Social Research on Science and Religion in Nordic Countries

Abstract

This article presents a review of the literature on science and religion in Nordic countries. Seventy-seven articles, books, and chapters on the topic were collected from five major scholarly databases between 1997 and 2018. We scrutinized how research in this data set was engaged with social scientific research. Most of the research was not social scientific. It was primarily philosophical, theological, and historical research; very little presented empirical and theoretical social scientific research. The studies reflected societal discussions, bringing out some cultural dimensions and social issues, but not specifically in the Nordic context. Some societal aspects were highlighted, such as ethics and climate change, but these were not necessarily tied to the Nordic societies. We propose that in the Nordic context there seems to be a need for social scientific research on science and religion. This research could use theoretical perspectives from, for instance, sociology, science and technology studies, higher education studies, and anthropological research.

Negotiations of Science and Religion in Nordic Institutions: An Ethnographic Approach

“…Yet, as above, the dynamic between science and religion is expected to vary from social context to social context. In the Nordic countries, there is a lack of empirical research on how people see the relationship between science and religion, and whether similar issues are relevant there (Vuolanto et al 2020). Our research, therefore, fills a gap in qualitatively rich descriptions of how individuals negotiate the relationship between science and religion in the understudied contexts of Finland and Sweden.…”