This article examines the relationship between diaconal associations in Nordic countries during the period around World War II. It is based on materials from the archive of Diakonissanstalten in Stockholm, including letters to and from the director of Diakonissanstalten as well as protocols of board meetings, and periodicals from Sweden from the same time. The authors investigate the relations of Diakonissanstalten and other Swedish diaconal associations with diaconal associations in Denmark, Finland and Norway during the lead-up to, throughout and in the aftermath of the second World War, asking: To what extent were Nordic diaconal associations able to maintain their relationship during the war? Were the transnational and ideological goals of diaconia challenged by the war? The article finds that the transnational culture that characterized relations between diaconal associations prior to World War II was affected by events during the war but was restored after the end of the war

The concept of diaconia is a novel theological approach in most African countries and the Global South, probably because diaconia is a Northern theological concept that largely reflects the top-down Christian social practice of providing relief and assistance to needy communities and countries mostly within the Global South. This paper explores the liberative notions of diaconia and Christian social practice from the perspective of the Global South. It attempts to reflect on an emerging praxis and theology from below as opposed to the predominant Northern theological approach. It argues that, whereas some Southern scholars advocate a shift from emphasizing liberation theologies to reconstruction theology, the concept of liberative diaconia is significant because it represents a grounded theology and praxis from below. Tracing the various liberation theological strands (in particular, from Latin America to South Africa), the paper asserts a new kind of spatial theory, namely, liberating heterotopic diaconia. This typical liberative diaconia engages indigenous communities and individuals to bring about freedom, justice, and transformation among the marginalized in some indigenous West African communities.

This article discusses issues related to the development of critical community research. It addresses the need for a critical and engaged approach related to the present societal context of growing diversity and complexity as well as deepening inequality. The new diaconal core concept of ‘seeking conviviality’ and the Community Action Based Learning for Empowerment (CABLE) learning process are addressed as perspectives on research rooted in the practice of everyday life which view professional practice as research. The exploration of this model is also related to some of the classical questions surrounding research, especially the issue of the diverse perspectives and interests of the research and field practice. The article draws on the author’s experience of community-based research and of working with people to research their own context and related issues.

In view of recent concrete challenges and creative initiatives arising in diaconal work related to economics and economic structures, this article takes human precariousness as its point of departure for reflecting on what might be seen as “diaconal economics.” I suggest a hermeneutical understanding of diaconia that makes it possible to distinguish between “explicit” and “implicit” diaconal practices, relating recent thinking on precariousness and precarity in the fields of political philosophy (Judith Butler) and economy (Guy Standing) to contemporary theological criticism of the global economic system (e.g., by Pope Francis, Daniel M. Bell, and William T. Cavanaugh). While appreciating the ethical commitment and theological relevance of such a critique, I draw on the contribution of development economists Banerjee and Duflo to suggest that diaconal economics should resist common tendencies toward very general and abstract approaches as well as proposals that are overly optimistic about the critical potential of explicitly faith-based or Christian alternative practices. But by recognizing the vital role of religiosity in situations of precarity (cf. Norris and Inglehart), I also suggest that the resources of Christian faith may be mobilized in multiple ways to foster contextualized and pluriform initiatives that serve to reform economic structures from the bottom up. They may provide such practices with motivation and direction in ways that may be seen as both explicitly and implicitly diaconal in nature.

The new visibility of religion in the public sphere calls for a rethinking of what characterizes the distinctiveness of diaconia. In the context of nordic Lutheran theology this question has traditionally been treated within the framework of the two kingdoms doctrine. However, in more recent years, prolific theologians such as Ola Sigurdson and Tage Kurtén have questioned the viability of this framework. Given the current post-secular condition, they claim, Nordic Lutheran theology must seek to overcome the separation of religion and politics that the two kingdoms doctrine has given way to. The present article argues that Gustaf Wingren’s (1910–2000) account of diaconia represents a rewarding point of departure for such an effort. Drawing on both Irenaeus’ concept of recapitulatio and the distinction between the two kingdoms of Luther, Wingren develops an understanding of diaconia which makes the particularities of faith productive in the interpretation of diaconal practice, while simultaneously confirming the universal character of God’s creative activity. Thus he paves the way for a dialectic approach to the distinctiveness of diaconia, which makes it possible to move beyond the dichotomization of religion and politics typical of protestant modernity, without dismissing still valuable aspects of the two kingdoms idea.

Processes of change in organisations which care for disabled people in Germany occur through the background of changing legal bases especially the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and reforms of German disability laws. This article introduce into a qualitative study titled “Inclusion, Participation and Disability: Challenges and Perspectives of changing Processes on Disability Organisations from the viewpoint of Institutions” based on the theory of neoinstitutionalism in which systematic indications for changing processes have been analysed. They demonstrate cause-effectrelations and inform in which manner inclusion is implemented. Furthermore the study clarifies on the macro, meso and micro level frame if and how this new paradigm is an expanding model for institutions and organisations for disabled people.