Archbishop KG Hammar has attracted attention for his liberal position in theology. His view on the role of language and communication is central in several books and articles he has published as leader of the Church of Sweden. One of his main theses is the fact that meaning is created in the encounter between text and reader. He often reiterates: God is relation. This non-traditional dynamic stance has a broad impact not only on theology.

Classification systems express an idea of the world as it was when the systems was made. If the classification system is not revised there is a possibility that the system will become antique and hard to apply to different subjects. The purpose of this study is to see if the SAB-system is a classification system which shows a reflection of the subject Religion that is equivalent with that of Swedish universities. The ideas which are behind the classification of the subject religion in the SAB-system have been analysed, as well as the structuring of the scientific discipline Religion at the universities. The result will show if the SAB-system can classify the subject religion in a satisfying way at university libraries.

The previous research in the field of new religious movements has mostly focused on the spectacular parts where phenomena such as ?brainwashing? and the ?charismatic leader? have attracted both media and the scientific studies of religion. Professor Liselotte Frisks has done several enquiries about sects and new religious movements in Sweden. One of her main conclusions is that the relation between these new religious movements and the rest of society has changed; a relation that used to be characterized by conflicts and tension is now becoming more open as both parts are changing.This study does not focus on the spectacular parts. Instead I have studied something more common and general.

Historically Sweden had a confessional teaching of religion in school, that is the starting point ofthis essay. In the Swedish school system the students have the right to believe whatever they wantbut they will be introduced to different beliefs in the subject religion. Even the church focuses onthe individuals own beliefs during confirmation. This essay explores if there is something in aconfessional teaching that contributes to the students' knowledge in religion as a school subject.Therefore a quantitative study have been performed. The study aimed to investigate the grades ofthe students that participated in confirmation and how the grades changed after the confirmation.

Before the autumn term 2011 the Swedish compulsory school adopted new syllabuses in relation to, inter alia, religion. Changes within the religion topic have historically been a heavily debated issue among decision-makers, interest groups and the church, where the role of the Christianity has been particularly controversial.The main purpose of this study is therefore to investigate how the Swedish compulsory school?s teaching of Christianity has changed over the years. I have in order to conduct this study applied a descriptive method as well as a content analysis. The Swedish compulsory school?s current and historical syllabuses in religion have served as basis for this study.The outcome of this study clearly shows that the Christianity has received less influence to the benefit of other topics.

This study discloses the responsibility of social work for the Swedish welfare state respective deacons in the Swedish protestant church, which roll the Swedish protestant church have in the existent welfare and also if deacons experience any expectations and how these expectations in that case are expressed.The aim of this study was to investigate the relationbetween deacons working within the Swedish protestant church and social work, as it appears for professional deacons. The method of investigating the questions raised by the aim of this study has been qualitative analysis of answers derived from six deacons working in different workplaces. The data derived from these interviews was then analysed through the theory of Gösta Esping-Andersen about welfare states and also through background research and earlier science research about the social work within the Swedish protestant church and other social work. The result of the study show that the welfare state in Sweden has the comprehensive responsibility for the citizens. Deacons working within the Swedish protestant church does not have the same responsibility.

This study is based on the notion of "the postsecular society". I have identified both similar and dissimilar values within current and official publications regarding human rights and gender equality authored by the Swedish Feminist Party and the Church of Sweden. The aim of this study is to identify and review similarities and differences in values, as expressed in definitions and standpoints, and also to try to explain how it is that the actors have similar and dissimilar values. In this context I have chosen the sociologist Jürgen Habermas's theory about "the postsecular society" to increase the understanding how and why similar values within religious and secular actors are presented in, what Habermas calls, "the postsecular society". I have used a qualitative and comparative content analysis for this study. The result shows that the Swedish Feminist Party has a more humanistic view.

This master thesis summarizes contemporary theories on secularization processes in the Western world, and compares these with the example of Sweden, which by many scholars is considered to be the most secularized country in the Western world.I do this by dividing the most influential theorists in five different groups. In each group I explain how the theorists formulate and motivate their positions. These groups are:1) The secularization paradigm, where secularization always accompanies modernization. (Therorists: Steve Bruce and Peter Berger (in the 1960s)2) The paradigm basically accepted, but revised to depend on existential security, rather than modernisation as such. (Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart)3) Religion returned in the public sphere.

In the curriculum from 2011 for Religion in Swedish Upper Secondary School, a new content has been added regarding the relationship between religion and science. The pupils are supposed to acquire a view of how the understanding of religion and science can express questions concerning creationism and evolution. The purpose of this study is to identify how this relation between religion and science is represented in textbooks for the subjects of Religion and Biology and how pupils are encouraged to reflect on and discuss this relationship. The method of this essay consists of a qualitative content analysis of textbooks from both Religion and Biology. The result of this study showed an overall multifaceted picture of the relation between religion and science..

The Purpose of this essay is to seek an answer to whether or not a conflict exists between priests of the Assyrian Church, the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Coptic Church in contemporary Swedish society, as well as to examine the environment between the three. The theological dissimilarities will be studied (from a historical standpoint), along with the interviewed participants views on the division in Christianity which will be presented also. I choose to interview six priests/chorbishops who live and work in Sweden, and the result was analyzed according to the senior professor of peace- and conflict, Peter Wallensteen?s theories on conflict and conflict resolution, where important issues are laid out to identify the core problem, and theological differences are discussed and compared from a union perspective.The result of the interviews illustrate a clear response that the participants experience a lack of functioning collaborations (from the Assyrians Church view, a collaboration is absent from the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Coptic Church, and vice versa) and most of the participants experience negative consequences from the divide in churches, as they strive for unity in Christianity as a whole. The theological differences between the churches proves not to be as significant as expected, the actual predicament lies partly in language-and phrase division along with a general rejection of each other?s interpretations.

This thesis aims to investigate and discuss the possibility for women in the early Christian church to make music, which in the ancient Roman society was something complicated. Afemale musician was looked upon as decadent and dissolute. This idea, in combination with the music ideals of the church influenced by the Neoplatonic movement, and the Pauline statement (1 Cor. 14:34-36), cast women to be completely prohibited in participating even in the psalmody during the service. My purpose is to discuss how this was looked upon in different Christian regions, using the church fathers as the main material source, since this has not previously been well documented or studied..

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).

This is an analysis of the ethics of the Deutsche Christen, a pro-Nazi christian movement in the Third Reich. The movement was a part of the German protestant church and attracted as much as one third of the church members. They incorporated Nazi symbols in the church activities and aimed to ?cleanse? the church from what they called jewish influenses. It is debated if a group that supports Nazi ideals can be considered ethical, or even christian, but this analysis examines their etchics and raises the question if the ethics of the Deutsche Christen can be compared to other christian ethical models.

Nathan Söderblom, Swedish archbishop 1914 - 1931, understands his role as bishop from an integrated theological conception that episcopacy is a gift to the church and the apostolic succession a heritage of utmost value. Episcopacy is an important tool to make the churches come together. in his work for peace during the Great War it was through his position without any power that he could approach the politicians. His calling was not only for Sweden; he had a responsibility for the whole world. In the Ecumenical Cope for the 1925 Stockholm meeting Söderblom expressed his views on the importance of the Uppsala see.

What impact does the Swedish society have on the practice of Islam? That is the main topic of this thesis.As a result of migration, the distinction between a specific region and a culture or religion has been mixed. Islam is not just part of the Middle East but is more and more institutionalized in the Western, and the Swedish society. Sweden, which is one on the most secular countries in the world, has developed into a country where the view on religion have been privatized. Religion can be practiced, but not in public.