Per Eckerdal’s richly illustrated book “The desire to see, the power to change – Bräcke diakoni under 100 years” (Business History Publishing, 2023) is an detailed depiction of the rise of the diaconal movement in Sweden with a focus on Gothenburg and the west coast.
Bräcke diakoni started in 1923 as a health care training for deaconesses, a church social project to counteract social need and misery. Today, Bräcke diakoni is one of Swedish civil society’s major actors in welfare. What has that development looked like? The new book “Viljan att se, kraften att förändra” takes the reader on on a journey that depicts the foundation’s first hundred years. A journey that impacted by major societal changes and by bold, pragmatic steps. A journey that twists and turns, but is always guided by what has become the foundation’s core values – the will to see and the power to change.
About the author
Per Eckerdal is former director of Bräcke Diaconia between 1990–2008 and chairman of the board 2008–2011. He then became a bishop in the Diocese of Gothenburg from 2011 to 2018. Eckerdal is also a doctor of theology in church studies.
