Beyond a Classic? Hjalmar Sunden's Role Theory and Contemporary Narrative Psychology

This article provides background information on the work of Hjalmar Sunden (1908-1993), one of the founding fathers of European psychology of religion. Critically assessing main concepts, it situates SundCn's role theory within the social constructionist movement. As a rather recent development within the movement, narrative psychology is briefly presented and an attempt made to link it to role theory (or rather, to SundCn's initial intuition). The question is raised whether narrative psychology takes us beyond Sunden.