Religious phenomena, such as prayer, have more or less always interested and engaged people, but most likely for different purposes. Since the early 20th century, starting notably with Edmund Husserl and especially Martin Heidegger, phenomenologists have taken an interest in understanding and expounding the meaning of religious phenomena. The attention of such a discourse have not ceased but is rather current, and also of importance seeing that religious themes, such as prayer, still occupy a great extent of human life and practice.Phenomenology of religion is not a science of religion: the former approaches religion in terms of its meaningfulness, whereas the latter as an object of inquiry and in the same manner as an economist approaches economical indicators in order to understand and explain how the whole economy functions. In other words, phenomenology of religion expounds religion, as it were, from within, while science of religion does it from without or externally.When approaching prayer phenomenologically, it shows itself to be a process or structure through which the one praying empty himself in order to be able to receive the valuable presence of the other. The value that is received from the other will also be reflected by the one praying and in that sense effect his surroundings and fellow humans..

In this essay I present an outline and examination of the Finnish Luther research, withan aim to learn more about some different aspects of Luther?s teaching on justificationas sanctification, and sanctification as the growth of the new man. I will also draw myattention to the formal language of metaphysics, as it is continuously employed by Luther to depict the issues and the content of his reformation theology. Apart from the program of research in Helsinki, I have turned to the writings of Luther himself; and I have as well tried to engage in a broader survey of Luther-scholars, some of which seem to, or in fact, support the Finnish interpretation, others which raise a critical stance towards it. The later portion of the essay picks up on the Finnish critique of dominant 19th and 20th century German Lutheran theologians, such as Albrecht Ritschl and Gerhard Ebeling.

Göbekli Tepe is an 11000 year old religious center where Totem has been exercised. It was raised by megalithic hunters and collectors that still during the construction lived in small-scaled mobile groups in order to find food and therefore should not have had time to raised costly stone monuments. The religious center consists of four enclosures with two T-pillars decorated with pictures of different animals and birds. Any dwellings have not been found. The place has been constructed by a well-organized elitist organization that has been capable of raising constructions in order to exercise their religion in a way we did not thought was possible such a long time ago. Analysis and findings from the near east existing from this time shows however that social changes happen in the communities around the region. Can archeological finding from the excavations on the religious center give any answer or clue regarding how man came to develop from hunter and collector to farmer? Do the findings reveal that the religion has changed Mans way to think and organize so that she was prepared to introduce the agriculture that occurs? The aim of thesis is to clarify whether Göbekli Tepe has played any role in the complex origin of agriculture..

The way in which media discusses religion has changed over time. Due to the separation of state and church in 2000, the Swedish state to a lesser extent legitimizes its political ruling with references to religious concepts. As a result, a higher tolerance towards religious minorities can be said to have taken place. This is an ambiguous change however, where critique raised towards religious practices and expressions of minorities also occurs to a higher extent. The public debate is in large part conducted through the media, but is also seen to be produced and reproduced through the media?s discourse.

In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, issues related to religion and violence has beenactualized in the media. Do Islamic texts and sources legitimate violent actions? In responseto these questions, some professional scholars of Islam argued that the 11 September terroristswere not really Muslims, but hijackers of Islam. According to other scholars, such argumentsreflect a common sui-generis discourse in religious studies which stresses the autonomy ofreligious phenomena, the priority of faith over cultural production, interior experiences andbeliefs over social practice. The scholars in favor for a naturalistic approach in religiousstudies argues that, in order to approach religion in a naturalistic way, we have to be critical ofrepresentations of religion ? and in this case representations of Islam ? drawing on a suigenerisdiscourse.

In a press release from the Swedish church it says that the pressure from people who are in need is increasing on the deacons in Sweden and that it?s getting higher each year. This study contains the search of knowledge about the deacons of the Swedish church, if they actually feel an increasing pressure and in what way, how they are handling the possible pressure from people in need, if that pressure is too high and if the deacons feel that they can assist the people seeking their help. The study also aim to provide more knowledge about the deacons experiences of the opportunities and boundaries (or obstacles) they meet in their line of work and how they handle the boundaries when/if they can?t provide the help that the people need.

Since 2007 the American sitcom the Big Bang Theory has spread throughout the world. With its twenty million watchers it is one of the most popular sitcoms of our time. The starting point for this essay is that the humourus series with the more or less geeky main characters is more than just entertainment - it is a part of the mediatization of religion. This means that media is affecting the recipients? view on religion in general and the personal religion.

The history of books and libraries in the Philippines starts after the arrival of the Spaniards in 1521. During the Spanish era, most of the libraries were established through the religious orders to support their own religious mission. The Americans came in the beginning of the 20th century and have had a decisive influence on the education system and the development of libraries in the Philippines. For the analysis, I have used the models of Michael H. Harris and Magnus Torstensson in their studies of library development.

The aim for this essay is to investigate the importance of studying religion in an upper secondary school in Närke county, this is done by distribution of a questionnaire. The importance is studied both on the individual level and on the societal level. The result shows that although the students do not have a big interest in religious studies still the subject has an importance on both an individual and a society level..

The aim of this study is to make a comparative study between the grievances during the Dacke Warand the German Peasant´s War. These two conflicts may have occurred separately, regarding bothgeographical and chronological distances but also share common issues for this comparative study.Less than two decades separates these two conflicts and they were all by their own serious insurrectionsduring their time. While the German Peasant´s War was the greatest uprising in Europe up tothe French Revolution, the Dacke War was the biggest Peasant Rebellion in Scandinavian history.While the German Peasant War has been studied and researched by historians for a relative longtime, the Dacke War has been neglected in research history. If it were not for the Swedish professorLars-Olof Larsson?s studies during foremost in the 1960s, the Dacke War would have been a historicallyuncharted territory of research indeed.

The fact that animals have feelings is something that is commonly agreed. Many authors showhow animals' views of their environment is quite similar with human views. Animals, whichare slaughtered without prior stunning, find the moment of slaughter unpleasant and stressing.This is shown in numerous of scientific studies. The cognitive ability of animals can becompared to how they experience feelings and scientists have shown how the structures in thebrain that involves feelings and cognitive behaviours in animals are very much the same asthe structures in human brains. Because of this, some scientists consider that behaviour inanimals can be directly interpreted into human feelings.Halal- and kosher slaughter comes from traditions.

Sweden  has  been  characterized  as  one  of  the world?s most  secular  countries, even though  it is  becoming  increasingly more multicultural.  This,  combined  with  the fact that pupils do  not  feel  they  have  enough  time  in  school  for  Religious  Education and that the requirements are increasing made me interested in how they talk about religion in upper secondary school. The aim of this study is to see if there are any differences between how pupils in vocational programs and academic programs are talking about religion and Religious Education. The main questions that were raised revolved around 1)  how  pupils  talk  about  what  religion  is,  2)  how  they  talk  about  religion  in  the Swedish  society  and  3) how  they  talk  about  Religious  Education  in  upper  secondary school. The questions were also about what similarities and differences I could find in the way they talked about these subjects.

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.

I have chosen to investigate the relationship between Latin American- and African Liberation Theologies. My purpose is to analyze, understand and compare the similarities and differencesbetween the two. The bulk of the study addresses two Liberationists, Gustavo Gutiérrez from Latin America and Jean-Marc Ela from Africa, both of whom are considered by many to be the most important theologians on their continents. This is done with the aim of deepeningthe knowledge of other theologies which have also influenced present day theological thinking.The questions I pose concern Liberation Theology in general, its background and its history. I will journey through Latin American and African church history in order to understand the contexts in which these two theologies have arisen.

  AbstractAnne Reese: Under oändliga lovsånger sannerligen med rinnande tårar ?  sångerna vid den heliga Katarinas translation. Uppsala universitet: Institutionen för musikvetenskap, uppsats för 60 p. 2005.The aim of this essay is to contribute to the knowledge about one of Sweden's greatest religious events during the late Middle Ages, the translation of Catherine of Sweden. By collecting and examining the chants used at Catherine's translation it is possible to see what kinds of music was used at this occasion and also to determine some thing about how and why these chants were chosenBy using manuscripts containing the chants which are close to the occasion in time and place, the melodies and texts are presented in the versions most likely to have been those used in the translation.