Göta Kanal är för många människor en turistattraktion och en vattenled för semesterfirare. Färre vet att den byggdes som handelsled och för att säkerställa den svenska importen under krigstider. Göta kanal byggdes under åren 1813-1832 av bl.a. svenska arbetare, svenska militärer och ryska desertörer. Myten om att kanalen byggdes av ryska krigsfångar dementerar denna uppsats.

Göta Kanal är för många människor en turistattraktion och en vattenled för semesterfirare. Färre vet att den byggdes som handelsled och för att säkerställa den svenska importen under krigstider. Göta kanal byggdes under åren 1813-1832 av bl.a. svenska arbetare, svenska militärer och ryska desertörer. Myten om att kanalen byggdes av ryska krigsfångar dementerar denna uppsats.

The purpose of this essay is to shed light upon the ecumenical work that has been done between the Church of Sweden and the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden. The recent years of work have led to a recommendation for a certain degree of fellowship to be established between those churches. This proposal as well as other documents are analysed in the essay from an ecclesio-logical point of view, to find out how the Church of Sweden looks upon itself in meeting another church.To structure the material, the essay has been subdivided into seven parts that is related to ecclesiology. In those seven chapters the positions of the Church of Sweden and the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden are given individually as well as in common. Questions like the im-portance of dioceses, local Congregations or parishes and the national level are described.

Is it possible to convey spirituality through art and material culture? Is it possible to renew art within the traditional church so that it appeals and is understandable for the modern man? These are the fundamental questions of my master´s work, which has it´s starting point in a public commission for an artistic contribution to the new Pentecostal church in Kalmar. The work also addresses the question whether there is a need for symbolism, art and sacred objects also within the Pentecostal movement, a traditionally strong image hosting environment. If so, how is it possible to bring this in to the church without completely breaking with the tradition and ideology of the movement? I want to communicate the Christian message in a renewed way, and in this particular project also highlight the importance of using images also within the Pentecostal movement.

Carl Gustav von Brinkman was born in Nacka, Sweden 1764 but in his eleventh year he was sent away by his father to the Herrnhuter school in Niesky to become a missionary. Brinkman developed other plans. The experience of the school as a place that censured his thoughts and hindered his development, took an early start and grew stronger. He tried to convince his teachers in the Congregation that they should allow him to attend the university in Halle, but they wanted his father to decide. His father then threatened to exclude him from the family if he went to Halle.

The essay deals with questions concerning the reasons, difficulties and subjects for rejoicing which various people experience when visiting "voluntarily" old, lonely people in the Congregation of Trollhättan. What knowledge is developed and which values are formed? How is aging and solitude experienced? The visits are co-ordinated by two lay workers employed by the Swedish Church. The study is built on oral interviews in April and May 2003 from a questionaire using open questions. The research group consists of six women between 65-80 of age with 1-30 years´ experience.Inner reasons, contact with other people in similar situations, positive responses to visits, and meetings in the visiting service group seem to be the principal driving forces.

The purpose of this study is to find out how clergymen in the Church of Sweden understand their role as pastoral caregivers, in a context of a society that has changed quite a lot during the past decades. The study is based on interviews with four clergymen, two men and two women in the ages of 40-65 with experiences from Congregations of different social and geographical kind. The interviews are analyzed in themes. When analyzing the interviews identity and role theory is used as a tool, but also the idea of a postmodern society and metaphors for the different kind of roles a pastoral caregiver can take during counseling.The clergymen meet a broad range of people in counseling, both those who regularly attend church activities and those who are complete strangers. They are all focusing on the needs of the confident.

My intention was to explore the childhood of children and adolescents within the religious organization of Jehovah´s Witnesses, in Sweden. I used a technique where I interviewed three active witnesses and four former members. The former members either had left the religion freely or had been excluded by the movement. I wanted to know more from those two different perspectives, because they often seem to conflict. First of all, I wanted to learn about the persons own upbringing.

I 1 Korintierbrevet finns två ofta diskuterade avsnitt som med speciellt fokus på kvinnorna talar om ordningen vid kristna sammankomster: 11:2-16 och 14:34-36. Denna uppsats gör en analys av dessa texter och deras behandling i den vetenskapliga litteraturen. Hur ska man förhålla sig till att kompetenta forskare kommer till rakt motsatta slutsatser? Är det fel i argumentationen, i premisserna, eller saknar vi helt enkelt tillräcklig kunskap? Går det att skilja på vad som är omstritt av exegetiska respektive teologiska skäl?Slutsatsen är att bland tre typer av argumentation som förekommer i litteraturen, som jag kallar den värderande, den datainsamlande respektive den konstruktiva, har forskningen en olycklig slagsida mot den första typen. Alltför mycket har skrivits utan att tillföra något av varken fakta eller ideer - man refererar bara till tidigare forskning och väger olika uppfattningar mot varandra.

Within this essay a study is made of an LGBTQ-orientated Christian service in Stockholm called Queer Service. The following questions seek to be answered: What reasons does an individual set for his/hers participation in Queer Service? Which aspects of a queer service highlight the participants as important to them?As a method to answer these questions, the author has observed a number of queer church services in autumn of 2012. Moreover communication within the group of the assembly on the social media page Facebook has been followed and five individuals from the Queer Service Congregation have been interviewed. As a background to the study, the European religious climate seen from Grace Davies eyes is depicted.  The reader also learns of how the Swedish church has handled questions about homosexuality and bisexuality and what liberation theology is.

The main aim of my research essay is to examine two Congregations, one in Sweden and one in Democratic Republic of Congo, how theology and the life in the church shape the cultural context. The analysis uses semi-structured interviews of two pastors responsible for organizing the Easter celebration in their churches. The interviews serve the purpose to reveal how they apply theology in their context, how they interpret the Easter celebration liturgically in relation to the early church and how they perceive the cultural development in the Congregations Easter celebration 2010-11. To give complementary insights to the interviews I use computer-aided interviews with members of the Congregations. The methodological approach is based on a study of contextual theological theories, Easter traditions in the early church, Easter theologies and then applying these theories in the interviews.

Public confession and declaration of grace in the mass, following the book of worship of the Church of Sweden, is considered by many to be problematic, and hence the topic of frequent discussion. This is apparent already in the proposal for the existing book of worship, as well as in those official proposals that have been presented in recent years for a revised order of worship. This paper provides a summary account of the historical development of the public confession (and its attendant parts) from the early church into recent times, with a focus on the Church of Sweden, focusing on church regulation and official books of worship. This account shows that a public confession existed in early Christian celebration of service/mass, and that public confession and declaration of grace as we know it today (in the Church of Sweden) has developed from the practice of private confession with a relationship to Holy Communion. In Sweden, the ambitions of the Lutheran program of reformation with respect to public confession did not materialize fully.