she presided. Odenberg had been the first woman to become a bishop in the Church of Sweden, and Jackelén became the third. Jackelén was the first woman to be appointed as bishop after a popular vote in the diocese, the two former (Odenberg in 1997, and Caroline Krook, Bishop of Stockholm, in 1998) having both been appointed by the Swedish government before the separation of the Church of Sweden from the state in 2000. Jackelén was ordained Bishop of Lund by Anders Wejryd, Archbishop of Uppsala, in Uppsala Cathedral on 15 April 2007, and was received in her diocese through a service in Lund Cathedral on 21 April. As her official motto, she chose Gud är större ("God is greater"), referring to a passage in the First Epistle of John (1 John 3.18–20) and this also became the title of her pastoral letter, published in 2011.

As Bishop of Lund, Jackelén was one of the assistant officiants during the state wedding of Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, and Daniel Westling, in 2010.

She has served as representative of the Church of Sweden on the Lutheran World Federation council.

She was elected Archbishop of Uppsala on October 15, 2013 and was officially received in Uppsala Cathedral on June 15, 2014, in the presence of Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and Queen Silvia of Sweden, after the retirement of Anders Wejryd. In March 2014, Johan Tyrberg was elected to succeed her as Bishop of Lund.

On Monday, May 4, 2015, she had an official audience with Pope Francis. This makes her the first woman and archbishop to be welcomed at the Vatican. Her and the Pope's churches, while having very important and major differences (the stances on the state of ordination and the clergy, Marian beliefs, and their stances on some contemporary social issues, for example), did publish a document on the push toward theological dialogue and communion regarding the anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. She has several points of agreement, notably on evolution and the climate, the need for dialogue between science and religion, and the need to care for the poor, and to support some continued role for the Churches in public life, even in secularized societies which tend to want to separate the two.

Publications

Her doctoral dissertation Zeit und Ewigkeit: die Frage der Zeit in Kirche, Naturwissenschaft und Theologie (Lund 1999) was later republished on Neukirchener Verlag under the same title in 2002. A Swedish translation came in 2000 and an English translation Time & eternity: the question of time in church, science, and theology was published in 2005. She was the speaker at the 2003 Goshen Conference on Religion and Science, a conference that features noted academics in the field of religion and science. The proceedings were published by Pandora Press.

Private life

Her husband, Heinz Jackelén, is a retired priest, also originally from Germany, and they have two daughters and several grandchildren. The couple met as undergraduate theology students at Uppsala University. The name Jackelén is believed to come from French-German Huguenot ancestors. The couple lives in the Archbishop's official residence (Ärkebiskopsgården) in Uppsala.

Theological views

Jackelén has published several works which deal with the relationship between the natural sciences and religious faith, as well as the role of religion in modern society. She endorses the theory of evolution and sees no contradiction in believing both in God and in evolution.

She has also in an interview with Swedish Christian newspaper Dagen stated that the virgin birth of Jesus is a "mythological term to explain the unique. Those who interpret the virgin birth as a biological issue have completely missed the point." She later clarified her statement as being intended to emphasise that in her view, neither a strictly literal interpretation of the virgin birth, nor a rejection of the virgin birth on the grounds of scientific impossibility, can capture the theological tradition surrounding the virgin birth.

She supports same-sex marriage in church, while calling for the state to support the institution of marriage as such.

Political positions

Jackelén has spoken out against a ban on school graduation ceremonies in churches, believing a total ban on religious influences in public schools to be detrimental to the spiritual development of children, while emphasising the role of the Church of Sweden in Swedish civil society. Together with the bishops' conference she has also addressed climate change in a Bishops' letter, calling for the members of the Church of Sweden as well as the Swedish state to set goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and for Sweden to enter binding international agreements on the issue.