The purpose of this thesis is to find evidence if cult houses existed on Gotland during the Bronze Age. The cult house is a common term in modern Bronze Age archaeology and the general definitions of cult house are discussed and why cult houses seem to be absent on Gotland. In this thesis the cult house are discussed as a phenomenon, and the possibilities to find Bronze Age cult houses on Gotland are evaluated by making comparisons between Gotland houses with already defined cult houses from the Swedish mainland. Some known cult houses are presented in more detail as case studies, together with house remains on Gotland which could have potential to be defined as cult houses..

The purpose of the study is to investigate methods and work procedures that aim to motivate people to leave a cult and/or supporting them after a cult exit. The study was limited to investigate how Sweden?s, within the area, three premier voluntary organizations Föreningen Rädda Individen, Rådgivning Om Sekter and Hjälpkällan work with present -, ex ? and relatives to cult members. In addition to the mentioned organizations we have also investigated the work procedures and methods used by Åke Wiman. The study has got a qualitative approach and includes semi-structured interviews.

This is a work about the relationship between cult houses and halls. In my essay I will go through four different places were cult houses and halls both exist. I will look at the findings and the landscapes were the settlements are located in. The places I have chosen are Lunda in Södermanland, Slöinge in Halland, Uppåkra in western Skåne and Järrestad in southeast Skåne. Because of that the cult houses and halls are occurring during the late Iron Age, it is during this time period that I will work in.

This essay discuss if Bronze Age cult houses were present at Gotland during the Bronze Age. Bronze Age cult houses are a well know phenomenon on mainland Sweden but because of inventory problems no Bronze Age cult houses have been found on Gotland. The main reason for the inventory problems are the Iron Age house foundations that are present in a large number on Gotland, the cult houses and the Iron Age houses have some design details that makes them difficult to separate from each other. In this essay a number of criteria are presented to help separate cult houses from the Iron Age house foundations. Three criteria?s regarding cult houses on Gotland is also presented in this essay.Two house foundations that PhD student Joakim Wehlin, University of Gothenburg and Gotland University, found in Vallstena parish, Gotland, are presented in this essay.

This is a work about the relationship between cult houses and halls. In my essay I will go through four different places were cult houses and halls both exist. I will look at the findings and the landscapes were the settlements are located in. The places I have chosen are Lunda in Södermanland, Slöinge in Halland, Uppåkra in western Skåne and Järrestad in southeast Skåne. Because of that the cult houses and halls are occurring during the late Iron Age, it is during this time period that I will work in.

This is a work about the relationship between cult houses and halls. In my essay I will go through four different places were cult houses and halls both exist. I will look at the findings and the landscapes were the settlements are located in. The places I have chosen are Lunda in Södermanland, Slöinge in Halland, Uppåkra in western Skåne and Järrestad in southeast Skåne. Because of that the cult houses and halls are occurring during the late Iron Age, it is during this time period that I will work in.

This essay is about the religious change that Jing-cult underwent 600-1500 A.D. It is a historical-critical essay based on literature studies, using Ha?kan Rydving?s theory of religious change. In chronological order, it will go through the religious change from ancient Japan to the late Muromachi-period when Shinto was created. It describes the early temple- cult, buddhism's mission to Japan and how the Jingikan was created.

This study focuses on aspects of cult experiences, given by deconverted formermembers of closed religious movements. Their testimonies were published inbooks or interviews. The aims of the study were to understand the interactionbetween the religious group and its members, living in high tension towardsmainstream society and their testimonies of altered self-esteem during attraction,membership, deconversion and defection. The purpose was to understand how aperson´s self-esteem is affected by inner mechanisms of closed religiousmovements and how these experiences affects a persons identity. Another aspectwas whether there might be differences in altered self-esteem, between those whoenlisted as adults, and those who were born into the closed religious contexts.Social Identity Theory, Sigmund Freud´s and Carl Rogers models of personal egowere used as models of interpretations.

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.

This paper attempts to trace the journey of Adonis from ancient Mesopotamia, through Phoenicia and finally to Greece, and to see how his function and cult have evolved during this migration. It starts with a short summary of previous research regarding Adonis and goes on to describe the myths and the rites of Adonis as they were celebrated in Alexandria, Byblos and Athens. I then examine possible connections to ritual drama, the mystery religions and whether there is any evidence that the Adonia might have been a germination ritual.My conclusions are that Adonis loses his connection to the growing cycle and the ideology of sacred kingship with the move to Greece where the political system with independent city states is different, and that there has been too much focus on Adonis as a vegetation god. Since Adonis is connected with the ancient Near Eastern cults of sacral kingship it might be more rewarding to consider the death aspects associated with his cult and the possibility of ancestral worship in relation to a ruler. This would make some of the otherwise puzzling aspects of his cult more understandable..

A group of scientist, called the council of democracy in Sweden made a predictionabout members of political parties, in 2013 members should not exist. In this essaythat statement going to be questioned. It shows that most of the political parties losesmembers in Sweden. The only differences from year 2000 and now is that in 14 yearsthe parties has lost 65000 members, between 1991-1999 it was about 220000members. Something has changed.

This paper analyses the existence and nature of the sacred landscape Olands härad during the Bronze Age and Iron Age. Olands härad is located in Northern Uppland, onthe way to Östhammar, about 30 km northeast of Uppsala. The interpretations are done with help of place names studies as well as archaeological finds. The results indicate that different types of cult locations can be found in the area..

A group of scientist, called the council of democracy in Sweden made a predictionabout members of political parties, in 2013 members should not exist. In this essaythat statement going to be questioned. It shows that most of the political parties losesmembers in Sweden. The only differences from year 2000 and now is that in 14 yearsthe parties has lost 65000 members, between 1991-1999 it was about 220000members. Something has changed.

This report is produced with Nätraälven forest owner association. This forest owner association has been going through some changes the last years and therefore wanted to investigate what the members thought about the development. The main purpose of the study was to gain knowledge about the attitude of the members. The study was made with a questionnaire that was purposed to investigate the member?s opinion on their own cultivation and the view on Nätraälven as an organization. The questionnaire was sent to 110 members.

This paper studies the fragmentation and reuse of early christian monuments ("eskilstunakistor") in churches in Östergötland during the medieval period. This is found to have been done in two stages. The first stage shows a collectivization of society. Within religion the change from ancestoral cult towards the saints' cult is important as the fragments are reused like relics. During the second stage the collectivization has been fulfilled, and the reuse is instead part of the christian churches' strategy for incorporating old powerful symbols from the landscape into their own church building..