Akademisk avhandling--Stockholms högskola. / Bibliography: p. [xi]-xxix.

This essay is about human beings. These human beings in particular are priests and LGBTQ-persons who work in the Swedish Church in Växjö diocese. During research I have conducted qualitative interviews with people who are LGBTQ-persons and work as priests in Växjö diocese. These interviews have been analyzed through queer theory and Mary Douglas theory about anomalia. My aim with this essay is to find out what it means to be a LGBTQ- person and work as a priest in this diocese. I wanted to learn more about where the difficulties lie. How the priests are treated by others and how they see themselves. My conclusion is that both Växjö diocese and the priests in my essay partly look upon themselves through a heterosexual matrix and therefore, in some way, regard LGBTQ-persons as anomalia. Therefore, there is a risk that LGBTQ-persons in Växjö diocese end up in an exclusion.

<p>Abstract</p><p>Title: The picture of the Swedish church - Young peoples image of the organization in comparison with the organizations profile (Bilden av Svenska kyrkan – Unga människors image av organisationen i jämförelse med organisationens profil)</p><p>Number of pages: 55 (57 including enclosures)</p><p>Author: Ebba Göranzon</p><p>Tutor: Göran Svensson</p><p>Course: Media and Communication Studies C</p><p>Period: Fall 2006</p><p>University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University</p><p>Aim: The aim of this essay is to study the external communication of the Swedish Church, and how they want young people (16-18 years old) to perceive them. Further I would like to compare that information with how young people actually perceive the Swedish church. Do the both pictures agree?</p><p>Method/Material: Together with literature studies, a qualitive method has been used and four focus group interviews with a total of 16 informants have been conducted. Two of the groups contained young people that are active within the organization and the two other groups didn’t.</p><p>Main Results: The main results from the focus group interviews showed that young peoples image of the Swedish church is complex. In general, young people, who are active within the Swedish church, have a more positive image of the organization than the others. Despite their positive image, the other groups are more negative in their judgements, which show that the Swedish church still have more to work with until the image and profile comphere with each other.</p><p>Keywords: The Swedish church, organizational identity, profile, image, young pepole</p>

Abstract Title: The picture of the Swedish church - Young peoples image of the organization in comparison with the organizations profile (Bilden av Svenska kyrkan – Unga människors image av organisationen i jämförelse med organisationens profil) Number of pages: 55 (57 including enclosures) Author: Ebba Göranzon Tutor: Göran Svensson Course: Media and Communication Studies C Period: Fall 2006 University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University Aim: The aim of this essay is to study the external communication of the Swedish Church, and how they want young people (16-18 years old) to perceive them. Further I would like to compare that information with how young people actually perceive the Swedish church. Do the both pictures agree? Method/Material: Together with literature studies, a qualitive method has been used and four focus group interviews with a total of 16 informants have been conducted. Two of the groups contained young people that are active within the organization and the two other groups didn’t. Main Results: The main results from the focus group interviews showed that young peoples image of the Swedish church is complex. In general, young people, who are active within the Swedish church, have a more positive image of the organization than the others. Despite their positive image, the other groups are more negative in their judgements, which show that the Swedish church still have more to work with until the image and profile comphere with each other. Keywords: The Swedish church, organizational identity, profile, image, young pepole

The purpose of this study is to examine the colonisation of Sápmi though the works of a local priest, by the name of Eric Grape. To do so, this study uses postcolonial theory when analysing the content of the works by Grape. Eric Grape was a priest active in the Lappmarks of northern Sweden in the early nineteenth century and who wrote articles for the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences. The focus of the study is the othering of the Saami people and their culture, and the colonial production of knowledge that Grape produced about the Saami. Othering is a term by Edward Said and it is about the constructed difference between “we” the European culture and people regarded as the “other”. This term, the study argues, can also be applied when studying the colonial encounters between the Saami and Swedish colonial actors such as Grape. The main result of this study is that Grape portrays the Saami as different and more primitive than the Swedish settlers that occupy the northen part of Sweden, he describes the Saami as childish.

The Swedish Church can be understood as having a large focus on social- and supportive work, in Sweden as well as abroad in their international projects. An example of their engagement is the extensive responsibility the church took during the refugee crisis 2015. This commitment in society raises questions about the role of the Swedish Church, such as how the church manifest itself in a so called secular society. On that basis, the aim of this paper is to examine how the Swedish Church’s work with refugees during the refugee crisis 2015, can help us understand the role that the Swedish Church has in the Swedish society today. The purpose is therefore to find out how the receiving of, and work with, refugees was expressed and what it can tell us about role of the Church today.   Moreover, the empirical material includes five case studies about the church’s commitment in the refugee crisis 2015, made by the Swedish Church itself. Theories about secularization is used for the analysis, and more particularly theories about internal secularization and deprivatization.   The conclusion of this paper is that the church’s answer to the refugee crisis, show us that the Church has in some aspects adopted a secular public role. This can be understood by the fact that they welcomed people to activities with main focus on integration, rather than pronounced Christian activities. Through their refugee work, the Swedish Church can also be understood as an important voluntary welfare provider supporting the Swedish state.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the church verger relates to the cultural heritage in their churches and how the churches are affected by their cultural heritage. I also wanted to investigate the problem in preserving a heritage that doubles as a living religious room. Finally, I wanted to know how the verger's work is influenced by the dual responsibility towards the parish and county government. In the study the vergers were interviewed about their workplace and work situation. I also interviewed the antiquarian in Växjö diocese. I then analyzed the results by using Svante Beckman’s concept categories and value typology of cultural heritage. I drew the conclusion that the church instills a feeling based on historical values. I also concluded that the verger’s knowledge and care of the church protects the cultural heritage values. This knowledge is in itself a cultural heritage that needs to be nurtured and protected. Finally, my study found that the county government and the heritage law do not cater to the needs of parishes today. The requirements demanded by the county government have become yet another stress factor in the verger’s everyday.

This essay studies and compares three clergymen that were stationed in Sápmi during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and their writings that deal with the Saami population of the northern parts of Sweden. How they portray the Saami people and their culture is analyzed though postcolonial concepts as Edward Said’s othering and other concepts by the likes of Loomba, Lincoln and Pratt.  The three priests portrayal of the Saami people and their culture are similar In that way that they all confirm some of the colonial stereotypes of the Saami during the time they were writing. But especially one of the priests stands out in his effort to give a nuanced portrayal of the Saami people.

This study deals with the historical development around the arguments for women's eligibility for the priesthood in the Church of Sweden between the years 1923-1950. Based on two government investigations in 1923 and 1950, I present the argument that emerges and how this relates to the gender order and social structures of the time. My purpose of the study is to provide an insight into the multifaceted debate that this issue gave rise to. My questions are: what arguments for or against the female priesthood were put forward in these investigations and how were these related to understandings of male and female? I will methodically use a qualitative text analysis based on the hermeneutic spiral and take as a starting point the gender theories of previous research to answer these questions. The study shows how the presented arguments in several ways formed a distinction between men and women. The argument was also developed during these years and the study shows how it is connected with an overall changed gender order and societal structures.

The purpose of this study is to see how present the heteronormative is perceived to be within Christian contexts in Sweden today. I have conducted an interview study with priests, pastors, and deacons who either belong to the Swedish Church or the Equmenia Church to get an insight into what their experiences are about norms connected to gender identity and sexuality. I have also included a perspective on the culture of silence that has been shown to be present in previous research to see if it is something the informants have noticed in their workplaces. The interviews have been of a qualitative nature and carried out semi-structured. The material on which the analysis is based is the experiences of the informants. The study's theoretical framework is based on Judith Butler's gender theory of heteronormative and what consequences this can have for those who do not fit into the template for how the norm says a person should be. The results show that heteronormativity is present in the Swedish Christian contexts today, but that there are many people who want to work so that everyone can feel welcome. All informants believe that silence arises in some way related to LGBTQI, even if not all mention a pronounced culture of silence. There is still much to do so that the church can be a safe place for all people, but there are people who want to work for a church that affirms the identities of all people.