Vartija (Finnish: Guardian) is a quarterly theological magazine based in Helsinki, Finland.[1] It was a print publication between 1888 and 2017 and became an online-only periodical in 2017.[2] The magazine is not attached to any church in Finland[3] and supports both conservatism and radicalism since its establishment.[2]

Vartija
CategoriesTheological magazine
FrequencyQuarterly
FounderElis Bergroth
Karl August Hildén
Aleksander Auvinen
Founded1888
Final issue2017 (print)
CountryFinland
Based inHelsinki
LanguageFinnish
ISSN0782-033X
OCLC499490082

History and profile

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Vartija was founded in 1888 by a group of young priests who had left the Finnish Lutheran Church, including Elis Bergroth, Karl August Hildén and Aleksander Auvinen.[4] The founding editor was Elis Bergroth who served in the post from 1888 to 1906, and he was succeeded by Lauri Ingman.[4] One of the topics covered in the magazine between 1888 and 1910 was the Finnish-American ecclesiastical conditions.[4]

In 1907 Vartija published many articles about the relationship between early Christianity and communism and socialism.[5] In 1911 and 1913 Antti J. Pulkkinen and Aukusti Oravala published articles in the magazine on the work by Danish philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard.[1] Antti Filemon Puukko, a scholar of Old Testament Exegetics, harshly criticized the 1910 book, Hedendom och Kristendom (Swedish: Paganism and Christianity), by Rafael Karsten in the magazine in 1912 arguing that it devalued the meaning and significance of the Bible.[6]

During World War II Vartija became a church discussion forum[3] and also, featured articles on family issues and the welfare state.[7] Psychiatrist Martti Siirala and his theologist brother Aarne Siirala were among the frequent contributors of the magazine in the 1950s.[8] In 1965 Vicar Mauno Mäkinen published an article in the magazine suggesting that Finnish Christians should read the work by Richard W. Solberg.[9]

Irja Askola was the first female editor-in-chief of Vartija who appointed to the post in 1982 along with Simo Knuuttila.[2] As of 2018 the editors-in-chief were Matti Myllykoski and Mikko Ketola.[2] The magazine publishes articles on a wide variety of topics such as religion, theology, philosophy, psychology, culture and society.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b Janne Kylliäinen (2009). "The Reception of Kierkegaard in Finland". In Jon Stewart (ed.). Kierkegaard's International Reception. Vol. 8. Surrey; Burlington, VT: Ashgate. p. 201. ISBN 978-0-7546-6496-3.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Aikakauslehti Vartija ilmestyy nyt ilmaiseksi verkossa". Kirkko ja Kaupunki (in Finnish). 3 August 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  3. ^ a b Liro Summanen (2016). Vartija-lehti suomalaisen kristillisyyden seuraajana talvi- ja jatkosodan aikana (MA thesis) (in Finnish). University of Helsinki.
  4. ^ a b c Hanna Gaskin (2015). Finnish-American ecclesiastical conditions according to the Vartija-magazine in 1888-1910 (MA thesis) (in Finnish). University of Eastern Finland.
  5. ^ Jani Marjanen; Jussi Kurunmäki; Lidia Pivovarova; Elaine Zosa (December 2020). "The expansion of isms, 1820-1917: Data-driven analysis of political language in digitized newspaper collections". Journal of Data Mining and Digital Humanities: 15. doi:10.46298/jdmdh.6159.
  6. ^ Simo Muir (2009). "Anti-Semitism in the Finnish Academe: rejection of Israel-Jakob Schur's PhD dissertation at the University of Helsinki (1937) and Åbo Akademi University (1938)". Scandinavian Journal of History. 34 (2): 144–145. doi:10.1080/03468750902860468.
  7. ^ Pirjo Markkola (2014). "Focusing on the Family: The Lutheran Church and the Making of the Nordic Welfare State in Finland, 1940s to 1960s". Journal of Church and State. 56 (1): 62. doi:10.1093/jcs/cst135. JSTOR 23922924.
  8. ^ Eve-Riina Hyrkäs (2022). Psychosomatic connections: Mind-body histories in Finnish medicine, ca. 1945-2000 (PhD thesis). University of Oulu. p. 57.
  9. ^ Suvi Kyrö (2006). "Communism in Christian Literature Published in Finland". Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte. 19 (1): 40. JSTOR 43751744.
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Official website