The aim of this paper is to compare the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the belief, Confession and faith of the Swedish church in order to see similarity. The research questions that have been used are:1: What is the main feature of Dietrich Bonhoeffers theology?2. What are the main feature the belief, Confession and faith of the Swedish church?3: Which are the similarities between the main feature of Dietrich Bonhoeffers theology and the main feature of Swedish church belief, confession and faith?The research method that has been used is comparative where the Dietrich Bonhoeffers theology is compared whit the Swedish church belief, confession and faith.

The aim of this paper is to compare the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the belief, Confession and faith of the Swedish church in order to see similarity. The research questions that have been used are:1: What is the main feature of Dietrich Bonhoeffers theology?2. What are the main feature the belief, Confession and faith of the Swedish church?3: Which are the similarities between the main feature of Dietrich Bonhoeffers theology and the main feature of Swedish church belief, confession and faith?The research method that has been used is comparative where the Dietrich Bonhoeffers theology is compared whit the Swedish church belief, confession and faith.

The Church of Sweden sent during the spring 2010 two documents, Teologiskagrundprinciper för arbetet I 2006 års handboksgrupp and Mässans grundordning forconsideration. The documents are parts in the work with writing a new service-book for theChurch of Sweden. After the documents had been sent for consideration by the dioceses therehas been a discussion about the proposal to make the preparation in the service of HolyCommunion facultative. My main question has been to se if there will be any change of theconfession, faith and doctrine in the Church of Sweden if the preparation becomes facultative.I have seen that the service-book is an expression for the confession of the Church of Sweden,therefore there will be no change of the confession of the Church of Sweden, but a change ofits expression.I have seen that there is no consensus in how the dioceses react over what is written in thetwo documents about the forgiveness and the atonement. My conclusion is that it may bydifficult for the Church of Sweden to fix a new service-book without first fix what the Churchof Sweden means with forgiveness and atonement..

Public confession and declaration of grace in the mass, following the book of worship of the Church of Sweden, is considered by many to be problematic, and hence the topic of frequent discussion. This is apparent already in the proposal for the existing book of worship, as well as in those official proposals that have been presented in recent years for a revised order of worship. This paper provides a summary account of the historical development of the public confession (and its attendant parts) from the early church into recent times, with a focus on the Church of Sweden, focusing on church regulation and official books of worship. This account shows that a public confession existed in early Christian celebration of service/mass, and that public confession and declaration of grace as we know it today (in the Church of Sweden) has developed from the practice of private confession with a relationship to Holy Communion. In Sweden, the ambitions of the Lutheran program of reformation with respect to public confession did not materialize fully.

AbstractAim: The aim of this essay has been to study how the Swedish church has created the image of their religious activity through media. This has been by studying the three commercial campaigns launched by the Swedish church during the years 2000, 2001 and 2003. Questions asked are: How has the Swedish church chosen to profile it self? Which discourses can be recognized in the campaigns? Which messages has been communicated through the campaigns? How has these discourses created the image of the Swedish church?Method: The methodological framework is critical discourse analysis inspired by Norman Faircloughs? three-dimensional model. Thirteen images all part of the campaigns are analysed using a semiotic method.

In 2010 the Church of Sweden initiated a project to elaborate a new handbook for church services and church documents. This handbook draft was ready to be tested in 2012. The first Sunday of Advent 2012 the church launched an extensive trial for the draft for the new handbook; this handbook draft will now be tested in a selected variety of Swedish parishes until Judgment Sunday 2013. Upon which the Church of Sweden will evaluate and respond to the comments and reactions from the Swedish congregations in terms of the handbooks proposal. My main goal with this paper is that I?m hoping to be able to examine where the need for a new handbook for church services originates.

The purpose of this study is to analyse asylum seeking converts understanding of their conversion process based on church context, specifically within the realm of evangelical church and theology. Through the method of content analysis this essay analyses six qualitative interviews done with converts from two Islamic traditions to Swedish free church Christianity. The essay discusses the results through the lens of Lewis Rambos seven-phase theoretical concept of conversion. The important results given by this study shows that the first contact with other Christians in a new country, which creates a new community serving as an interpretive framework for their lives, triumphs the question of the theological perception for the conversion. Also, the results shows that intellectual understanding of the doctrines of faith is less important relative to the conversion process best described by the words touched, taught, and transformed.

The aim of this essay is to study how the University Church is represented in student newspapers. By conducting an inductive thematic analysis on sixteen articles chosen from newspapers distributed by the student union at three Swedish universities, the main purpose of the study is to further understand the role and function of the University Church in a contemporary Swedish context. Three themes emerging from the initial step of the thematic analysis were chosen for further analysis: (1) a secularized church?, (2) provocation and (3) reasons to seek out the University Church. The themes were then highlighted by two theoretical perspectives: Mark Chaves? theory of internal secularization and a theoretical framework developed by Anders Bäckström with the aim to explain the role of the church as a welfare agent in Sweden.The study shows that the University Church is portrayed as both an ambiguous and complex organization.

The aim of this essay is to study how the University Church is represented in student newspapers. By conducting an inductive thematic analysis on sixteen articles chosen from newspapers distributed by the student union at three Swedish universities, the main purpose of the study is to further understand the role and function of the University Church in a contemporary Swedish context. Three themes emerging from the initial step of the thematic analysis were chosen for further analysis: (1) a secularized church?, (2) provocation and (3) reasons to seek out the University Church. The themes were then highlighted by two theoretical perspectives: Mark Chaves? theory of internal secularization and a theoretical framework developed by Anders Bäckström with the aim to explain the role of the church as a welfare agent in Sweden.The study shows that the University Church is portrayed as both an ambiguous and complex organization.

Faith is a phenomenon that engages the individual into emotional, social and daily manners.Religion tends to engage the individual in different levels in the daily life. In the church communion, there is a belief to the traditional and the repeteated behaviour. This shared group is strength by ceremonies and rituals and people in this collective somehow experience another type of reality. This study has a social - psychological perspective and the purpose is to study people?s know-how of faith and why they seek religion in today´s secularized society.

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.

The early 20th century saw the Church of Sweden (Svenska kyrkan) come under threat from the modernization of the Swedish society. As a reaction to this and a way to secure the survival of the church a number theologians came up with a theological framework for the folk church (folkkyrkotanken).The parish of Masthugget was one of the poorest in the entire diocese of Gothenburg in the beginning of the 20th century. This is where Gottfrid Klingner came to serve first as a pastor and later as the vicar for more than 30 years. In which way did his view on the church affect life for the inhabitants in his parish and how were his actions affected by the framework for the folk church? This paper shows that the practice of Klingner in Masthugget can be linked to many of the ideas associated to the folk church concept..

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. .

In 1809 the citizens of Sweden where given the freedom to practice their Christian faith through the Swedish constitution of 1809, 16 §. This proclaimed that there should be religious freedom in Sweden, albeit restricted to Evangelical-Lutheran faith. Although after the law regarding dissenters was passed in 1860 by choosing another church than the Evangelical-Lutheran church you lost some civic rights, for example you could not become a public official. The freedom to choose religious affiliation was given through the Law of Religious Freedom in 1951. The purpose of this study is to evaluate in what way the concept of religious freedom has developed in Swedish law between 1809 and 1951.In the background I treat two historical events and one era, with focus upon religious freedom, which have in my opinion influenced the view of religious freedom in Sweden during the chosen period of 1809?1951.

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).