Based on the assumption that the work of contemporary Swedish poet Helena Eriksson, in various ways elaborates the inseparable relation between body and language, this study aims to investigate how this view of language comes to expression in her poetry. Stepping from a theoretical background of feminist perspectives on the body, as well as recent theories on poetic materiality, the analysis points out how the concepts of aesthetic and/or linguistic materiality, social and technological materiality, and what can be described as the ethical dimension of materiality, all as termed by Jesper Olsson and Fredrik Hertzberg, take on feminist implications in Eriksson?s poetry. Through the theory of feminist anthropologist Vicki Kirby and her account of Derrida?s general view of writing, the study makes use of a deconstructive approach to the later work of Eriksson.

In this study I compare the donor portraits on wallpaintings in Scanian churches from the 12th and the 15th century and relate them to medieval society.I find that women were equally capable of owning and donating land during the entire period. The image of the ideal woman changed during the 14th century from a married woman to the unreachable mistress of the chivalrous culture and the holy virgin. Women had a natural place beside their husbands in 12th century donor portraits, while single male donors are more frequent in the 15th century. While 12th century donors were supposed to show their position in society by offering plentiful donations directly to God, donors in the 14th century instead strived to present themselves as humble and pious. The individualisation of late medieval society meant that people had to depend on themselves to achieve salvation..

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..

The story of Jonathan and David is a part of the deuteronomical view of Israels history from the occupation of the holy land all the way to the exile in Babylon. I am aware of that this is not true history, but it is nevertheless interesting to ask oneself: Why are those people a part of the deuteronomical history? What was the meaning in telling the story in this way?Exegetes and researchers are trying to give the relationship between Jonathan and David a place in the political realm, but here I have used several sources to show that it is not only a political story, but a loveaffair, where Jonathan is pictured as a submissive woman and thereby excludes himself from the throne of Israel. David on the other hand, acts as the perfect man, who is in command in spite of his youth. He does not break the rules of the patriarchal society, where the relation between two men was accepted as long as the older one did not play the womans role.

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..

India is home to every sixth person in the world, some 30 million dogs and a quarter of the total world cattle population. A vast majority of Indians are Hindus, and even though the Hindu religion proclaims love, nurturing and worshipping of animals, sometimes the same religion constitutes an obstacle for animal welfare in practice. This paper investigates the significance of historic and religious symbols to the way animals are perceived in modern Indian society, as well as the different social factors which underlie attitudes to animals. The concept of karma, as well as that of good versus bad deaths, is probably the foundation of the general Hindu reluctance to euthanasia in any form. Although in theory all species are generally regarded as equal in Hinduism, in practice there seems to be a differentiation; for cultural, religious, medical and financial reasons.

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..

This essay examines the Swedish missionary association Bible Faithful Friends? (Bibeltrogna Vänner, BV) ecclesiological development between the years 1911 ? 1986 and their relation to the Church of Sweden. This essay?s three main questions are:- How did the ecclesiology of BV develop during the years 1911 ? 1986, with certain focus on 1967-1986?- In what way was this ecclesiology imprinted bya) the structure of the missionary association?b) and the ecclesiological standpoint of the leader Axel B. Svensson?As regards the first question, the study shows that BV's ecclesiology, particularly in the years 1967 ? 1986, is characterized by a church debate between BV's board and the promoters and founders of the Lutheran Confessional Church (Lutherska Bekännelsekyrkan, LBK).

Uppsatsens frågeställning: Jag vill ta reda på hur initiationen in i den kristna tron sker och hur människan tar emot den helige Ande. Bakgrunden till detta är den pingstteologisk inställningen, att man först blir kristen och sedan döpt i helig Ande. Beskriver Bibeln, och framför allt Apostlagärningarna den kristna initiationen på detta sätt? Vad innebär det för dem som lever i det nya förbundet att ha den helige Ande och vara döpt i helig Ande?Slutsats: Läran om dop i helig Ande som en tvåstegsinitiation måste avfärdas. Dopet i helig Ande går hand i hand med syndernas förlåtelse som svar på omvändelse och dop.

This essay aims to explore continuity in water centric cult within the period of the Christianization of Scandinavia (ca 800-1100 AD) and to understand the changing of symbolism of water in pre-Christian cult and early Christian religion. It has previously been thought that Christian priests took over the old holy wells and renamed them after saint, all to ease the pagan people into a Christian lifestyle. But archaeological evidence shows that the cult at these wells, and other water centric sites, where almost completely abandoned a few hundred years before the Christians came to Scandinavia. The Christians should not have felt the need to transform this tradition since it was only practiced in a very small and supposedly private scale. On the contrary, religious activities at these wells seems to increase with the new religion and perhaps this is explained by Christianity itself.

The Catholic Church launched several crusades during the medieval ages in order to regainthe holy lands and spread the word of God. Their main enemy, the Muslims had grownstronger and needed to be suppressed. This common enemy united Europe under the banner ofthe Catholic Church. In order to fund these crusades the church turned to the wealthyEuropean kings and lords and asked for funding. In return the kings received an indulgenceletter, and also greater respect from their subjects because of their new appreciation from thepope.

The purpose of this essay is to analyse and compare pneumatology in Eftertanke in Kyrkans Tidning, in a Swedish evangelical Lutheran context, with pneumatology in Luthers Small Catechism and Luther's Large Catechism. Through a descriptive, inductive and hermenutical approach the essay intends to answer two main questions regarding how these sources 1) describe the character features and 2) the function of the Spirit. The conclusions of this essay show that the character features of the Spirit in Eftertanke differ from the catechisms in describing the Spirit with words connected to nature and life, while the catechisms only describe the Spirit as holy. The discussion that follows implies that the Spirit in the catechisms is depicted as more personal whereas Eftertanke depicts the Spirit more as an impersonal force. There are similarities in how both the catechisms and Eftertanke depict a dialectic relationship between human beings and the Spirit. However, they differ in function: in Eftertanke the Spirit is foremost a giver of life and a creator of positive emotions as well as a giver of guidance, while in the catechisms the Spirit is foremost a sanctifier.

The purpose of this essay is to look upon the gender structure in Sweden, during the late Middle Ages. Mainly I focus on how the church viewed men and women, since the material of my research, the miracle stories of three saints, was found credible and was written down by churchmen. The saints, whose miracles I have studied, are Birgitta Birgersdotter and Katarina Ulfsdotter of Vadstena and Niklas Hermansson of Linköping. These miracles have earlier been studied by the historian Anders Fröjmark, who has noticed that there are fewer heeled women than men figuring in the miracles. Because of this, Fröjmark draws the conclusion that women were less able to leave their homes and travel as pilgrims to the holy sites of the saints.

The study is aimed at investigating the images of God, or how God is percepted, that is beingpresented in the artistic work of Ingmar Bergman, and how they differ from each other. The filmsthat are being analysed in this study is The seventh seal (1957), The Magician (1958), Through aglass darkly (1961), Winter light (1963), The Silence (1963), Persona (1965) and Cries andwhispers (1973).To examine the images of God that are being presented throughout the scope of the study Iam mainly using common cinematic theories that are presented in James Monacos How to read afilm (2000) and Louis Giannettis Understanding film(1993) which basically are structuralistapproaches to discussing film as a language and interpretation.I am studying each movie as it is presented to us, the viewers, and only speaking of the film.I am also looking into Ingmar Bergmans personal life, not to examine if he was a Christian believer,but for clues to interpret themes, characters and the event taking place in each of the films. Thestudy is investigating the series of films as a connected unity, a connected unity that explores therelationship of God and mankind as it is presented in the films.The result of the study is that the image of God presented in the films of Ingmar Bergman isa God that moves from the transcendent sphere to the immanent sphere, a God, or ?the Holy? thatover the years transforms into something materialistic. This new God, or holiness, is something thatexists in the interpersonal relations of mankind in the latter work of Ingmar Bergman..

English abstractTitle: Islam and the limitations of the public will of choice.The purpose of this paper have been to investigate how three modern Islamic theorists view the limitations of the public free will of choice based upon their interpretation of the Islamic theology and doctrine.The paper focuses to highlight how all three chosen Islamic theorist interpret the Islamic doctrine based upon my elected theses and more specifically pinpoint were the free will of choice ends, and Islam as a religion starts to take hegemony. The paper?s aim is to further an understanding that in the modern world and as a effect of increased literacy, Islam has been somewhat inclined to split into several Islamisms, based upon the variety of fatwa?s on the Islamic doctrine that is available online. Therefore it remains to the modern day Muslim, to individually decide whether they choose to follow the message of the Holy revelation in the Quran or trust a mufti?s fatwa in their everyday life as a Muslim.The material used and analyzed in this paper is prime source material.