In the medieval ruling catholic time the church walls was swarmed with programs of pictures with religious motives there the animal figures rich symbolics was significant first and foremost for the illiterate. Principally the inspiration comes from the antiquitys pagan world of fables and bestiary Christian world of symbols with the bible as the essential source. The essay describes six of the most common animal symbols who occur; dragon, the sneak in the Paradise, mouth of hell, lion, the fox as a preacher and the devil.To attain to a discussion about why just animals are used as symbols for human characteristics in the medieval church art instead for human beings as it's actually be about, I have studied bestiary and other literature about medieval churchpainting to get an understanding about the history of ideas about the thoughts of the time and about symbolics of animals, worth and how the Christianity have had an influence on the pictures.I have used Johannes Rosenrods church pictures from Tensta church in Uppland from 1437 as an exemplification but also mentioned other unknown painters who used similar animal codes and motives.It's plausible that the purpose of the animal figures was both religious and political, which was used by both the spiritual and the worldly authority so they could keep their dominance over the peasant. The figures was simple to read and remember and they made a deep impression on the people together with the sermon. The churchgoer get so to speak a sound- and image experience, a medieval reality who impress their world of ideas.When it's about the artistic formation of religious expression and characteristics it was undoubtedly a great advantage for the artists to use an animal code like a schemata.

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.

This essay is an attempt in analysing the establishment of the first Early Middle Ages castles in Scania. There are two types of castles in Scania during the eleventh century, keeps andringworks. This castle was built by three fixed elements of power: the crown, the church and the aristocracy. The result of the survey shows that A majority of the castles during theeleventh century in Scania where initiated by the church.The results also show two building phases of castles under the period. The first building phase begins in middle of the eleventh century and the second building phase begins in theperiod 1180- 1200.

The Swedish government ratified on May 1 2009 an amendment of marital law, resulting in same-sex marriage becoming legalized. With the rights of the Christian Swedish state church to officiate weddings originating from the same law, the church was thereby faced with two options: Either officially include same-sex couples in the Christian concept of holy matrimony and keep the right to officiate weddings; or give up the right to officiate weddings altogether. An official decision to accept the terms was reached on October 22 2009, but not without being preceded by an agitated medial debate.This research attempts to analyze the arguments of the debate in three stages: In the first stage the arguments are categorized according to their respective ideological standpoint. In the second stage these categories are examined from post-modern, social constructivist and socialization theory perspectives. Based on this, the third stage sees the arguments analyzed from a viewpoint based in the Copenhagen school concept of securization.The research concludes that the debate does not only simply feature two sides with differences of opinion; but rather that the arguments of the two opposing sides are founded in a common view of the other side as a fundamental threat to ones conception of a sound society..

There are about 3 500 churches protected under the Heritage Conservation Act in Sweden today. These churches still belong to living congregations that want to be able to adapt them to the needs of today, just like people have done throughout history. But since the churches are protected, the congregations have to apply for a permit and that is not always given. This can lead to frustration, and you can sometimes hear representatives of the church express the view that antiquarian authorities are enemies that oppose the church. On the other hand we have the antiquarian authorities that, in a way, have to act as advocates for generations to come and make sure that there is a cultural heritage preserved for them when they grow up.

"Children's book is the best style means if you have something to say" is a quote by CSLewis that I focused on in this essay. As a future priest, I am aware of the problems thatexplain some of the Christian church pillars. In this essay I treat the Trinity in relation toteaching children in a future profession. Research in child and adolescent spirituality is onrampage, books with religious messages and ambitions to teach children about Christianethics and morals have been around since Sunday school introduction in Sweden. What arethe tools that can be used to explain even for scholars and theologians difficult concepts? Isit possible to meet kids on their own ground? I see an opportunity for this through theliterature, and the characters they already know outside the ecclesiastical sphere,In this bachelor thesis I have used perhaps one of the major works of children's literatureduring the 1900s, The chronicles of Narnia.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify and understand the difference between Brunius?, Zettervall's and Graebe's valueing of a historical building, the cathedral of Lund. Between 1833 and 1963 the cathedral of Lund went through three larger restorations. The character of the restorations however differs a lot between the three church architects, Brunius, Zettervall and Graebe. In a time of low interest for the Middle Ages and of many demolitions of churches in the countryside, Brunius stood out as a researcher and an enthusiast of that special time.

The aim of this study is to describe ideas put forward by Sweden Democrats (Swedish: Sverigedemokraterna) about Christianity in Sweden and the Church of Sweden as a Folk Church, a church for a whole people, and how the political party uses Christianity as a part of constructing a Swedish identity. The investigation is based on official documents, newspaper articles, statements and political motions which are analysed using a form of text analysis called idea analysis. The theoretical frame of the investigation is founded on Claire Mitchell?s theory about religious content in ethnic identities and Einar Billing?s and Johan Alfred Eklund?s thoughts about what makes the Church of Sweden a Folk Church.The investigation shows, among other things, that the Sweden Democrats? view of the Church of Sweden is similar to the thoughts of Eklund but they differ in their lack of references to theology. The investigation also shows that Christianity serves as an important marker for the Sweden Democrats in creating a Swedish identity. .

A part of the Swedish TV-show Levande livet that aired between 1983 and 1984 was devoted to wine. This was the first time a wine tasting was being broadcasted in Sweden. Terms as ?sweaty horse? and ?moulded pile of leaves? ? that the wine connoisseurs Carl Jan Granqvist and Knut-Christian Gröntoft used to describe the wines ? became objects of both appreciation and ridicule. Their way of talking about wine reminds of Robert Parker?s wine language, which grew of importance from the 1970s and onwards.                      The purpose of this thesis is to try to write a history of taste.

In this essay, I research and discuss new spirituality (or what is commonly known as New Age) within some congregations in the Church of Sweden, Gothenburg. I question how and why this new spirituality has come to be accepted in parts of the Church. My hypothesis is that the church is a part, and a reflection, of a larger change throughout society, and I claim that this change depends much on the individualization and globalization during the last decades.The research is conducted through interviews with representatives from the Church ofSweden who are in charge of new religious activities. During these interviews we discuss their views on the change that has already taken place and is going on today.The interviews are then analyzed by applying rational choice theory on them. I discusswhether the Church can be seen as a producer of goods and services and if the churchgoers canbe seen as consumers of these goods and services.

During the period of occupation of Norway between the years 1940-1945 the National Lutheran Church took the responsibility of supporting the Norweigans in their ideological battle against the Nazis. This was a period named Holdningskampen in Norwegian history. One person to remember was Eivind Berggrav, bishop in Oslo diocese. He was the one responsible for the theological document of importance Kirkens Grunn that became important as a document against the Nazis and the small percentage of Christians that related to the naziinspired-church. Berggrav was also one of the founders of Den Midlertidlige Kirkeledelsen, the organisation responsible for the non-nazified churches.

This is a hermeneutic study that analyzes and discusses whether it is possible to find Christian ethics in the TV-series Beverly Hills 90210 (1990) and the spin-off 90210 (2008) and how they differ in the preparation of these. I also aim to, based on my research, illustrate the discussion of Christian ethics in the curriculum and why we need a multicultural education.I have chosen three episode of both TV-series and I divided each episode into different themes, each theme is a phenomenon that I perceive to be a part of a Christian ethical position. Then I argue, using the theologian Stanley Hauerwas, these themes really can relate to what may be perceived as Christian ethics. In order to discuss how Christian ethics and secular ideals are connected I find the theory of secularization usefull. The results I came upwith is that I find a theme in each episode which I percieve to be a part of a Christian ethical position.

The purpose of this paper is to explore to what extent some Swedish bishops (1972-2014), mainly archbishops, were influenced by postmodernity as described by Lyotard in his report La Condition postmoderne (1979).This report had a tremendous impact on the western cultural and philosophical debate in general during the very end of the twentieth century. I am trying to find out if this impact could also be observed in the religious sphere and particularly in the Church of Sweden. My theory used, is mainly based on the ideas presented in La Condition postmoderne and my method is a hermeneutical reading of eight pastoral letters. These letters were written during the time that the Church of Sweden transformed from being an officially recognized national church to a free church among other free churches and in this respect ended to be a part of the official governmental power. The terms postmodernism or post-modernity were scarcely used at all in the pastoral letters but on the other hand the bishops seemed to share many of the ideas that Lyotard presented, such as the view on the metahistory/metanarrative and the connection of knowledge to power, the necessity of dialogue and openness and the importance and the role of creating and maintaining language games..

An issue of central interest today is the aspiration for wholeness, on the one hand referring to the concept of ?healing? (swed: helande), on the other hand to being ?whole? (swed: hel); body, mind, soul, spirit and relations. The need and desire to offer a more holistic experience is becoming prominent also within the Swedish Church. This paper addressed some events within the Swedish Church that cater to experiences of wholeness, with the aim of exploring how this is done in practise and how it?s rooted in Christian thought.

This is an essay within the subject of practical theology. The main interest is baptism. The aim of this essay is to describe the baptism theology of the Church of Sweden (Svenska kyrkan) and the history of the baptism. The goal is also, with the help of qualitative research, to study the view of the baptism with the ones who choose to let their children be baptized according to the liturgy of the Swedish Church in the diocese of Härnösand. The attempt is to give the Swedish church a pattern of action and a direction based on the result of my research.