Abstract   Purpose: The study focuses on the number seven in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The purpose of this essay was to find out where in the Holy Scriptures and traditions the number seven can be found and also to understand what purpose the number have in these religions.   Method: In order to answer the purpose of the work, various literature studies were used with previous research on the subject. The studies used gave a deeper understanding of the historical background of the number seven. In addition to literature studies, the religious scriptures, the Bible and the Qur'an were used.   Theory: The theory used in the work is intertextuality. Intertextuality is based on the fact that most texts are based on other texts. Given that the religious scriptures were studied in the paper, this theory was very helpful.   Result: The survey of the religious texts revealed that the number seven addresses the moderation of the creation myth which made the characters in the biblical story use the number seven as a symbol of moderation.   The analysis part led to the second result which is based on intertextuality. This theory tells us that religious scriptures are part of an intertextual chain, for example, the Quran incorporates certain elements from previous writings. The same applies to, for example, the Bible. The result of this is that the religious texts are based on each other which means that the number seven may have been mentioned in early texts as a sacred element and texts that came later on incorporated that theory.

INTRODUCTION: THE SEARCH FOR THE GOD OF ABRAHAM TEXT AND HISTORY: THE FORMATION OF THE ABRAHAMIC DEITY Recent years have seen substantial changes in the study of ancient Israelite religion. These changes have created ample work for scholars of religious studies and related fields as virtually all disciplines have something to say about recent archaeological and scholarly developments concerning Yahwism and its early development. In this scholarly milieu, it is difficult to present anything that is wholly new, but certainly possible to enter a spirited discourse about ancient questions. To discuss the origins and evolution of the Abrahamic deity—as I shall—necessitates drawing from many disciplines because discussion of this deity pervades all discourses on ancient Israelite religion. Accordingly, I will draw from scholarly tools characteristic of the disciplines of history, linguistics, and archaeology. The bulk of my argument, however, will be centered around the biblical texts themselves. Though the historicity of these texts is highly suspect, they nevertheless provide valuable historical information that, if engaged with carefully, can aid in understanding the origin and evolution of one Yahweh of Canaan.

As a neologism for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the modern construct 'Abrahamic religions' is as ubiquitous as it is contested in the study of the monotheistic religions. Some have argued against the use of the concept on both historical and theological grounds. In particular, the concept is often interpreted as ecumenically motivated in the thought of Louis Massignon. This understanding arises from a parochial interpretation of its origins, in which Massignon's reflections on the subject over time, as well as its varied uses in recent times, have not been fully considered. This thesis calls for a more extensive historical analysis of its genealogy with the aim of discussing its intellectual and cultural backgrounds. In doing so, it seeks to shed light on how the interrelationships between the three religions had been historically examined prior to Massignon, and how the birth of the concept in his thought and its subsequent uses offer a richer understanding of the concept that goes beyond ecumenical significance. To this end, this thesis unpacks the concept by probing into its antecedents, examining its birth, and reflecting on its future. The first chapter aims to show the historical basis for considering a genus for the three religions, by surveying perspectives on Abraham in historia sacra, and thereafter, discussing works in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that explore the connections between the three religions. The second and third chapters introduce Massignon and discuss his Abrahamic thought from both its socio-religious and intellectual perspectives. The main text examined here is his Les trois prières d'Abraham. The fourth chapter traces the different trajectories of the concept after Massignon and highlights its nuanced meanings as derived from these variegated uses. The fifth and concluding chapters explore the ways in which the concept can profit the study of religion.

Missio Dei is a phrase used to describe the mission of God, as revealed in Scripture. One of the key verses to understanding the ultimate goal of God’s mission is the vision of heaven given to the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation, “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb…” (Rev 7:9). God’s mission is to have for Himself a special redeemed people from every ‘People Group’ on earth. In Trinitarian Missio Dei, God is a ‘sending’ God, who sent Himself in pursuit of lost mankind; who sent His Son, Jesus to bear the sins of a lost world upon His body on the Cross; and who sent the Holy Spirit to instruct and empower the Church, which is commissioned and sent forth to carry on His mission of having a people from among all ‘Peoples’ of the earth. The shift in the center of gravity of world Christianity from the Global North to the Global South can be seen as God’s divine orchestration in raising up a mighty army, who will take the Gospel to the remaining unreached, unengaged ‘Peoples’. The Chinese house church networks have sensed God’s calling to take the Gospel ‘back to Jerusalem’ crossing the Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim worlds, along the ancient eastern Silk Routes. As part of this Global South migration, Chinese are already living in over 140 countries around the world, where many of these unreached ‘People Groups’ are located. We see the Nestorian ‘merchant missionaries’ as a model for Chinese migrants to fulfill God’s calling to complete the ‘Great Commission’ mandate. / PhD (Missiology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Missio Dei is a phrase used to describe the mission of God, as revealed in Scripture. One of the key verses to understanding the ultimate goal of God’s mission is the vision of heaven given to the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation, “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb…” (Rev 7:9). God’s mission is to have for Himself a special redeemed people from every ‘People Group’ on earth. In Trinitarian Missio Dei, God is a ‘sending’ God, who sent Himself in pursuit of lost mankind; who sent His Son, Jesus to bear the sins of a lost world upon His body on the Cross; and who sent the Holy Spirit to instruct and empower the Church, which is commissioned and sent forth to carry on His mission of having a people from among all ‘Peoples’ of the earth. The shift in the center of gravity of world Christianity from the Global North to the Global South can be seen as God’s divine orchestration in raising up a mighty army, who will take the Gospel to the remaining unreached, unengaged ‘Peoples’. The Chinese house church networks have sensed God’s calling to take the Gospel ‘back to Jerusalem’ crossing the Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim worlds, along the ancient eastern Silk Routes. As part of this Global South migration, Chinese are already living in over 140 countries around the world, where many of these unreached ‘People Groups’ are located. We see the Nestorian ‘merchant missionaries’ as a model for Chinese migrants to fulfill God’s calling to complete the ‘Great Commission’ mandate. / PhD (Missiology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Detta är en diskursanalytisk studie med ett antaget genusteoretiskt perspektiv, som undersöker hur kvinnor inom de abrahamitiska religionerna framställs i tre utvalda läromedel för gymnasiekursen religion 1. Samtliga av läromedlen är anpassade för lgy11. Vidare undersöks vilka egenskaper kvinnan tillskrivs, samt var hon synliggörs och marginaliseras i läromedlen. Genom det genusteoretiska perspektivet, vilket nyttjats för analysen av det empiriska resultatet kan vi både visa vad synliggörandet och marginaliseringen beror på, samt se vad det bidrar till. Studiens resultat visar att läromedlen genom ett genusteoretiskt perspektiv framställer kvinnan och mannen utifrån dikotoma föreställningar om vad som är kvinnligt respektive manligt. Kvinnan framställs således som passiv medan mannen framställs som aktiv. Resultatet visar även att kvinnan marginaliseras när det skrivs om religionens historia, medan hon synliggörs i de textsammanhang som berör hennes villkor, samt hem-och familjeliv. Nyckelord: Kvinnan, abrahamitiska religionerna, diskurs, genusteori, genus, läroboksanalys, marginalisering / This is a discourse-analytic study with an adopted gender theoretical perspective regarding how women within the Abrahamic religions are described in three selected teaching materials for upper secondary school (Religion 1). All books are adapted to Lgy11. Furthermore, an analysis is made of what way women are characterized in the material, as well as where they are visible and marginalized. With help from the gender theoretical perspective, which has been utilized to analyze the results of the empirical study, it is possible to understand the reasons for the visibility as well as the marginalization, and see what is contributes to. The result of this study shows that the teaching materials, through a gender theoretical perspective, depict men and women based on the dichotomy of what is considered female or male. Hence, women are described as passive, whereas men are described as active. The result also shows that women are marginalized when the history of religions is being described while they are visible in the textual contexts of home and family life, as well as their conditions. Key words: Women, Abrahamic religions, discourse, gender theory, gender, textbook analysis, marginalization

L’objet de notre recherche est de définir la politique du Saint-Siège face à la « Question de Palestine », durant la période qui va de la Déclaration Balfour (1917) à la création de l’État d’Israël (1948). À ce moment précis de l’Histoire où les Britanniques s’apprêtent à recevoir de la Société des Nations un mandat plaçant la Palestine sous leur tutelle, la « renaissance » d’Israël pose à l’Église catholique un double problème. Sur le plan politique, les pressions des diplomaties arabes et de la Congrégation pour l’Église orientale empêchent toute ouverture vers la création d’un État hébreu, le Vatican redoutant que les chrétiens arabes n’en paient le prix. Sur le plan théologique, le retour du peuple juif sur la Terre de la promesse pose à l’Église une question inédite. Cette restauration temporelle ne démontre-t-elle pas en effet que l’Alliance entre Dieu et le peuple d’Israël reste valide ? Et si Israël demeure le peuple élu, quelle est la raison d’être de l’Église ? Si le christianisme est par essence universel, il n’est pas pour autant dissocié de l’Histoire, et notamment de celle du peuple d’Israël « dont le Christ est issu selon la chair » (Rm 9, 3-5). Il s’agit donc de comprendre le particulier enchevêtrement du temporel et du spirituel dans cette région tourmentée du monde qu’est le Proche-Orient. / The object of this research is to define the policy of the Holy See faced with the “Palestinian Question” during the period dating from the Balfour Declaration (1917) to the creation of the State of Israel (1948). At the precise moment in history when the British received a mandate from the League of Nations placing Palestine under their tutelage, the “rebirth” of Israel posed a dual problem for the Catholic Church. On the political front, the pressures imposed by Arab diplomats and the powerful voice of the Congregation of Eastern Churches prevented any talk of creating a Jewish state, the Vatican's stance being that Christian Arabs should not pay the price for this. On the theological front, the return of the Jewish people to the Promised Land posed a new question for the Church. Did not this return prove that the relationship between God and the people of Israel was still valid ? If Israel remained the chosen people what would be the justification for the Church? If Christianity is essentially universal this does not disassociate it from its history, especially that of the people of Israel "of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came " (Rm 9: 3-5) It is therefore important to understand the particular overlap of politics and religion in this troubled region of the world which is the Middle East.

Syftet med denna studie har varit att kartlägga om alla tre världsreligionerna ges samma utrymme i undervisningen samt vilka berättelser som lärare använder sig utav i sin undervisning inom religionskunskap, varför de valt dessa specifika berättelser samt vilket läromedel de använder sig utav.  Med hjälp av undersökningsmetoden enkäten, undersöktes vilket stoffurval som SO- läraren väljer att inkludera i undervisningen samt eventuella orsaker till de valda stoffen. Det saknas dock tidigare forskning om stoffurval på lågstadiet, därför har en närliggande forskningsstudie valts som är riktad till den senare delen av grundskolan samt gymnasieskola. Andra studier och teori som inkluderas i arbetet är Osbecks studier, Falkevalls och Emanuelssons teori om stoffet samt Blikstad-Balas teorin om läromedel i undervisningen. Vidare används styrdokument och läroplanen i arbetet.  Det resultat som framkom i samband med undersökningen visar hur 102 lärare uppfattar läroplanens formulering, vilka utav berättelserna från de abrahamitiska religionerna som valts samt vad deras val av stoffet bygger på och till slut vilka läromedel stoftet hämtas ifrån. Resultatet av undersökningen överensstämmer med tidigare forskning, tidigare teorier kring lärarnas användande av läroboken samt andra läromedel. Det framkommer även att lärarna tolkar och uppfattar läroplanen på ett likartat sätt och därmed möter eleverna nästan samma berättelser från de abrahamitiska religionerna. / The purpose and intention of the study has been to map which stories are told by the SO teacher to be used in the teachings of religious studies. Based on the curriculum's formulation that students in primary school should learn about "some stories from Christianity, Islam and Judaism" (Skolverket, 2011a, p. 217).  Using the survey method of the survey, it was investigated which subject selection that the SO teacher chooses to include in the teaching and any reasons for the particular choice of subject. As there is a lack of research on substance selection in primary school, a nearby research study has been chosen that is aimed at upper secondary school. Other studies that are included in the work are Osbeck's studies, Falkevall's and Emanuelsson's theory of material selection and Blikstad-Balas's theory of teaching materials in teaching. Furthermore, governing documents and the curriculum are used in the work.  The results that emerge in connection with the survey show how 102 teachers perceive the formulation of the curriculum, which of the stories are chosen to be included in religious studies teaching and what their choice of material is based on but also where the material is taken from. What appears in the results and is consistent with previous research and previous studies is the teachers' use of the textbook and other teaching materials. But also, that the teachers interpret and regard the curriculum in a more similar way and thus the students encounter almost similar stories from the Abrahamic religions. / nej

This work is concerned with the word berith (covenant) in the historical and wisdom books of the Old Testament, and continues research done in previous articles on berith in the Pentateuch and the prophetic literature. The main aim is to discuss in some detail the texts containing the word berith in the historical and wisdom books of the Old Testament and to examine the meaning and use of the word in these writings. The interrelationships between berith and other words in the contexts in which they appear are explored and explained. Finally, berith in the historical and wisdom books usually refers to one of the covenants of the Pentateuch, and which of these is applicable in each case will also be discussed. / Old Testament & Ancient NE / M.Th. (Old Testament)

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