AbstractThis composition is an analysis of the British writer Jeanette Winterson's novel Sexing the Cherry. My interpretation originates from the tradition of feminist literary criticism and my purpose is to read the novel against the queer theorist Judith Butler to reach an understanding of the characters queer selves.Judith Butler's theory of performative gender and her notion of sex as something derived from cultural manifestations might help me to understand the characters in the novel. For they are ambiguous in their gender identity, and the novel in it self is set forth to expand all boundaries.Keyword: Sexing the cherry, Jeanette Winterson, queer, queer-theory, queer writing, JudithButler, feminist theory.SammanfattningDen här uppsatsen är en undersökning av Jeanette Wintersons roman Skapelsens kön. Genom att läsa romanen mot queerteoretikern Judith Butler hoppas jag kunna bilda en förståelse för romankaraktärernas queera identiter. Butlers teori om genus som performativt görande och hennes resonemang kring könet som härlett från kulturella manifestationer kan hjälpa mig med detta.

This study is a first attempt to try to understand what the variables could be that make the person responsible for the grave sign up for grave gardening services by the church or to maintain the grave by him- or herself. There has been almost no research done within this subject. This study has been made by a qualitative research method and interviews have been performed with both persons responsible for the grave who have gardening services made by the church and with those who maintain the grave by themselves. The characteristics that are affecting consumer behaviour and the buyer decision process are presented in the theoretical part of this study. That is done so it can be seen if a comparison between the results of the study and the basic theoretical concept is possible, resulting in an understanding of how the costumers think and argue about this question.

For almost a century the debate about women as ordained servants in the Church of Sweden has raged on and on. The decision to open up the priesthood for both genders in 1958 was a milestone in the women?s liberation movement as well as it marks an important time in the church history. The debate has mainly been about how to interpret scripture, who has the right to do so, and so on. Feminist theology has become one way in recent decades to paint a wider and more nuanced picture of history and how to interpret the texts often used to repress women.This essay surveys some of the steps towards that decision, as well as it paints a rough picture of what leadership among women in the church could involve before ordination became an option.

This paper aims to examine the heteronormativity that is present in John Galsworthy?s The Forsyte Saga. This is achieved by performing a queer reading of the text with the help of Swedish Queer theorists Fanny Ambjörnsson and Tiina Rosenberg. I study the norm and how it is enforced by law, society and family. To get a complete image of the heteronormativity I also need to analyze the gender presented in the saga.

The aim of this paper is to describe and explain how the separation between state and church effects the power relations between state and religious groups and organizations. Former state church, The Swedish church, is in this paper, not included in the definition of religious groups. The reform (?stat-kyrka reformen?) took place between 1995 and year 2000.I?m examining if religious groups had any influence on the reform. My expectation is to give a clearer picture of religious groups and its power position in Swedish politics and society.

For almost a century the debate about women as ordained servants in the Church of Sweden has raged on and on. The decision to open up the priesthood for both genders in 1958 was a milestone in the women?s liberation movement as well as it marks an important time in the church history. The debate has mainly been about how to interpret scripture, who has the right to do so, and so on. Feminist theology has become one way in recent decades to paint a wider and more nuanced picture of history and how to interpret the texts often used to repress women.This essay surveys some of the steps towards that decision, as well as it paints a rough picture of what leadership among women in the church could involve before ordination became an option.

This study is a reception analysis regarding the theology of Martin Luther, specifically in the areas of eschatology and anthropology, in to the funeral practices of the Church of Sweden (Svenska kyrkan).The main theme in the anthropology of Martin Luther is that of the freedom of all men and women. The price that we have to ?pay? for this freedom is that we need to act as humble servants to all other persons.The eschatological view of Martin Luther tells us that the only condition we need to fulfill in order to be admitted into God?s kingdom is faith alone.The Church of Sweden and their views on anthropology and eschatology are inspired by the writings of Martin Luther as it proclaims itself to be of evangelical Lutheran denomination, but it has incorporated other views as well over time.The conclusions of the study is that the principals guiding funeral practices, including eulogies held by priests during the funeral services, are in fact influenced by the anthropological and eschatological views of Martin Luther, and the study concludes that the theology of Martin Luther is a very good stand point for the Church of Sweden to stay relevant in today?s society..

The controversial phenomenon of ?seeker-oriented? megachurches are currently transforming the American religious landscape. These churches, some housing up to 30,000 worshippers every week, are targeting religious seekers as their primary objective. Their success in attracting and converting those who usually wouldn?t even think of attending church can in large parts be explained by changes in liturgy, the removal of visible theological discussion and use of shopping mall styled buildings, designed to make the religious seeker feel like home.

This essay revolves around the Christianisation of the Danish kingdom during the middle ages. Issues like; the length of the Christianisation process and the influence it had on thevillages? structural appearance in the Danish kingdom. A special case study of the villages Kyrkheddinge and Fjälkinge, Scania, is an essential part of the essay. Through writtenmaterial and excavation reports from the both villages the study enlightens the structural appearance of the village and the hierarchy of the farms in the village.

This study demonstrates how norms and ideals about sexuality and gender expression are used in the TV-show The Walking Dead. An intermediate study is made on the comic books? two same sex couples as they are compared to how they are represented in the TV-show. Tara Chambler and Alisha, a same sex couple who only exist in the TV-show, not in the comic books, are also analysed. Queer theory and an intersectional perspective are used to discover how different power asymmetries are connected to each other through an active interplay.

This essay deals with non-normative gender expressions during childhood. I?m using narrative theory and methods to analyze autobiographical narratives. My questions are:What strategies does the non-normative person use to deal with his otherness?Using the methodological analysis tool ?turning point?, where are the turning points in the narratives? Are their any common turning points in the various narratives?Where is the responsibility placed in the narratives for that someone does not fit in by the adults/ staff at the school/kindergarten- on the non-normative person or at the surroundings?The experiences are interpreted through theories and concepts from queer theory and gender theory.

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..

What does the Swedish church Västerås stand for today according to the employees and how do they want to profile themselves to the target group? What image and what expectations does the target group have of the Swedish church Västerås? How can the Swedish church Västerås communicate uniform, with the intent to create mutual value with the target group?The purpose of the study is to make recommendations to the Swedish church Västerås for their prospective communication plan by examining their profile and target group's image and expectations of the organization. The study also aims to examine how the Swedish church Västerås can communicate their brand uniform.The study applies a qualitative research with deductive approach. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with a sample of the employees and focus groups with a sample of the target group.Better match between profile and image means that SkVs employees better understand the organization and can communicate more uniform which leads to a stronger brand identity. If SkV understands what is relevant for their target group, they can reduce the total cost of customer delivered value and thus increase the total value.

For almost a century the debate about women as ordained servants in the Church of Sweden has raged on and on. The decision to open up the priesthood for both genders in 1958 was a milestone in the women?s liberation movement as well as it marks an important time in the church history. The debate has mainly been about how to interpret scripture, who has the right to do so, and so on. Feminist theology has become one way in recent decades to paint a wider and more nuanced picture of history and how to interpret the texts often used to repress women.This essay surveys some of the steps towards that decision, as well as it paints a rough picture of what leadership among women in the church could involve before ordination became an option.

In this paper I aimed to explore the bodily experiences and expressions that Christian charismatics interpret as religious.  The so-called presence of God and the so-called gifts of the spirit were in focus in the gathering of information. My purpose was to find out how the social community of the Christian charismatics affects the subjective bodily experiences that are interpreted as religious by the individual. The main questions were:1: How do Christian charismatics describe religious experiences and their effect on the body?2: What bodily expressions of religious experience can be observed in Christian charismatic contexts?3: Is there a common way of expressing the experience of God's presence (individually or in a group) and how, in this case, can any resemblance be explained?The methods used to answer these questions were qualitative interviews and participant observations, which then were analyzed by the anthropologist Thomas J. Csordas theory of embodiment.