Salmebogen som bekendelsesskrift

Et bidrag til prolegomena for en teologi om det evangelisk-lutherske I Danmark

Abstract

This article examines the hypothesis that the Danish hymnbook (Den Danske Salmebog, 2002) can be understood as a confessional text within the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark. While hymnbooks are primarily practical liturgical resources, the article argues that their authorization process—comprising theological evaluation, episcopal oversight, public consultation, and widespread ecclesial use—confers upon them a distinctive confessional status. Systematizing a distinction between liturgical, catechetical, and reflective confessions, the study focuses on the latter and proposes the category of a “third-order confession” to describe the hymnbook’s normative, though subordinate, role in doctrinal clarification. Unlike classical confessional writings, the hymnbook does not function as an exclusive doctrinal norm, but as an expansive one (verbum amplius), articulating contemporary Evangelical-Lutheran theology in all its width through diverse poetic and liturgical forms. The article further argues that authorized hymns can transform elements of binding church doctrine into mere theological opinion, thereby fostering a form of reconciled diversity within the church’s confessional framework. By situating the hymnbook within theological prolegomena, the article contributes to contemporary discussions of doctrinal authority, normativity, and the sources of theology for the Danish folk church.