This essay takes it’s approach in the role of the Serpent in the Garden story based on the Jewish and Christian tradition’s view of the Serpent in that narrative. The question the study is based on is whether the Serpent has changed character from the creation of the Garden story until about 400 years AD in Christian tradition. My conclusion in this reception-historical analysis of the Serpent is that it has different meanings in Jewish and Christian tradition. The Gnostic texts that began to emerge a couple of hundred years BC were not recognized in the Jewish tradition, while in the Christian tradition they lived with the interpretations, which is not least seen in the Book of Revelations, which is canon in the Christian tradition today. Augustine uses the Book of Revelation’s interpretations of the Serpent, where the Serpent is Satan, which the Gnostic texts write and the Book of Revelation is influenced by. Augustine is so wrapped up in the fact that the Serpent is Satan that he misses what it says in the most important and introductory sentence of Genesis 3:1.  My conclusion is that because God created the Serpent, and therefore the Serpent can not be Satan because God is not evil. The dualistic worldview that emerges from God does not appear in the text, but the Christian interpretations of the Serpent have departed from the text, while the Jewish tradition has remained in the text’s view of the Serpent. The Serpent is not Satan based on Genesis 3.

Denna uppsats beskriver hur processen har gått till när allmänbikten introducerades i Syrisk-ortodoxa kyrkans liturgi under sent 1900-tal. Uppsatsen identifierar historiska källor som omnämner och har infört allmän bikt i den Syrisk-ortodoxa liturgin. En identifiering av motivet till införandet av den allmänna bikten ges samt en analys av dess plats i liturgin och förslag för framtida åtgärder gällande den allmänna bikten.

Uppsatsen behandlar i vilken utsträckning som de fem olika varianterna av det ontologiska gudsbeviset presenterade av Anselm, Descartes, Malcolm, Plantinga respektive Gödel är rimliga.

I den här uppsatsen görs en postkolonial, feministteologisk och konstruktivistisk analys av det ursäktstal Svenska kyrkan framför till det samiska folket hösten 2021. Med hjälp av den postkoloniala feministteologen Kwok Pui-lan och den kontextuella teologen Marcella Althaus-Reid närmar sig uppsatsen frågan om det i ursäktstalet finns uttryck för koloniala tendenser eller möjliga befrielser från sådana. Analyses leder till ett utforskande av dynamiken mellan föreställningar om kön, sexualitet, den Andre och naturem, där dessa visar sig vara tätt sammanvävda i en dualistisk ontologi konkretiserad i heterosexuella antaganden. För att bli fri från koloniala tendenser krävs de gamla heterosexuella antagandenas undergång. Bara i den ömsesidiga enhetens harmoni skapas nytt liv.

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The ancient canons are regarded as a collection of texts with almost the same status as the biblical text in the Easter Orthodox Church. The corpus has therefore a firm position in the identity of this church-tradition and is recognized as how faith, expressed in the gospels should be lived in ecclesial practice. How the ancient canons should be applied or used in contemporary ecclesial practice has been challenged in modernity. This thesis addresses how some scholars have faced this challenge answering how the canons could be relevant to contemporary ecclesial practice. More precise, it evaluates some answers to the question of relevance after (what we could regard as the first answer in modernity) the Scholastic school. The Scholastic school is approaching the canons more or less as formalist law. This has stirred justified reactions by a stream of scholars in the field. In the present study three such reactions is considered in the works of John H Erickson, Andrey Shishkov and David Wagschal. The basic argument of the thesis is, to better answer question of relevance, a new paradigm needs to be introduced, distinguishing between social identity and discursive practice. This means to accept “a space of uncertainty” letting go of the ambition to apply the ancient canons and instead give space to contemporary life situations to be informed by them. The tension between the past and the present is managed by an understanding of canon law as a substantive justice system in which the ancient canons belongs a realm of identity, and canon law as an outcome of discursive practice. In the end we could suggest that “the space of uncertainty” needs to be managed by an institution.

In this thesis, I develop a method that will help you, understand, and solve deep disagreements. In forming my method I draw on Zen Buddhist philosophy. In chapter one my understanding of deep disagreement is presented. Deep disagreements is seen as being caused by underlying metaphysical fundamental beliefs and/or worldviews. My method hinges on three concepts, interconnected, conventional centric, and ultimate reality. In the process of explaining these concepts important Zen Buddhist ideas are explored. By exploring which of these three categories a view or argument engages with you will be able to avoid deep disagreements because the types of beliefs that cause deep disagreements are made transparent. In the second chapter, I first analyze an argument against theism and for naturalism and show that there is a deep disagreement at play in that argument. In using my method you can see that the conflict is not a conflict. I then analyze animism and show that animism does not need to be in opposition to naturalism and that both can coexist. In the third chapter, a meta-analysis is made. The main advantage of my method is that it tries to understand and place all types of views into a bigger picture. This makes my method unifying. I also show that there is a wide range of areas in which this method could be used. It could be used in many situation of disagreement.

Sportswashing is a process of trying to improve a state’s reputation via sport. A state which systematically infringe on its citizens human rights has, more than likely, a bad reputation internationally, something that it tries to alter by drawing attention to sports related events.The desirable result which sportswashing is meant to accomplish is the minimisation of, or the distraction away from the human rights violation. Ultimately, the responsibility is on the sportswashing state, but according to earlier research sportswashing has two unintended consequences, namely 1) it corrupts sport and its innate values, 2) it makes people involved in sports in different ways complicit in human rights violations. Therefore, everyone has a moral responsibility to counteract sportswashing. The purpose of this master thesis is to establish how the responsibility for sportswashing should be distributed. The media and earlier research claims that athletes have a responsibility to counteract sportswashing. This paper formulates two questions regarding moral responsibility and sportswashing: 1) To what extent do athletes have a moral responsibility to counteract sportswashing? 2) to what extent do sports organizations have a moral responsibility to counteract sportswashing? To answer these questions 27 media articles were analysed by an analysis of argumentation, this to establish claims to why or why not athletes or sports organizations have a moral responsibility to counteract sportswashing. The following step of the analysis was the critical analysis of the claim’s logic plausibility, its tenability, and lastly its normative plausibility. The results indicate that sports organizations have the moral responsibility, although the athletes are not morally responsible for sportswashing, they are responsible for their participation in moral wrong that sportswashing produces. Therefore, if or when, sports organizations are unwilling to or unable to counteract sportswashing, athletes have a moral responsibility to put pressure on these organizations and oppose the social norms and values that condone sportswashing. The amount of responsibility that an athlete will receive will be based on the power to act, which is established by analysing an athlete’s power capital, i.e. economic power, cultural standing, political power, and lastly, discursive influence.

This study examines sexual violence against women in armed conflict settings as a form of discrimination within the framework of CEDAW. Informed by Judith Butler's theory of Gender Performativity emphasizes that gender is socially constructed. This study utilizes existing literature reviews and reports; the analysis focuses on gender-based violence, revealing its structural nature. Using the Democratic Republic of Congo as a case study, it highlights the interplay of ethnic, political, and economic factors leading to extreme violence. The study emphasizes the authority of the CEDAW committee to propose an inclusive and understandable protocol, protecting women's rights universally. Overcoming barriers like structural discrimination is crucial to strengthening CEDAW's response. The study acknowledges the need to avoid generalizations and underscores the urgency of enhancing the existing framework to protect women during armed conflicts. It contributes to human rights discourse by emphasizing the inherent nature of human rights and equal protection for all individuals.