The Sanskrit prātimokṣa-sūtras contained in the Gilgit Buddhist manuscripts have been identified as belonging to the Mūlasarvāstivāda school. However, the identification of these manuscripts as Mūlasarvāstivādin texts is problematic. A key factor for determining the school affiliation of a prātimokṣa is the rule order. The Gilgit prātimokṣa-sūtras, however, differ in their rule order. In this thesis, I explore the relationship of these Gilgit prātimokṣa-sūtras to Mūlasarvāstivādin literature. In order to do so, I have conducted a comparative analysis of the Gilgit prātimokṣa-sūtras focusing on differences in rule order in Gilgit Serials 2, 3a, and 4b/4c. I have also compared the rule order contained within the Gilgit prātimokṣa-sūtras to known Mūlasarvāstivādin commentaries. I argue that we have evidence for two distinct Mūlasarvāstivādin Vinaya traditions within the Gilgit prātimokṣa-sūtras. The author(s)/redactor(s) of Gilgit prātimokṣa-sūtras 2 and 3a were aware of a tradition similar, if not identical, to that known to the author(s)/redactor(s) of the Mūlasarvāstivādin prātimokṣa-sūtra contained in the Tibetan canon. Serial 4b/4c contains a different Mūlasarvāstivādin Vinaya tradition, one that has close parallels to Mūlasarvāstivādin commentaries. The Gilgit prātimokṣa-sūtras, therefore, contain Sanskrit evidence for multiple Mūlasarvāstivādin Vinaya traditions. / Master of Arts (MA)

This thesis highlights the ways in which the Muslim brotherhood politicizes Islam, depicted in the group’s official documents. The study theorizes a social-constructivist approach to politicized religion and argues the concept as an effort to manipulate an understanding of religion with political intentions. Through a descriptive content analysis, this thesis analyzes three official political documents from the Muslim brotherhood’s English website, ‘Ikhwanweb’. The analysis identifies the religious ideology of the group as all-encompassing Islamic, as well as concludes the Muslim brotherhood as utilizing politicized religion extensively in the chosen material.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse how the books The Case for God and 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life by the historian Karen Armstrong has been discussed and debated in swedish mass media. Very few academics in the discipline of the history of religions has had such a broad public success as Karen Armstrong, and it is therefore important to acknowledge how major themes and issues in her writings are discussed on the public arena. With the aid of reception theory developed by Hans Robert Jauss and by Stuart Hall, I present three conclusions about the mass media reception of The Case for God and 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life. First of all, I show that the reception of the two books by Armstrong is dependent on differences in expectations and experiences, and that it is possible to spot and acknowledge these differences in the actual texts that make up the reception. Second, I give evidence to how central binary constructions in the arguments put forward by Armstrong are used and developed upon in the reception. Third, I demonstrate how differences in perceptions about Karen Armstrong as a person plays a major part in the reception, and that Armstrong herself is an active part in the construction of her own media image.

This analysis aims to examinate, with a comparative method, how the religions of Judaism and Islam are portrayed within three Swedish textbooks from 1979, 1998 and 2015 for use in upper secondary school. The three curriculums for upper secondary school from 1970, 1994 and 2011, will be used as to determined how appropriate the contents are in the textbooks. The three textbooks have all been used at different times and places in the Swedish upper secondary school’s subject of Religionskunskap (Religious education). This paper has three research questions: (1) How does the textbooks depict Judaism and Islam, (2) how are the believers and practitioners displayed in the contents and (3) to what extent does the textbooks correlate to the curriculums. The analysis showed that there are great differences between each textbook and how detailed the depictions are about the religions. Some of the depictions were negative stereotypes which did not fit the guidelines within the responding curriculum. / <p>Uppsats av didaktisk karaktär i Religionshistoria C</p>

There are many negative preconceptions about Islam and especially how Islam affects men and women. Women are often described to be subjugated by Islam. Sufism is Islamic mysticism and has been described as one way to give women the same opportunities as men. This thesis examines and compares how men and women are portrayed in texts written by two prominent Sufi mystics, Muhuiddin Ibn ’Arabi and Abu-Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali. To achieve this, I have analyzed one text of each author with a qualitative content analysis. Then I have compared the results to see if there are any differences or similarities in their way of describing men and women. The theory that has been used is Yvonne Hirdman’s gender theory. The aim of the thesis is to come to a greater understanding of whether Ibn ‘Arabi and al-Ghazali increase or decrease differences between men and women in their writings. Hirdmans gender theory says that by increasing differences between men and women it negatively affects gender equality. The aim is also to examine if they support the subjugation of women. The analysis shows that al-Ghazalis writings contribute to increase differences between men and women and he also supports the subjugation of women in his text. The majority of Ibn ‘Arabis writings does not describe men and women in a way that increases differences between men and women or subjugates women.

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This essay studies the discourse about cooperation with the civil society within strategies and action plans considering violent extremism produced by the Swedish state and four different Swedish municipalities. The study also considers if some special actor from the civil society is mentioned more often than others in terms of cooperation. The analysis is implemented through a critical discourse analysis according to Fariclough and contextualized through Deans version of Foucaults theory about governmentality. The result shows that the discourse about cooperation used by the Swedish state impacts on the discourse used by the municipalities even though the municipalities use less harsh and imperative formulations. Religious communities are mentioned more often than other actors in terms of cooperation partners even though the documents rarely specify what kind of religious community they mean. This can partly be explained through the concept of “violent extremism” which leads to problems in actual cooperation and to feelings of alienation and stigmatization within different communities, especially Muslim.

The change of collective identity? A content analysis of the texts in second King 22–23 and Ezra 9–10. With the use of modern theories on identity theory, ethnicity and sexuality, apart from content analysis, this paper aims to broaden our knowledge of these ancient texts. In this paper the case is made that what happens in Ezra, with the mixed marriages crises, could be understood according to differences in coping with identity crisis as shown by the two groups in the text, that is a style of Normative processing orientation versus a style of Normative processing orientation. Regarding Josia the case is made that what happens in the text could be understood from the point that the text is addressing different views on the formation and understanding of an early Israelite collective identity.

This study aims to pinpoint the main rudiments of Islamic-normative environmental ethics, and also to give an overview of its similarities and/or differences from secular-normative environmental ethics, as they can be interpreted in Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change, and in Declaration on Ethical Principles in Relation to Climate Change. As a theoretical framework, the study uses specifically selected features of Mikael Stenmark’s Miljöetik och miljövård, and of Ibrahim Özdemir’s The Ethical Dimension of Human Attitude Towards Nature: a Muslim Perspective. The material has been divided into the following four categories: Values, Humanity, Lifestyle, and Relations. The material has then been analyzed by using a qualitative content analysis. The results of the study show that the Islamic- and the secular-normative environmental ethics share many valuational standpoints, but their differences stem from what they use as the source to legitimize their ethics. The secular environmental ethics puts humanity in the center, whereas the Islamic environmental ethics places God in the center.

No description available.