ABSTRACT
An important part of Sweden’s first freedom of religion act, passed in 1951, was citizens’ right not to practice a religion. The post-World War II generations lived in an increasingly secularized paradigm. In this context, Göran Göransson was a very knowledgeable and influential jurist who not only practiced ecclesiastical law within the Swedish church but also served as a departmental jurist actively participating in the legal creation of the new relation between the state and the Swedish church in 2000. Göransson was a trained lawyer who earned his law degree in Uppsala in 1951. His Christian faith took him during his student days to European Christian conferences, and he created from his early years a valuable network with European Christian jurists, who became important to his work in ecclesiastical law for the rest of his life. In his work and many publications, Göransson emphasized the special relation between theology and law. He underscored that ecclesiastical law is not only pragmatic administrative law but also, since medieval times, intertwined with theology. He became a torchbearer for traditional ecclesiastical law in a time of change. His views have been of great importance for the creation of the identity of the Swedish church in our postsecular time.
