Maritta Tuulikki Koivunen Bylund (born 8 April 1947) is a Finnish-Swedish theologian. She was appointed

Bishop of Härnösand A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

in central Sweden on 8 November 2009; she was the fourth woman to be ordained as a bishop in the Church of Sweden. She retired on 13 December 2014.

Biography

Koivunen Bylund was born on 19 July 1947 in

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

, south-western Finland, and grew up in

Rauma Rauma may refer to: Places * Rauma, Finland, a town and municipality in the Satakunta region of western Finland * Rauma Municipality, a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway * Rauma (river), a river in the Romsdalen valley in Møre og Ro ...

where she matriculated from the girls' high school (Rauman tyttölyseo) in 1967. After graduating in theology from

Åbo Akademi University Åbo Akademi University ( , ) is the only exclusively Swedish language multi-faculty university in Finland (or anywhere outside Sweden). It is located mainly in Turku (Åbo is the Swedish name of the city) but has also activities in Vaasa. Å ...

in 1971, she was ordained a priest in the

Diocese of Lund The Diocese of Lund () is a diocese within the Church of Sweden which corresponds to the provinces of Blekinge and Skåne. There are 217 parishes within the diocese, the most significant number in any of the dioceses of the Church of Sweden. Th ...

, Sweden, in the same year. She had emigrated to Sweden because at the time it was not possible for women to enter the clergy in Finland. The churches of Finland and Sweden differed significantly in their admission of women to the clergy. In 1973, she became the principal diocesan curate in Lund, gaining a similar position in

Växjö Växjö () is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden. It had 71,282 inhabitants (2020) out of a Municipalities of Sweden, municipal population of 97,349 (2024). It is the administrative, cultural, and industrial ce ...

the following year. She served as a deputy pastor in Bro Parish,

Upplands-Bro Upplands-Bro Municipality () is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Kungsängen. The municipality was formed in 1952 through the amalgamation of five rural municipalities in Uppsala Count ...

, in the Diocese of Uppsala, from 1976. In 1983 she became a student pastor at

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

, and in 1987 an assistant pastor at

Uppsala Cathedral Uppsala Cathedral () is a cathedral located between the University Hall (Uppsala University), University Hall of Uppsala University and the Fyris river in the centre of Uppsala, Sweden. A church of the Church of Sweden, the national church, in t ...

and parish priest for the Almtuna district. She was appointed

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean * Dean Sw ...

of Uppsala Cathedral in 1995 before becoming Bishop of Härnösand in 2009. The consecration ceremony took place in Uppsala Cathedral. At the same occasion,

Eva Brunne Gerd Eva Cecilia Brunne (born 7 March 1954) is a bishop in the Church of Sweden. She served as the Bishop of Stockholm from 2009 till 2019. She is the first openly lesbian bishop of a mainstream church in the world and the first bishop of the ...

was consecrated Bishop of Stockholm. Koivunen Bylund became a

Doctor of Theology Doctor of Theology (, abbreviated DTh, ThD, DTheol, or Dr. theol.) is a terminal degree in the academic discipline of theology. The ThD, like the ecclesiastical Doctor of Sacred Theology, is an advanced research degree equivalent to the Doctor o ...

at Uppsala University in 1994. Her doctoral dissertation, with the title ''”Frukta icke, allenast tro”: Ebba Boström och Samariterhemmet 1882–1902'' (''“Fear not, believe only”: Ebba Boström and the Samaritan Home, 1882–1902'') is an interdisciplinary work within

women's history Women's history is the study of the role that Woman, women have played in history and Historiography, the methods required to do so. It includes the study of the history of the growth of woman's rights, women's rights throughout recorded history, ...

and

practical theology Practical theology is an academic discipline that examines and reflects on religious practices in order to understand the theology enacted in those practices and in order to consider how theological theory and theological practices can be more full ...

, which investigates the history of the charitable institution ''Samariterhemmet'' in Uppsala.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koivunen Bylund, Tuulikki 1947 births Living people Swedish people of Finnish descent Bishops of Härnösand 21st-century Lutheran bishops Women Lutheran bishops People from Turku