Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Man and religion'

This study examines the titles that the author of Luke's gospel uses to describe Jesus' character in relation to scriptural citations and allusions/echoes. It also thoroughly explores Luke's use and understanding of the Greek expression, o ui&d12;s &d13;vtou ' anqrwpou (Son of Man), its relationship to Fulfillment passages and its earthly and cosmological connotations. This study briefly addresses the five most commonly used names of Jesus in Luke (Lord, Teacher, Messiah, Master and Son of Man) and examines their meanings in the Old Testament. Son of Man is the most important Christological title according to Luke because, in contrast to the other titles, it is associated most often with earthly and cosmological connotations. This combination is central to Luke's Christology. In using the Son of Man in this way Luke is following its meaning in both the Old Testament scripture and in the Jewish Pseudepigrapha.

In this study the psychological structures of two categories of religious and schizophrenic experience were examined from a phenomenological- existential perspective. Existing theories describe schizophrenia as an unfree, rigid experience with limited possibilities for selfhood. Some theorists believe, however, that some forms of schizophrenia can be seen as potential growth experiences which could facilitate existential renewal. These forms of schizophrenia are mystical, mythical or spiritual in nature. Religious experiences are, according to the literature, essentially renewal experiences facilitating existential growth and transformation through a particular system of thought and devotional relationship shared by a group of people. The Duquesne phenomenological- psychological method was used to analyse seven case studies, four of which involved schizophrenic experiences and three which involved religious conversion experiences. The general psychological structure which emerged through this analysis showed both schizophrenia and religious experience to have specific implications for the personal, social, material and mystical dimensions of being. The description of a specific psychological structure of experience which could optimally facilitate existential growth and transformation was attained by examining psychological structures where the subject's experience culminated in existential growth and transformation (such as religious experience and certain schizophrenIc experiences). As both these categories of experience displayed a strong mystical component, a psychological structure of experience which facilitates a transformative mystical experience was described. It can be concluded that an experience involving a mystical dimension could be transformative if the general psychological structure of the person displays (a) an openness towards reality as it presents itself (b) an experience of oneself as having a measure of existential freedom (c) a certain sense of security in one's own selfhood and (d) a social world which could understand, support and reflect inner experiences.

I det här arbetet synliggörs våra styrdokument på skolans område, de statliga, kommunala och lokala, utifrån den tes/fråga som lyder; ”Tar man grundläggande värden på allvar? Tar man barns frågor om livet, på allvar?” En presentation av respektive dokument och en kompletterande intervju med den pedagogiska ledaren/rektorn på en skola analyseras och sammanfattas. Undersökningens huvudresultat är som följer; Vardagstillvaron och den sociala gemenskapen är viktiga som utgångspunkt för samtal, reflekterande och kunskapsutveckling.

Barns/vuxnas syn på medmänniskor är mycket viktigt - det utvecklande mänskliga mötet. Synliggör värden, normer, tankar och idéer och våga visa att du söker svar. Begrepp och värden är otydligare i den kommunala skolplanen och den lokala arbetsplanen.

Grundtanken med arbetet är att följa idéer och tankar som är presenterade i våra styrdokument. Från statlig nivå Lpo-94 och läroplanskommitténs betänkande: Skola för bildning (SOU 1992:94), via kommunens skolplan - Sandvikens kommuns skolplan, den lokala arbetsplanen - Norrsätraskolans arbetsplan, till rektor för skolan. Jag presenterar och analyserar varje delområde var för sig, med utgångspunkt från min tes och mina frågor. Jag sammanfattar varje delområde för sig själv. Sammanfattning av delområdena tillsammans, där relationerna dem emellan presenteras och vad man rimligen kan säga om detta material tas sedan upp i diskussionsavsnittet.

Examensarbete på Grundskollärarprogrammet 1-7 ht 1996.

Uppsatsens syfte har varit att belysa religionens funktion i avreligioniserade människors liv och dessutom att försöka utröna huruvida religionen i dessa människors liv har ersatts och hur de eventuella religionsersättarna i så fall ser ut. Vi har fokuserat på Sverige och Svenska Lutheranska Kyrkan med dess kontinuerligt reducerande medlemsantal. Den empiriska undersökningen har utgjorts av kvalitativa intervjuer med icke aktiva medlemmar och med präster i Svenska Kyrkan. En litteraturstudie har också genomförts. Resultatet av studien indikerar att religionsersättare finns och att de i viss mån ersätter religion i människors vardag. Indikationer finns också på att religiositeten hos människor inte längre är bunden till den traditionella religionen, men att den i sig inte har ersatts.

The aim of this essay was to investigate in what manner sexuality is and has been portrayed and represented in course books used in religious studies in Swedish upper secondary school. In order to study the progression of how Swedish education has portrayed sexuality, course books from the 1970s, the 1990s and 2013 were studied. Moreover, to get a deeper understanding of the subject, the curricula from each time period were also investigated. The method used was first and foremost a qualitative content analysis, but a quantitative approach was also used in some occasions. To get the result of this investigation four questions were asked: “In what way is sexuality portrayed in the curricula?”, “Where in the course books is sexuality discussed?”, “Which questions regarding sexuality are discussed?” and also “What types of sexualities are represented?”. The result of this essay demonstrates the fact that how sexuality is portrayed in Swedish course books for religious studies has changed since the 1970s. By discussing the results with the help of Ambjörnsson’s queer-theoretical analysis, it has become clear that Swedish education has gone from a rather heteronormative approach on portraying sexuality to a more including one. The subject of sexuality is more nuanced in the latest course book, and the subject has been given more space in the books.  However, what has remained the same is the fact that only a few of the chapters discussing different religions also discuss sexuality. In the course books from previous time periods sexuality was almost exclusively discussed in chapters about Islam and Christianity, and even though sexuality is discussed in a different manner that is still the case.

The movie Dogville (2003) provides viewers with a rare and provocative twist on differences between on the one hand the rigorous, Old Testament Jehovah, characterized by rules, and by rewards or punishments in this life, and on the other hand the loving, forgiving Christ and God of the New Testament and later Christianity who are characterized by forgiveness, and by rewards or punishments in an eternal afterlife. The movie, especially its ending, challenges the forgiving nature of the New Testament God and Christ, and makes a case that the Old Testament, rigorous Jehovah is more appropriate, at least for humans who respect themselves as responsible grown-ups. Earlier than these two views of God and man, and still alive and kicking, is a third view, the "Heroic." God is irrelevant here, either as a source of rules or as a source of forgiveness and redemption. Rather, man generates his own meaning by accepting his fate and struggling to do the best he can; this life is all there is and the struggle, i.e. living it is the only meaning. The three views can be seen on a continuum with the Heroic on one end and the forgiving Christ on the other, and the rigorous Jehovah in between and closer to the heroic than to the forgiving. The Dogville point of view, preferring a rigorous God to a forgiving one, is very rarely found in literature (the Grand Inquisitor episode in The Brothers Karamazov is similar to some extent) but both the Heroic and the forgiving Christian views appear everywhere, in all kinds of non-fiction, and either explicitly or as metaphors or parables in fiction. The Heroic view is taken here to include not only classic Greek and Roman heroic writings (e..g. those of Homer and Virgil) but also more modern schools of thought including Nietzsche, the existentialists, and other "God is dead" points of view. The paucity of the first view in literature is mirrored by the small number of its followers: all self-identifying Jews are less than 0.5% of the world's population and the orthodox are a minority within that. In stark contrast, about one-third of individuals world-wide self-identify as Christian. Followers of the Heroic view, roughly measured by self-identifying atheists and perhaps including agnostics, are between 15 and 20 percent of the population of the USA. Focusing on the United States, the data show that the number of adherents of each of the two extremes of an expanded continuum, i.e. the Heroic view on one hand and the born-again Protestant version of the forgiving view on the other, has been growing while the numbers of followers of everything in the middle, i.e. Judaism (excluding its New Age, non-religious variants), Roman Catholicism, and mainstream Protestantism have been declining. The waxing and waning of these different views are evaluated in the lights of literature, philosophy, psychology, marketing, and the idea that ideas ("memes" as coined, described and popularized by Richard Dawkins) evolve, endure or disappear according to the Darwinian principle of natural selection. The conclusion is that there are important, long-term reasons for the observed trend, and that therefore both born-again Protestantism and atheism are likely to continue to take market share from their competitors in the middle.

In the early modern period, Jewish historiography moved from the Hebrew domain into the Yiddish one. Jewish writers have succeeded to match the historical literature to the particular needs of their audience. The most popular Yiddish chronicle of this kind was written in Amsterdam in the 18th century by Menachem Man Amelander, following both the Jewish and Christian genre. This paper briefly surveys the genre characteristics of this chronicle and the way it served the purpose of guarding Jewish memory and tradition.
In der Frühen Neuzeit verschob sich die jüdische Historiographie von einer hebräischsprachigen Geschichtsschreibung zu einer jiddischsprachigen. Jüdische Autoren gelang es, die historische Literatur an die besonderen Bedürfnisse ihres Publikums anzupassen. Die bekannteste jiddische Chronik dieser Art wurde im 18. Jahrhundert von Menachem Man Amelander in Amsterdam verfasst, der für sein Werk sowohl Elemente des jüdischen als auch des christlichen Genres entlehnte. Dieser Artikel umreißt zunächst die Genre- Merkmale dieser Chronik. Weiterhin wird der Frage nachgegangen, wie diese Schrift ihrem Zweck diente, jüdische Erinnerung und Tradition zu bewahren.

This thesis explores the relationship between Thomas Hobbes and English deism. It seeks to show that Hobbes's work had a significant influence upon subsequent deists, namely, Charles Blount, John Toland, Matthew Tindal, and Anthony Collins. The thesis shows that these deists were influenced by certain distinctively Hobbesian anticlerical ideas, such as his biblical criticism, his materialism and determinism, his scepticism towards present revelation, and more. The deists, who were motivated by a similar form of anticlericalism, found in Hobbes a particularly resourceful ally. Furthermore, this thesis explores how some of Hobbes's political ideas influenced the deists: particularly his concerns regarding the dangerous role that priestly interests played in society and the instability that they generated. This thesis thus argues that Hobbes can be seen as a major influence upon English deism. Secondly, it offers an examination of Hobbes's concepts of God and reason. It shows that whilst Hobbes's accounts of God and reason were multilayered and at times perhaps underdeveloped, they contained significant elements that anticipated the later positions of the deists. Finally, this thesis argues that for Hobbes, the rational potential of humankind, implanted by God, could be cultivated and fulfilled once peace and security are guaranteed. Thus, this thesis attempts to recover some of the more utopian aspects of Hobbes's thought. It concludes that both Hobbes and the deists were part of a project of enlightenment, but one which was not aimed against religion as such. They attempted to liberate natural reason from the darkness of corrupt clerics and their false doctrines: this was an anticlerical enlightenment that was partly initiated by Hobbes and developed significantly by the deists.

Ralph Waldo Emerson is a great American literary figure that began his career as a minister at Boston’s Second Church. He discontinued his ministry to become an essayist and lecturer and continued as such for the remainder of his life. This thesis was written with the intent of demonstrating that, in spite of leaving the ministry, Emerson continued to be religious and a religionist throughout his life and that he promulgated a unique religion based upon the principle of self-reliance. At the heart of Emerson’s religion of self-reliance is the doctrine of perfectionism, the infinite capacity of individuals. This thesis defines Emerson’s perfectionism and then tries to locate him in American Studies by contextualizing him with three of his religious contemporaries that were also preaching the doctrine of perfectionism. (109 pages)

This thesis is a novella highlighting the struggle many religious individuals face to maintain a faith with or without physical props and boundaries, and why some people voluntarily live with pharisaical rules that make it harder to reside in the modern world. Maid for Man is the story of Caty, a young woman brought up by the strict conservatism of a combined church and homeschool group, who, after marrying a man and discovering he has no physical interest in her, must decide whether or not to divorce him, even though her family and community believe divorce is an excommunicable sin.
B.A.
Bachelors
Arts and Humanities
English; Creative Writing

Daraus leitet sich folgende Forschungsfrage ab: Hat die Intensität der religiösen Überzeugung einer Person Einfluss auf eine ungleiche Arbeitsteilung im Haushalt? Die Basishypothese dieses Aufsatzes besteht in Folgendem: Je religiöser sich eine befragte Person einschätzt, desto häufiger werden in einem partnerschaftlichen Haushalt als weiblich konnotierte Haushaltstätigkeiten von der Ehefrau bzw. Lebenspartnerin ausgeführt. Auf die methodischen Implikationen wird später ausführlich eingegangen. Aus der Basishypothese werden nun empirisch prüfbare Hypothesen gebildet, die weiterführend eine Grundlage für die Prüfung von Interaktionseffekten bilden. Damit soll herausgefunden werden, in welchem Umfang Religiosität mental vernetzt ist, also nachweisbare Wirkungen moderiert und damit als eine zentrale Variable in der Verarbeitung sozialer Bedingungen angesehen werden kann.

In the contemporary period of Muslim-Christian dialogue and inter-faith study, there are only a few Western-trained Muslim scholars who are recognised for their study of other faiths and for their contributions to inter-faith dialogue. One such scholar was Ismaʿil al-Faruqi (1921-1986). Throughout his academic career he taught, published and was actively engaged in inter-faith study and dialogue. In the 1960s and 1970s, he was one of the main Western Muslim representatives in dialogue with the Vatican, the World Council of Churches and other Christian organisations. He and his wife were murdered in 1986. This study critically examines al-Faruqi's methodology of engagement with non-Muslims, its practical applications, and explores the reasons why he spent a lifetime involved in religious dialogue. In Part One, his life is presented as a biographical narrative and analysed using identity theory to ascertain some of the reasons and motivations for his lifelong commitment to dialogue and inter-faith study. Part Two introduces various methodologies for the study of religion that were available to him and then al-Faruqi is placed within the context of the history of Muslim-non-Muslim encounter. In Part Three, the development of his methodology is presented through his voice by documenting the stages of his thought as seen in his writings. His three-fold methodology of comparative study, meta-religious principles and dialogical applications are examined not only as theory but also in terms of their applications. It is in the application process that one can see the adjustments and contextual uses of the methods that he developed, such as his insistence upon ethics as a means
Dans le domaine actuel du dialogue musulman-chrétien et celui de l'étude interconfessionnelle, seuls quelques érudits musulmans diplômés en Occident ont été reconnus pour leurs études de religions autres que l'Islam et pour leurs contributions au dialogue interconfessionnel. Un de ces érudits fut Ismaʿil al-Faruqi (1921-1986). Pendant toute sa carrière académique, il a enseigné, publié et participé activement à l'étude et au dialogue interconfessionnels. Pendant les années 60 et 70, il fut l'un des principaux représentants Musulmans en Occident participant activement au dialogue avec le Vatican, le Conseil œcuménique des églises et d'autres organismes chrétiens. Il fut assassiné avec son épouse en 1986. Cette étude examine d'une manière critique la méthodologie qu'al-Faruqi a adoptée dans ses entretiens avec les non-Musulmans ainsi que les applications pratiques de celle-ci, et explore les raisons pour lesquelles il a consacré une grande partie de sa vie au dialogue religieux. La première partie de ce travail présente sa vie en forme de récit biographique, utilisant la théorie de l'identité comme outil d'analyse, afin de connaître les raisons et motivations pour lesquelles il a dédié sa vie au dialogue et à l'étude interconfessionnelle. La deuxième partie tent de définir les diverses méthodologies qu'al-Faruqi a pu utiliser pour étudier la religion; par la suite, il est question de situer al-Faruqi dans l'histoire des rencontres entre Musulmans et non-Musulmans. Dans la troisième partie, il s'agit de présenter, à travers la voix d'al-Faruqi lui-même, le développement de sa méthodologie et de tracer l'évolution de sa pe

This essay examines the role religion plays in kindergarten. Today, the Swedish kindergarten provides child care for a secular and multicultural society where religion is considered a private matter that should not influence government nor the policy documents of kindergarten and elementary school. According to a study by Jenny Berglund, there is a so-called Protestant bias present in the Swedish elementary school. Protestant bias is shaped by a ”marinade” of liberal Protestant Christianity and has an indirect influence on how other religions are described, how religion is defined and how concepts such as religion, tradition or culture are viwed. The study was also based on Ninian Smart’s dimensions of religion, which correlates to Berglund’s theory on Protestant bias. If Berglund’s theory could be applied to the results of this study, some of Smart’s dimensions would probably appear as well, some more prominently than others. The results demonstrated that some dimensions were indeed more prominent than others in the informants’ definitions of religion. This study showed that there is a Protestant bias regarding what feasts are celebrated and how concepts such as religion, tradition and culture are viewed. The study also showed that there might be an additional secular bias present in the results. This was also indicated by some unexpected answers where the explanation could not be attributed to a purely Protestant bias. The secular bias indicates that the view of religion has been modified. The reason for this transformation is analyzed with the help of the examplar view theory.

Jag har gjort en undersökning för att få en beskrivning av mobbning och förebyggande åtgärder mot denna företeelse, genom litteraturstudium och två intervjuundersökningar. Resultatet utgör idéer om hur man ska förebygga mobbning. Det jag har kommit fram till är, att det är viktigt att tidigt identifiera mobbning genom medvetenhet och engagemang hos vuxna. Till resultatet hör slutsatsen att det som är av största prioritet i förebyggande åtgärder mot mobbning är lärarrollen, öppen kommunikation i kollegiet, ett bra socialt klimat i klassen samt ett välordnat rastvaktssystem.
Examensarbete på Grundskollärarlinjen med inr mot åk 1-7 ht 1993.Uppsatsförfattaren har senare bytt efternamn till "Ekman-Lindberg".

Syntheiströrelsen (The Syntheist Movement) kan förstås som en konsekvens av individualismens framfart, kommersialism, globalisering och framväxten av IT-samhället. Syntheiströrelsen strävar efter att återupprätta en kollektiv gemenskap de upplever gått förlorad genom att själva skapa ny religion relevant för samtiden och framtiden. Benämningen deriveras från grekiska – syntheos, den skapade guden. Med avstamp i Den mediterande dalahästen: Religion på nya arenor i samtidens Sverige (Frisk & Åkerbäck 2013) för uppsatsen ett resonemang kring hur Syntheiströrelsen kan förstås utifrån teorier om samtida religion och religiositet. Syntheiströrelsen förklaras mot bakgrund av en mindre intervjustudie med tongivande medlemmar i stockholmsförsamlingen samt undersökning av näraliggande material.

This dissertation seeks to evaluate and reformulate the sociology of religion through an integration of the work of Carl G. Jung and others. The purpose of such a reformulation is to develop a "new" theoretical framework within which to describe and explain individual and collective level religious and spiritual experience in our contemporary postmodern social landscape. Current theoretical frameworks for the sociology of religion have failed to provide an adequate lens through which to view religious experience and have failed to provide an understanding of the differences between religion and spirituality. The modernist framework which reduces religious and spiritual phenomena to mere numbers lacks the depth necessary to view such a multifaceted and varied grouping of social experience. The postmodern alternative, as well, has multiple problems in terms of application particularly if one accepts the postmodern argument that there is no truth. Following a postmodernist trajectory where there is no truth, one must question whether or not the sociological study of religion is relevant at all. Presented here is an integrative model which challenges Kantian assumptions about the nature of religion. The relationship between the concepts of religion and spirituality has long baffled the social sciences. Here spirituality is characterized, in a truly Jungian manner, as an archetypal drive shared by all of humanity. Religion, on the other hand, is best thought of as individual and collective representations of an often unconscious search for a soul. This sort of conceptualization proves fuller than those currently offered. A discussion of religious and spiritual options associated with our contemporary American landscape provides evidence of the applicability of the framework presented here.

Informe de Seminario para optar al grado de Licenciado en Lengua y Literatura Inglesa.
This essay will deal with an aspect that cannot be ignored nor go unnoticed when we read A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man; Joyce's interest in the theme of religion, or the importance of religion in the development of the artist as a young man, according to Joyce.

Detta arbete handlar om möjligheten att inkludera mystika erfarenheter i religionsundervisningen. Jag har utgått från en intervjustudie med lärare. Studien startade med tre huvudfrågor. För det första tillfrågades lärare om de i samklang med läroplan och kursplan kunde undervisa i mystik? För det andra ställdes frågan om det finns svårigheter och didaktiska dilemman som lärare möter i mystikundervisningen? Slutligen frågades om mystikundervisningen kan bidra till meningsfullt lärande?

Några lärare såg en möjlighet, några andra dementerade att mystikundervisningen ryms inom kurs- och läroplanens ramar. Lärarna exemplifierade svårigheter med olika elevgrupper och program samt hänvisade till relevant och objektivt material som ett problem. För svaret på tredje frågan var pedagogerna eniga och bekräftade vikten av elevnärheten och läroplanens mål att utgå från elevernas livsfrågor. Redovisningen genomfördes via tematiska perspektiv, didaktiska perspektiv, erfarenhetens perspektiv och lärarrollens perspektiv.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior
O presente trabalho tem como objetivo principal o resgate do conceito de homem a partir da desvelaÃÃo da religiÃo cristÃ, realizada por Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach (1804-1872). Tendo como obra principal A essÃncia do cristianismo (1841). Analisaremos o conceito de homem, como ser plural e integral e, a fundamentaÃÃo de tal conceito advinda de sua crÃtica à religiÃo e, portanto, os alicerces do que ficou conhecido como seu ateÃsmo antropolÃgico. Desta maneira, tentamos demonstrar onde se encontram os mistÃrios ocultos que estÃo velados no seio da religiÃo e, de igual maneira na mente humana. Por essa razÃo, a terminologia religiosa nÃo à descartada nas proposiÃÃes feuerbachianas, mas antes ressignificada a partir de sua genealogia real e imanente ao homem. Desvendaremos a relaÃÃo vital entre o homem e seu interior, o homem e a religiÃo, o homem e a natureza e, por fim, toda a vida humana com suas sortes e revezes. Para isso, Feuerbach desenvolve uma reflexÃo a fim de desmitologizar a religiÃo, como critÃrio fundamental para a emancipaÃÃo do homem e assim, para tornÃ-lo responsÃvel por sua biosfera. A partir de entÃo, nÃo se trata mais de discutir a relaÃÃo Deus e homem, agora se versa sobre escolher como criador ou Deus ou o homem. Surge daÃ, a mÃxima: O Homem à o seu Deus. De tal modo que, a relaÃÃo unilateral de dominaÃÃo da teologia sobre a antropologia à reduzida a uma relaÃÃo da antropologia consigo. Destacaremos os atributos humanos velados no sentido religioso e decifrados no sentido antropolÃgico. Neste caso, o ateÃsmo antropolÃgico nÃo significa apenas a derrota do opositor (religiÃo) da vida humana plena. Ele, antes, constitui-se como um novo comeÃo para a odisseia humana, agora livre e emancipada.
The present essay has as main objective to ransom the concept of man from the unveiling of the cristhian religion, accomplished by Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach (1804-1872), having as main work The essence of the cristhianism (1941). It will be analyzed herein the concept of man, as a plural and unabridged being and, the substantiation of such concept arising from his critic to the religion and, therefore, the foundations of what had became known as his anthropological atheism. Thus, the author of this essay is trying to demonstrate where are the latent mysteries that are hidden within the religion and, in the same way in the human mind. For this reason, the religion terminology is not discarded in the feuerbachian propositions, but formerly resignified from its real genealogy and immanent to the man. In this work it will be uncloaked the vital relation between the man and his insides, the man and the religion, the man and the nature and, lastly, the whole human life in its fortunes and setbacks. For this, Feuerbach develops a reflexion in order to demythologize the religion, as fundamental criterion for the emancipating of the man and thereby, to make him responsible for his biosphere. From then on, it is no longer about arguing the relation God and man, it is now concerning about choosing as creator or God or man. Arises there, the maxim: The Man is its God. Such that, the unilateral relation of domination of the theology over the anthropology is reduced to a relation of the anthropology with itself. It will also be highlighted herein the human attributes concealed in the religion way and deciphered in the anthropological way. In this case, the anthropological atheism dos not mean just a defeat of the objector (religion) of full human life. It, formerly, constitutes itself as a new beginning to the human odyssey, now free and emancipated

Uppsatsens syfte är att studera porträtteringen av nationell identitet i Don DeLillos Falling Man och Amy Waldmans The Submission i förhållande till efterverkningarna av 9/11. Studien utgörs av undersökande och jämförande analyser av romanerna utifrån ett litteratursociologiskt samt postkolonialt perspektiv med fokus på nationalism, religion och commemoration.   Studien har presenterat hur amerikansk identitet har ifrågasatts och problematiserats i romanerna Falling Man och The Submission, och visat hur religion, commemoration och nationalism hänger samman med den amerikanska identiteten. En identitet som visat sig föränderlig och problematisk i efterverkningarna av 9/11. Studien har också kunnat visa att böckerna inte ämnar att lyfta fram en gestaltning av identitet som något allenarådande eller fast, utan att de istället visar hur identitet ständigt förändras och skiljer sig från karaktär till karaktär, genom problematiserandet kring tillhörighet, trygghet och trauma.

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. It also affects the view of church formation and leadership as well as bible interpretation and the concept of sacramentality. The paper traces the pervasive consequence in this thinking.

Har kyrkan något att ge en människa som söker motvikter till den yttre pågående strävan? Ett svar på den frågan kanske en blick emot kyrkokörsången skulle kunna ge. Många människor går till sina respektive körrepetitioner varje vecka för att ge en del av sin tid åt sången, fortbildningen, förberedelserna inför framträdanden, gemenskapen och vilan från vardagen. Finns där också en upplevelse av en transcendent dimension som än mer motiverar sångaren att ge av sin tid till kyrkokören?

Denna uppsats vill ge några aktiva kyrkokörsångares svar på denna fråga. Rubriken på denna uppsats; ”Vad man ändå fått vara med om…”, är ett citat från en av intervjuerna.

Jag är intresserad av att veta om det finns körsångare som har fått en känsla av att erfara en annan dimension än det vi kallar verkligheten, under utövandet eller avlyssnandet av körsång.

Termen man brukar använda för denna dimension, i religionsvetenskapliga sammanhang är ”das ganz Andere”. Många människor grubblar över existentiella frågor: om det finns ett liv efter döden, om Gud finns och om han eller hon i så fall kommunicerar med oss. Och om det finns människor som genom körsången tycker sig ha anat ”något mer”, hur påverkas dessa i så fall av denna upplevelse?

Historically, Christianity has been seen as a religion based on texts. However, many modern scholars claim that the practice of Christianity is at least as important as the holy texts. To see if this is the case, this study sought to examine whether church practice contributes to the making of the sacred, defined here from Mary Douglas's theory that the holy is something which is pure, whole and complete, unlike the impure, which is an anomaly, often separate, broken or divided. This was examined by studying the actual practices relating to the bread and the wine in one of Christianity's most central rites, the Eucharist. The empirical material is based on observations and semi-structured interviews on the handling of the bread and wine before and after communion in five different church communities. However, the focus is on the Evangelical Lutheran Swedish Church, where two different congregations were studied. The study takes as its point of departure Robert Orsis’ theory according to which holiness is created in a dynamic exchange between the practice of individuals and those of hierarchies. According to the present study this appears to be true, although the empirical material is too small to draw firm conclusions. In the churches investigated a variety of actors contribute to the creation of sacredness. Some practices seem to be the same throughout the different communities and parishes studied, for example preserving purity by covering the bread and wine, or by throwing away pieces of the already consecrated bread. Some individuals also created their own personal rituals, like not chewing the bread during the Eucharist, or covering their mouths after having received the bread to prevent the body of Christ from being spat out. It also appears that the wine is always handled with greater respect than the bread. According to Mary Douglas, this may have to do with the possibility of both sacrilising and defiling which rests in bodily fluids. This essay shows that persons in different roles act independently and in different ways to create and maintain the holiness of the bread and wine. In churches with distinct confessional texts, as in the Catholic Church, practices are more often based on dogmas, while individuals in the congregations lacking rules for handling the bread an wine, as in the parishes of the Swedish Church, act more as they themselves think is right. Also here their actions seem to follow Mary Douglas's theory of preserving the wholeness and purity of the holy. According to the study, the creation of sacredness seems to be just as possible for lay people as for specialists. This means that the Church in this way actually distributes the power to establish the sacred, which may contribute to preserving a community-promoting democratic process. This conclusion is reinforced by the fact that some of the congregations studied had created practices for ensuring sacrality which put fellowship before the power of the Words of Institution.

Måste det nödvändigtvis vara invecklat och svårt med interkulturella relationer? Innebär kärleksrelationer över gränserna mer komplikationer än andra förhållanden där man delar kultur, religion och etnicitet? Det finns uppenbarligen många människor som fattar tycker för varandra oavsett nationalitet och tro, men i flera skönlitterära romaner skildras en bild av att det är mer eller mindre omöjligt att få ett sådant förhållande att fungera. Jag vill dock gärna fortsätta att tro att kärleken beror mer på en sorts personkemi och attraktion människor emellan, något som man inte direkt kan sätta fingret på men som ändå finns där. I min uppsats skildrar och analyserar jag två populära och spridda romaner för att ta reda på vilken bild som framställs när det gäller kärleken mellan en mörkhyad muslimsk man och en vit kristen kvinna. I diskussionen redogör jag för mina egna tankar och åsikter om romanerna, samt beskriver hur jag tror de påverkar människor som tar del av dem genom bok eller film. Resultatet av romananalyserna visar att de båda redogör för en väldigt negativ och mörk bild vad det gäller de kärlekspar som det handlar om, och det är framförallt männen i historierna som presenteras på ett negativt sätt, och som kan bekräfta islamofoba och invandrarfientliga uppfattningar som finns i samhället.
Does it always have to be complicated with intercultural relations? Is it so difficult with love when it comes to people with different religions, backgrounds and cultures? True, many persons fall in love whatever the nationality or faith happen to be, but is it like the popular books and movies describes – more or less impossible to fulfill a intercultural relationship? I don’t think so, and I will still keep on believing that love is something that depends on other things like the chemistry of human beings, and the strong feelings between two people, that make them cross the borders and just feel the love. In my essay I will analyze and describe how two popular and worldwide spread novels describes and presents the love between a dark-skinned Muslim man and a white Christian women, and I will also discuss what I think these two will represent, and what kind of signals they give to the people who read about them and see them on film. The result of the investigation turns out to be that these two novels describe a very negative and dark picture of the two couples that the novels are about. And it is particularly the two men in the stories who is presented in a negative way, and which also can confirm islamophobic and anti-immigrant views.

Master of Arts
Department of English
Daniel A. Hoyt
In this project, the opening chapters of a novel, a fifty-foot man falls to the ground in Athens, Ohio. He is pronounced dead at the scene. What begins as a bizarre happening in a small college town soon spirals into an event with global repercussions. The federal government puts together a team of four scientists: Peter, a biologist; Jonathon, an archaeologist; Alexa, a forensic scientist; and Carly, a geneticist. As politicians, the media, and religious figures latch on to the giant man, the scientists try to determine if the body is real. Meanwhile, a religious cult develops in Athens. The cult believes the body is the Judeo-Christian God because it resembles images of God in popular and classic works of art. The giant man came from up in the clouds, has a white, billowing beard, and is old. Cult members tie bandanas around their eyes because they believe humans are not meant to look upon the body of God. The novel is told from a third-person omniscient point of view and shows the far-reaching consequences of such a fantastic event in our contemporary world. The novel delves into the mind of the Pope, a mortician, a lawyer, clergymen, students at Ohio University, the mayor of Athens, and a four-year-old boy, among many others. These characters try to come to terms with what it means to have the unreal and the impossible happen in their ordinary lives.

Syftet med min uppsats är att undersöka ifall det överhuvudtaget är rimligt att begära att en muslimsk elev ska integreras i den svenska skolan. Min uppsats är ur ett främst muslimskt, men också ur ett svenskt perspektiv. För att få svar på min fråga har jag valt följande frågeställningar:

- Hur skiljer sig ett muslimskt samhälle och muslimska normer från det svenska samhället?

- Vilka ”problemområden” finns för muslimska elever som går i en svensk skola?

- Hur ser det ut ute i skolorna? Existerar dessa problem i verkligheten?

Min slutsats av min undersökning är att det inte är rimligt att begära att endast muslimska elever ska integreras i den svenska skolan. Det handlar snarare om att skapa större förståelse, bland elever överhuvudtaget, för varandra. Att förstå och acceptera att man är olika på en del sätt, men lika på andra. Viktigast för att nå detta mål är att ha en dialog. Inser vi att vi har en hel del gemensam bakgrund kan vi lättare acceptera varandras olikheter. Ju mer vi vet om varandra, desto färre fördomar föds. Alla behöver vi integreras i dagens mångkulturella samhälle.

Little attention has been given to the archetype of the wise old man, both by Carl G. Jung and by contemporary scholars indebted to his methodology. This is especially relevant when compared to other common Jungian archetypes such as the ‘hero’, the ‘mother’ and the ‘trickster.’ As such, the wise man can be viewed as a neglected or overlooked figure whose image is so familiar and recognisable that his purpose and representations have not currently received the depth of analysis and explanation that has been given to other archetypal images. This thesis identifies the religious wise man as an important figure within the contexts of culture and religion. Its aim is to not only to explore the ‘archetype’ of the wise man, but to go beyond that rather superficial – and indeed, academically problematic – notion, and determine what I term the ‘architecture’ of the wise man. This architecture consists of the structural elements (social, institutional, historical) and identifiers (costume, calling, education), that separate the wise man, and in particular the religious wise man, from other male ‘archetypal’ figures. In using the term ‘architecture’ I aim to identify the arrangement of concrete elements and characteristics - rather than psychological or inner ‘essences’ - which are significant in the construction and maintenance of the religious wise man figure in specific cultural contexts. The dissertation presents five possible categories of the religious wise man - the shaman, sage, priest, prophet and magician – identifying common elements and distinguishing features that may then be redesigned and adapted in different and unique forms appropriate to each manifestation of the religious wise man. Once these key characteristics are identified, they create a schema that can be employed to classify a range of religious wise man figures into the appropriate category.

The purpose of this thesis is to present a number of examples of how the debate concerning same-sex marriages in Sweden was conducted in religious media between the year of 2005 and May 1st 2009. I intend to examine if and how these debate articles can be descibes as examples of religion taking part in the public sphere according to José Casanovas theory of deprivitization and public religion (1994) and Jürgen Habermas theory of religion in the public sphere (1964, 1989, 2006, 2008). I will apply the theories to the material by using four criteria for public religion, based on Casanovas and Habermas two theories, designed by Marta Axner. I also intend to compare the arguments used in the material to the arguments found in Marta Axners dissertation Public Religions in Swedish Media (2013). To identify these arguments a textanalysis containing seven argumentschemes, designed by Gunnar Björnsson (1994), is applied. The analysis presents that arguments of authority often recurs, mainly in reference to the Bible, God or Jesus Christ. Arguments of rule and consequence are also frequently used. In relation to the criteria for public religion it is not possible to present a definitive answer, instead it is of greater value to discuss whether there is a possibility that Casanova and Habermas would differ in determining whether the material can be described as public religion or not. The conclusion is therefore that more discussion and research are needed to deplete this field of study.

Scholars have often seen the interpretation of the Son of Man as crucial in discovering Jesus’ self-understanding, given that the expression occurs so frequently and almost exclusively on Jesus’ lips. After ascertaining the authenticity of the Son of Man sayings, I carry out the exegesis in the Gospel of Mark using a methodology consisting of examining Biblical passages within the context of the Bible as a whole and of historical-critical and philological perspectives. Also, the narrative context of the saying is taken into account. I show that the Son of Man is a Messianic title derived from Daniel 7:13, and that the book of Daniel’s content and themes were used as a basis for the Son of Man sayings themselves. In addition to using the Son of Man as a Messianic title, Jesus used the title as a claim for divinity.

Mitt syfte är att ge en bakgrund till att Gårdtjärns Missionsförsamling bildades 23 februari 1908, att beskriva bildandet och den första tidens verksamhet till år 1926. Som titeln antyder vill jag konfrontera denna verklighet mot det ideal av jämlikhet mellan kvinnor och män som finns i orsaken till bildandet, Bibelns ord.

De frågor jag ställt till det material jag kunnat ta del av är

• Hur såg livet i Sättna socken och Gårdtjärns by ut vid sekelskiftet?
• Hur växte väckelsen fram till det att väckelsen kom till Sättna på 1850-talet?
• Hur växte väckelsen fram i Sättna socken?
• Finns det ett samband mellan nykterhetsrörelsen och väckelserörelsen i Sättna?
• Hur bildades Gårdtjärns missionsförsamling och vad kan sägas ha legat bakom församlingsbildningen?
• Vad berättar denna historia om kvinnors och mäns olika roller i väckelsen?

Utifrån en genomgång av den religionshistoriska litteraturen har följande framkommit:

• Muhammed framställs som en genomärlig person som trodde starkt på sina andliga och religiösa upplevelser. Han var samtidigt bekant med de religiösa och politiska omständigheter som rådde i dåtidens Arabien. I staden Medina märks mer hans politiska egenskaper och han lyckas med sin skicklighet bilda ett nytt samhälle och åstadkomma en stor förändring i stora delen av Arabien under sina levnadsår.

• Han beskrivs både som en religiös och politisk person. Det sägs också att på den tiden spelade religion och religiositet en viktig roll både i de stora imperiernas statsförvaltning och i enskilda människors liv.

• Muhammeds liv beskrivs i två perioder. I den ena beskrivs han som en intensiv religiös och andlig person i staden Mecka medan i den andra beskrivs han mera som en politisk och skicklig härförare i staden Medina.

Utifrån de genomförda intervjuerna har följande framkommit:

• Muhammed anses vara en vanlig människa som valdes av Gud för att visa den rätta vägen för människorna. Muhammed beskrivs som en lugn, vänlig, faderlig och barmhärtig person.

• Mina intervjupersoner tycker att vi människor lätt kan göra fel och synda medan Gud via sitt sändebud (Muhammed) hjälper oss att hitta den rätta vägen.

• Man anser att Muhammed brukade lösa sina konflikter med andra på fredliga sätt. Idag glömmer en del muslimer den mjuka, vänliga, fredliga sidan av islam i Koranen och i Muhammeds sunna.

• Bilden av Muhammed präglas av deras uppväxtmiljö, Koranen, Muhammeds sunna och haditherna.

This thesis engages with the biblical archive and its animals, asking what it means to read the Bible after Jacques Derrida’s “question of the animal”, that is, critical questions directed at the characterisations, representations and utilisations of animals past and present which deem animals distinctly different to humans in order to demarcate their inferiority. At the same time, it is a critical response to Derrida’s Bible. Derrida – arguably one of the most important and influential thinkers of the twentieth century – provides a significant philosophical contribution to the question of the animal. In animal studies, the Bible is treated as a foundational legacy for concepts of the “human” and is frequently held up to blame for a misplaced human hubris. Derrida too draws on the Bible in implicit and explicit ways to underpin his critique of human/animal distinctions. Building on Derrida’s work on animality, I provide close and critical interpretations of four crucial texts of the biblical archive. I argue that these biblical texts are caught up in irreducible tensions: on the one hand, these texts depict and describe how humans and animals alike abide as finite, fellow creatures under God as a justice to come which calls for a radical similitude and solidarity; on the other hand, animals are portrayed as objects that are mastered by humans to demonstrate God’s power over the living. God’s power thus resides in a double bind – it both displaces power from humans to show them as animals, and it simultaneously provides a model for human power over animal others. In the first chapter I explore the significance of Derrida’s motifs of nakedness and shame over nakedness for his critique of human/animal distinctions, arising from his reading of Genesis. Critically continuing Derrida’s play on myths of origin, I tackle the question of the first carnivorous man, Noah, in Genesis 9 in order to show how this text can both be read as a license to enact the sovereignty of man over animals, and, how this text radically resists such a reading in God’s covenant with all life, human and non-human. Following my exploration of myths of origin, the second chapter grapples with Derrida’s notion of a deconstructed subject through his emphasis on response and responsibility. Derrida puts forward the biblical response “here I am”, as the mark of vulnerability in every relation with the other. I explore what this responsible response might mean in the context of the Book of Daniel that portrays encounters between human, nonhuman animals and God. Developing Derrida’s injunction to follow the nonhuman other, I argue that the double context of Daniel conveys two distinct visions of the concept of the political as animal: one, in which a fantasy for a harmonious domestication and cohabitation amongst rulers and their human and animal subjects is fostered under the only true ruler, a benign God; and, a collapse of such a fantasy, where rulers – human and divine – are portrayed as carnivorous, ferocious creatures who turn their subjects from pets to prey. The third chapter follows this collapse to Derrida’s critique of the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” as a commandment relating only to humans and thus a detrimental Judeo-Christian legacy. Derrida draws on the story of Cain and Abel to discuss the way the killing of an animal leads to the killing of a brother. To explore questions of killability I, however, turn to the negotiations of such issues in Acts 10. In the animal vision of Acts 10, questions of clean/unclean animals are suspended and hospitality is apparently opened up between Jewish and non-Jewish Christians. I demonstrate that the universalism associated with this text refers to an exclusive human fellowship which evades the actual implications of the animal vision. Yet, I posit that there are again two ways of reading the animal vision. In the first reading the analogical resemblance set up between animals and Gentiles implies that Gentiles too become killable as “clean” and thus the animal vision allows for indiscriminate killability amongst the living in general. In the second reading the cleanness of all animals is in fact a radical redemption of animal life for fellowship, in the same way that Peter accepts the fellowship and hospitality of Gentiles. Ultimately, the category of the living and the dead draws humans and non-humans together into what I call “mortability”; that is, the capacity for death shared amongst the living in the suspension of judgement until Jesus returns. In the fourth chapter, I follow up on the suspension of judgement by analysing Derrida’s thinking of sovereignty and animality in relation to Revelation 17. Crucially, Derrida’s logic of sovereignty includes Christ as lamb, in his logos or reason of the strongest, despite its ostensible weakness as a diminutive animal. I explore this further by turning to the scene of Revelation 17 in which the Lamb is at war with the Beast and the woman riding it. Developing Derrida’s allusions to sexual difference as it relates to the question of the animal, I explore how Revelation 17 denigrates both animals and women by characterising them as the figure of evil: Rome. The logic of the animal representations sets up the divine as the good on the side of the weak in the figure of the suffering Lamb. But as the Lamb becomes a beast-like indivisible sovereignty that asserts its reason of the strongest, the figures of “evil” become the vulnerable weak victims – the animal others. Another image of Rome emerges, then, as a deconstructed sovereignty in the subjects that stand as powerless figures in the political order, namely the animals of the Roman arenas and the prostitutes of the Roman Empire. The four texts I examine abide in the ambiguous tensions of an archive that can in the end neither be presented as animal-friendly nor as straightforwardly anthropocentric. The biblical archive is a complex compendium fraught with tensions that can, with its animals, only be held in abeyance. There can be no final “ownership” proclaimed of this archive and its animals, nor can any interpretive act dis-suspend them from such an ambivalent state. These very different texts do, however, provide the material and momentum to show central and crucial instances of how the biblical archive characterises its humans, animals and gods. My analysis reveals that the very same spaces in which these characterisations might be fixed as detrimental to animal life, are where the possibilities of seeing animals radically otherwise lie.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att få kunskap om hur svenska icke-muslimska kvinnor ser på muslimska kvinnor, samt på vilket sätt svenska författare har skildrat kvinnan och islam. Med hjälp av kvalitativa intervjuer och textanalys har min vetskap blivit större.

Urvalet svenska akademiska författare som studien bygger på vill visa att kränkningen av kvinnor inte handlar om religion utan om hur Koranen har blivit feltolkad samt hur resten av världen ser på den muslimska kulturen. Bland författarna finns teorier om att kvinnan är ett offer för samhället, feltolkningar och fördomar men även ett offer på grund av bristen på jämlikhet inom islam.

Kunskapen om islam är inte så stor hos intervjupersonerna. De är kluvna i sin bild av den muslimska kvinnan. Dels ses hon som ett offer i slöja, kuvad och underlägsen. Dels påpekas det att hon är en del av religionen likväl som mannen. Det finns en tanke hos intervjupersonerna om att kvinnor kränks men inte på grund av religionen. Den muslimske mannen har en bister framtoning och ses som familjens överhuvud.

The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into how Swedish non-Muslim women look at Muslim women, as well as the manner in which Swedish authors have depicted women and Islam. Through qualitative interviews and text analysis, my knowledge has grown.

The selection of Swedish academic writers included in this study wants to show that the violation of women is not about religion but about how the Quran has been misinterpreted, and how the world looks at the Muslim culture. Among the authors we find theories that the woman is a victim of society, misinterpretations and prejudices but also a victim because of lack of equality in Islam.

The knowledge of Islam is not much developed among the interviewees and they have a split view of the Muslim woman. Partly she is seen as a victim of the veil, subjugated and inferior. Partly it is pointed out that she is a part of Muslim religion in the same way as the man is. There is a view among the interviewees that women are violated because of religion. The Muslim man has a grim image and is seen as the head of the family.

To the Englishmen of the sixteenth century the structure of the universe seemed clear and logical. God had created and ordered it in such a way that everyone and everything had a specific, permanent place which carried with it appropriate duties and responsibilities. Primary among these requirements was obedience to one's betters, up the Chain of Being, to God. Unity demanded uniformity; obedience held the universe together. Within this context, the excommunication of Elizabeth Tudor in 1570 both redefined and intensified the strain between the crown and the various religious groups in the realm. Catholics had become traitors, or at least potential traitors, with the stroke of a papal pen.

Skolans fostrande roll har förändrats genom historien. Relationen mellan lärare och elev har

intensifierats och präglas idag mer av närhet än distans. Denna utveckling skapar en

problematik kring lärarens förhållande till att vara personlig och privat eftersom läraren som

person blir allt viktigare. Läraren bör vara medveten om hur den förhåller sig till sina egna

ställningstaganden då läraren både på gott och ont har en stor makt att påverka eleverna.

Syftet med vår c-uppsats är att belysa hur ett antal yrkesverksamma lärare i grundskolans

tidiga år resonerar i frågan om hur lärare i relation till eleverna bör förhålla sig till det

personliga och det privata utifrån ambitionen att agera professionellt och därmed etiskt riktigt.

Med hjälp av intervjufrågor gällande religion, politik och sexualitet vill vi synliggöra lärarnas

eventuella gräns mellan personligt och privat. Undersökningen grundar sig på en kvalitativ

intervjustudie med tio yrkesverksamma grundskollärare.

De intervjuade lärarna menar att det ingår mycket i att vara en professionell lärare såsom att

få barnen att lära, trivas och må bra i skolan. De ser alla att deras etiska ansvar gentemot

eleverna är stort. Många av de intervjuade är medvetna om att de har en gräns mellan sitt

personliga och sitt privata men att det är svårt att konkretisera den. De är förhållandevis öppna

för frågeställningar som uppkommer men när det kommer för nära in på dem själva och det

blir för intimt finns det en gräns. Majoriteten av lärarna delade uppfattningen att det är viktigt

att man som lärare kan bjuda på sig själv även om det finns en gräns för hur mycket. De

menar att varje lärare själv får bestämma var denna gräns går. Nästan alla lärarna menade att

de kunde delge eleverna sin trosuppfattning men om eleverna skulle fråga lärarna om var de

står politiskt blev det känsligare. Många lärare ansåg att deras politiska ställningstagande har

eleverna inte med att göra. De av lärarna som skulle delge sitt politiska ställningstagande

påpekade dock att man inte får propagera för det. När det gällde lärarnas egen sexualitet var

de överens om att det tillhörde privatlivet, men de tyckte att de kunde berätta om sina

familjeförhållanden och om sexualitet i allmänhet.

Syftet med den här uppsatsen var att undersöka hur feministiska strävanden påverkat och eventuellt förändrat den religiösa judendomen. Studien har utgått från de fyra judiska inriktningarna: ortodoxi, reformism, konservatism och rekonstruktivism, samt en analys av begreppen ”historik” och ”texter, tolkning och symboler”. I analysen av ovanstående kohorter i mitt arbete har jag utgått från en konstruktivistisk teoriram.

Jag har uteslutande använt mig av ett feministiskt angreppssätt i detta arbete. Jag har undersökt hur den historiska kontexten, texter, symboler och tolkning bidragit till att cementera kvinnans underordning i förhållande till mannen. Arbetet belyser de olika framstegen som gjorts till förmån för kvinnan inom det religiösa livet. Litteraturen diskuterar även runt orsaker till och verkningar av denna problematik.

Analysen har visat på betydande skillnader mellan de olika grenarna ifråga om feministiska framsteg. Den har också påvisat att feminismen som tendens, sakta men säker tilltar. Samtidigt visar arbetet på att feminismen som rörelse fortfarande möter hårt motstånd inifrån rörelsen. Den visar också att samhälle, religion och kultur samverkar i de framsteg respektive motstånd som möter feminismen som rörelse.

Enligt den svenska översättningen av bibeln skapades mannen först och kvinnan skapades därefter av mannens revben. Detta arbete syftar till att studera om det finns utrymme för en annan tolkning av den andra skapelseberättelsen i Genesis, än den som traditionsenligt berättas i till exempel Bibel 2000. Kan det vara så att den första människan, ’adam, var en människa av båda eller inget kön, och att kvinnan sedan separerades ifrån ’adam och det som var kvar var mannen? Genom att studera olika forskares och teologers tolkningar av människans skapelse i Genesis 2 och de hebreiska ordens betydelse och placering i verserna har jag kommit fram till att den mest troliga tolkningen av texten är att mannen skapades först och att kvinnan därefter skapades utifrån mannens revben.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis investigates the construction of masculinity in the Xhosa initiation school (ulwaluko) in the townships of Cape Town, South Africa from a religio-cultural perspective. This ethnographic study utilized interviews with participants, observations of the initiation school, and is also complemented with documents that are written by Xhosa authors Thando Mqolozana, Nelson Mandela, Peter Mtuze, and A.N.N. Ngxamngxa. The documentary by Mayenzeke Baza and a blog post by Xhosa journalist Luzuko Pongoma were also used. The data collection and analysis was done with the Grounded Theory Approach using Atlas.ti version 7. The ontological and epistemological premise is of the constructivist understanding. The conceptual framework is grounded within the African philosophy of Ubuntu and African religio-cultural underpinnings. A new term, ancestral masculinity, was given to depict the type of masculinity described by the findings. It is marked by participating in a ‘manhood’ rites of passage and adhering to its prescribed processes and procedures, according to the ‘living and dead’ ancestors, in order for one to be accepted and recognized as part of the community. The findings show that ancestral masculinity, in its micro context of ‘boyhood’, is a searching route to acceptance. The initiate longs and finds acceptance in the initiation school through enduring pain and fostering a relationship with his guardian and teacher (ikhankatha). Secondly, ancestral masculinity is seen as the yearning to be African in its macro-context. It was demonstrated by admonishing (ukuyala) that helps the initiated to live an exemplary life of honouring (inhlonipho) those who are living and dead. This honouring is portrayed by doing everything possible to be helpful and to accord respect and care to elders. Inhlonipho also challenges individualist accomplishment and materialist flaunting and any ills that negate relational harmony. The study reveals challenges in the ulwaluko institution and construction of masculinity, such as alcohol abuse; carelessness, neglect, and passivity by elders in the process; exclusivity that discriminates against others; and inflexibility toward other constructions of masculinity. However, opportunities are also present within this institution to encourage dialogue and reconciliation, to create flexibility, and to utilize existing values to promote social cohesion amidst the challenges of the contemporary South African context.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die volgende tesis ondersoek die konstruksie van manlikheid binne die Xhosa inisiasieskool (ulwaluko) in die plakkerskampe en omligende gebiede van Kaapstad, Suid-Afrika. Hierdie etnografiese studie maak gebruik van onderhoude met vrywillige deelnemers, waarnemings binne die inisiasieskool en word ook verder gekomplimenteer deur dokumente wat geskryf is deur Xhosa outeurs onder andere Thando Mqolozana, Nelson Mandela, Peter Mtuze asook A.N.N. Ngxamngxa. Verder word die dokumentêr deur Mayenzeke Baza sowel as ’n “blogpost” deur Xhosa joernalis Luzuko Pongoma ook gebruik. Die versameling van data sowel as die analise daarvan was gedoen deur die Gefundeerde Teorie benadering en Atlas.ti weergawe 7 was gebruik. Die ontologiese sowel as epistemologiese premisse is van die konstruktivistiese paradigma. Die konsepsuele raamwerk is gegrond in die Afrika filosofie van Ubuntu sowel as Afrika godsdiens en kulturele onderbou. ‘n Nuwe term, voorvaderlike manlikheid, was gegee om die tipe manlikheid uit te beeld wat deur die bevindinge beskryf was. Dit word gekenmerk deur deelname in manlikheid rituele van deurgang asook voldoening aan die voorgeskrewe prosesse en prosedures volgens die “lewende en dooie” voorvaders, om aanvaar en erken te word as deel van die gemeenskap. Die bevindinge dui aan dat voorvaderlike manlikheid in sy mikro-konteks van “seunskap” ’n soekende roete tot aanvaarding is. Die persoon wat die inisiasie moet deurmaak smag na en verkry aanvaarding in die inisiasieskool deur pyn te verduur en om ’n verhouding te kweek met sy voog en leermeester (ikhankatha). Tweedens word hierdie voorvaderlike manlikheid aanskou as die hunkering om ’n Afrikaan te wees in sy makro-konteks. Dit was veral gedemonstreer deur vermaning (ukuyala), wat die geïnisieerde help om ’n voorbeeldige lewe te lei wat die lewendes sowel as die dooies vereer (inhlonipho). Die verering word uitgebeeld deur alles moontlik te doen om behulpsaam te wees en om respek sowel as versorging te verleen aan die bejaardes. Inhlonipho stel ook uitdagings aan die individuele prestasies, materialistiese spoggery asook enige euwels wat teenstrydig is met die relasionele harmonie. Die studie openbaar uitdagings in die ulwaluko instelling en konstruksie van manlikheid onder andere alkohol misbruik, roekeloosheid, nalatigheid asook passiwiteit onder die meer ouer en bejaarde geslag in die proses; uitsluiting wat diskrimineer teen andere, asook onbuigsaamheid teenoor die ander konstruksies van manlikheid. Ondanks die uitdagings is daar ook geleenthede in die instelling wat dialoog en versoening aanmoedig om buigsaamheid te skep sowel as die bestaande waardes aan te wend om sosiale kohesie te bevorder te midde van die uitdagings van die huidige Suid-Afrikaanse konteks.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att genom att bedriva ett litteraturstudium, dels av böcker skrivna av framförallt nutida svenska teologer och dels av artiklar, få en uppfattning om hur vi idag tolkar Kristus' roll och betydelse samt hur vi ser på frälsningens innebörd och räckvidd. I uppsatsen har innebörden av begreppen exklusivism, inklusivism och pluralism förklarats, samt vad dessa begrepp innebär för tolkningen av Kristus' roll och betydelse i förkunnelsen, samt i förlängningen ett försök att uttyda vad synen på Kristus kan innebära för kyrkans framtid.

De i syftet ställda frågorna som jag har sökt svar på är:

1. Vilka skillnader finns med avseende på Kristus betydelse i den kristna tron?
2. Vilken plats och betydelse har Kristus bland dem som företräder ställningstagandet exklusivism, inklusivism respektive pluralism?
3. Hur ser framtidens kyrka ut, sett i exklusivismens, inklusivismens respektive pluralismens perspektiv?

Resultatet av undersökningen visar att det inte finns någon homogen tolkning av Kristus bland den svenska kristenhetens förkunnare, trots att dessa instämmer i samma trosbekännelse, samt att det finns både ett stort missnöje över kyrkan idag och en stor oro inför kyrkans framtid.

Uppsatsen är en kvalitativ analys av intervjuer med högstadielärare med en fenomenografiskt inspirerad ansats. Syftet med följande uppsats är undersöka högstadielärares erfarenheter av utmaningar i religionsundervisningen, med särskilt avseende på utmanande elever. Det är fyra högstadielärare som har intervjuats från tre olika skolor. Analysen av intervjuerna leder till att tre huvudteman har plockats fram vilka var, fördomar som utmaning, kognitiva utmaningar samt disciplinära utmaningar. Under dessa har sedan ytterligare ett par underrubriker tagit plats, för att förtydliga skillnaden mellan exempelvis utmaningen med tysta/verbala eleveroch stök, då båda hamnar under disciplinära utmaningar.  Det framkommer att det finns ganska liknande återkommande upplevelser om vad som är utmaningar inom religionsundervisningen. Däremot skiljer det sig ibland åt vad gäller lärarnas sätt att hantera utmaningar samt vad de tror är de bakomliggande faktorerna.

This thesis is a study of the origins and rationale of two categories of house museum - here named "Great Man" and "Social History" - in the United States and Australia. An examination of cultural, social and historical change provides the context for the genres' evolution. The Great Man genre was born in mid nineteenth-century America when two houses associated with George Washington - Hasbrouck House and Mount Vernon - were preserved and translated to museum status. Mount Vernon quickly became the exemplar for house museums. Civil religion, a secular nationalism that adopted the forms and rituals of church religion, focusing on hero worship, pilgrimage and contemplation of transcendent collective purpose, provided the ideology that sustained the new museum type. Great Man house museums became the shrines at which such rituals could be practiced. In the early twentieth-century the specialization of heritage organizations encouraged a new breed of heritage professional. Largely fabric focused, these "new museum men" influenced philosophy, management and conservation practice at house museums throughout the century. Social history made its impact upon house museums in the latter decades of the twentieth century. The paradigm encouraged the creation of a new category of house museum. Existing Great Man house museums adopted some of its characteristics though never lost their hero worship foundations. In fact, I posit that the idea of hero worship was transferred to the new genre. The birth and evolution of the two categories of house museum is demonstrated through four biographical studies: Vaucluse House in Sydney; Monticello in Charlottesville VA; the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York City; and Susannah Place Museum in Sydney. I believe the findings demonstrate an argument that applies at hundreds of house museums in the United States and Australia.