ABSTRACTIn the autumn of 2017 361 testimonies of sexualized violence and abuse from women, previously or currently active in the Church of Sweden, were published under the hashtag #vardeljus as a part of #metoo. Neither the church nor theology can ignore or avoid the subject after this publication. However, despite this obvious need to address #vardeljus theologically, there has been a lack of theological reflection within a Swedish context. Indeed, the questions of if and how theology continue to contribute to the legitimation and maintenance of structures that enable sexualised violence and how theology can help women exposed to sexualised violence remain largely unanswered. This study therefore aims to provide some answers. Firstly, it seeks to identify what needs are expressed in the testimonies from #vardeljus by examining the theological conclusions about these, as drawn by Anne Sörman, from a feminist theological perspective. Secondly, it analyses whether contemporary interpretations of original sin by Lutheran theologians Eva-Lotta Grantén and Anna Karin Hammar contain useful, relevant, and sufficient resources to meet these demands and acknowledge women who experienced sexualised violence in church environments. Thirdly, this study contributes to the future shaping of theology by concluding which complements are needed to ensure that theological interpretations of sin, such as for example those by Grantén and Hammar, are relevant also for women subjected to sexualized violence.

By using feminist theological textual analysis, where key themes as represented by Susan Frank Parsons, Sólveig Anna Bóasdóttir, Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker are defined and used, this study queries whether these needs are acknowledged and met in interpretations of original sin by Grantén and Hammar. In this examination their usage of such theological concepts as original sin, sin, accountability and guilt are weighted against the #vardeljus-experiences of sexualised violence in order to establish whether original sin is a concept suitable for acknowledging women and including them in theology.

Grantén and Hammar attempt to make original sin a useful and understandable concept for contemporary believers, although they differ in their interpretations of this concept. Grantén considers that original sin entails guilt which primarily concerns and affects the relation between an individual and God and only secondarily interhuman relationships. Hammar argues against the usage of original sin and guilt and instead proposes to use destruction and (original) accountability as contemporary-friendlier alternatives. However, neither Grantén, whose main concern is to study original sin as a cause to the existence of sin and evil, nor Hammar, who applies a more consequence-directed approach, manages to adequately acknowledge or adapt their interpretations after women’s experiences of being victims to sexualised violence.

This study concludes that if contemporary interpretations of original sin aren’t supplemented with interpretations that illuminate differences within a group where everybody is a sinner, acknowledge women as victims, emphasise the need of identifying and holding perpetrators accountable, and, at the same time, offer tangible help to victims, then the resources that the concept of original sin offers are neither helpful nor relevant to women that are victims of sexualised violence.