Vartija

Vartija (Finnish: Guardian) is a quarterly theological magazine based in Helsinki, Finland.^[1] It was a print publication between 1888 and 2017 and became an online-only periodical in 2017.^[2] The magazine is not attached to any church in Finland^[3] and supports both conservatism and radicalism since its establishment.^[2]

Vartija

Categories	Theological magazine
Frequency	Quarterly
Founder	Elis Bergroth Karl August Hildén Aleksander Auvinen
Founded	1888
Final issue	2017 (print)
Country	Finland
Based in	Helsinki
Language	Finnish
ISSN	0782-033X
OCLC	499490082

History and profile

Vartija was founded in 1888 by a group of young priests who had left the Finnish Lutheran Church, including Elis Bergroth, Karl August Hildén and Aleksander Auvinen.^[4] The founding editor was Elis Bergroth who served in the post from 1888 to 1906, and he was succeeded by Lauri Ingman.^[4] One of the topics covered in the magazine between 1888 and 1910 was the Finnish-American ecclesiastical conditions.^[4]

In 1907 Vartija published many articles about the relationship between early Christianity and communism and socialism.^[5] In 1911 and 1913 Antti J. Pulkkinen and Aukusti Oravala published articles in the magazine on the work by Danish philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard.^[1] Antti Filemon Puukko, a scholar of Old Testament Exegetics, harshly criticized the 1910 book, Hedendom och Kristendom (Swedish: Paganism and Christianity), by Rafael Karsten in the magazine in 1912 arguing that it devalued the meaning and significance of the Bible.^[6]

During World War II Vartija became a church discussion forum^[3] and also, featured articles on family issues and the welfare state.^[7] Psychiatrist Martti Siirala and his theologist brother Aarne Siirala were among the frequent contributors of the magazine in the 1950s.^[8] In 1965 Vicar Mauno Mäkinen published an article in the magazine suggesting that Finnish Christians should read the work by Richard W. Solberg.^[9]

Irja Askola was the first female editor-in-chief of Vartija who appointed to the post in 1982 along with Simo Knuuttila.^[2] As of 2018 the editors-in-chief were Matti Myllykoski and Mikko Ketola.^[2] The magazine publishes articles on a wide variety of topics such as religion, theology, philosophy, psychology, culture and society.^[2]