This book presents results from a white paper project on the historical relations between the established Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden and the indigenous Sami people. The research project, which was launched in November 2012 and concluded in February 2017, was funded by the Church of Sweden Research Department and hosted by Umeå University. It was set up following an explicit request by representatives of the Sami community made at a hearing in 2011. Documentation of the abuse inflicted by the Church throughout history was regarded as a precondition for a continued reconciliation process. In April 2016, a comprehensive academic report was published. The contents of this two-volume book consisting of 33 articles written by experts in the field were summarised and discussed in a popular science publication issued in February 2017. Chapters on reconciliation as concept and practice were included in this abridged version so as to make it useful in reconciliation activities in church and Sami communities. The current book, The Sami and the Church of Sweden: Results from a White Paper Project, is a translation of the popular science publication, supplemented with a more detailed introduction and two updating and concluding chapters. Through this English version, international readers can inform themselves about the background, assignment, organisation, results and reception of a research project carried out within a reconciliation process. The editors Daniel Lindmark and Olle Sundström were involved in the management of the White Paper Project. They work at Umeå University, Lindmark as a professor of church history, and Sundström as an associate professor of history of religions.
