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Rituals have been a part a human civilization since the dawn of man. Even in todays’ technologically and scientifically advanced society, rituals still have a certain place regardless of them being in the church, the mosque or perhaps the grand opening of the city’s new opera house. Rituals have many functions, yet they seem to be diminished in the eyes of the Swedes. Our Lutheran heritage, with its emphasis on individual salvation, the Bible and its skepticism for all things Catholic, is believed to have had a profound impact on our views concerning the ritual. Regardless of Swedes’ apathy towards rituals, they still matter and are present in our lives. This raises the question of the presence of ritual discourse in Swedish schools. The aim of this study is to investigate how rituals are presented and discussed in high school textbooks in religious studies.

Thich Nhat Hanh is one of the key actors in the contemporary engaged Buddhist practice. With his understanding of the traditional Buddhist doctrine, tradition and practice he constructs a view of ecology that he thinks encourage both the individual and the collective to environmentalist action. His cosmology is based on an understanding the reality as a non-dual, interconnected, interdependent and impermanent and sees all beings and the nature equal in their nature. He also bases his ethical and moral views on this cosmology and is an advocate for traditional Buddhist ethical and moral principles such as non-violence and non-judgementalism. The traditional doctrine of the 4 noble truths and the dependent co-arising is the base for his thought of why we should practice mindfulness with the goal of raising awareness of the true nature of reality and the environmental issues. According to him it is possible to stop the global warming with the use of mindfulness and action that are based on on the traditional Buddhist perception of cosmology and moral and ethical principles.

The following study investigates the impact of the secular processes present in Early Modern Japan on Matsuo Bashō's prose. The theoretical basis for exploring this development is found in Durkheim’s distinction between the transcendent and the immanent, as well as the theoretical framework for secularism. The exploration of Bashō's writings is conducted through several key themes: self-presentation, people, religious concepts, nature and aestheticisms. From these categories a complex pattern emerges. It illustrates the enduring nature of the contemporary world-views through numerous references to and descriptions of existing systems of thought. Bashō's response to the dynamic societal changes of his time is an outright rejection of the new developments; instead he turns to nature and romanticism steeped in existing tradition.

This study has analyzed what students in Swedish middle schools learn about the various crusades. This was done by analyzing different study books and course literature. These books are targeted towards students in grade 7-9. This essay has studied course literature from different time periods in the Swedish schooling system and under different guidelines. The essay has studied the more modern books and what they say about the exciting yet controversial subject that is the crusades. Which subjects even write about them and what do they say? Are the fabled knights in shining armor as good as they thought they were or were they monsters from the deepest of hells? Well, as all things, the truth lies in the middle. But it is how they portray them and what the books have to say about the crusades that is intriguing. What words do they use? Which sides of the different conflicts shine the brightest in the eye of the author and thus in the eye of the pupils reading it. I will also be using some tools and theories to see how good the fact is portrayed in the different books. As I stated above. These tools and theories are from a book called Att spegla världen; Läromedelsstudier i teori och praktik (2011) by Niklas Ammert. So what have these study books told us about the crusades? Well, as the study concluded it depends on who the author or authors are and which company makes the books. It also depends a lot on what the book focuses on. The crusaders are however generally depicted as murderers and in the wrong in most of the books that the essay chose to study.

In writing these following pages, I have carefully avoided criticism of any kind. In these pages, I have mentioned the main differences between the Hindu and Christian faiths. I have treated this subject of incarnation with due respect to both the religions. If the subject could be discussed on an evaluative basis, then there would be the possibility of coming to the conclusion that there is less truth and more truth in different religious faiths. The most important consideration will be the truth value. In the incarnation stories, man is restored by God’s creative act to his original state.

New religious movements are often introduced as suspect and controversial, not least according to media. This essay investigates how new religious movements are described in religion textbooks through a critical discourse analysis. The aim of the essay is to illustrate how new religious movements are presented and discussed in textbooks, as well as comparing how the content corresponds with the curriculum for religious studies 2 in the Swedish upper secondary school. The analysis focuses on the language use in the textbooks, for example which discourses, categorizations, and terms that recur. The questions are: (1) How are new religious movements introduced and presented in religion textbooks? (2) Which terms are used and how are they discussed? (3) How do religion textbooks relate to the curriculum in religious studies 2?

This study is about the mythological figure Lilith, a female demon from Sumerian mythology who later became thename of Adam's first wife in some parts of Judaic faith. According to medieval folklore, she also appeared as aseductive demon who killed her lovers, a danger to women giving birth and eater of children. As a political symbol, shehas become known in some circles as the first feminist and a strong female character who has been demonized due toher independence and strong will. In popular culture, she has numerous incarnations in various media. The purpose ofthis study is to examine her portrayal in the lyrics of the metal band Cradle of Filth. The main material is the band'salbum Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa, its narrative follows the bands version of Lilith. To fulfill the purpose, a contentanalysis is used, with a gendered theory as perspective. This paper also examines the relationship between the theory ofocculture and contemporary music.The results show how Cradle of Filth takes inspiration from many myths about Lilith, but mainly conveys the image ofLilith as a succubus, the demonic temptress that kills her partners. She is described as the perfect woman, and thisincludes being violent, hypersexual and ambitious.

This study focuses on how the religion of Christianity has been covered in Swedish textbooks between the years 1968 and 2018. The study further aims to compare and highlight the similarities and differences that time has had on how Christianity is covered, with regards to number of pages dedicated to the religion, what is said about the religion et cetera. Further the analysis shows that there are traits in the books that survive through time, and others that does not. A critical element to understanding these traits that highlights the description of Christianity, is understanding the tendencies that each textbook displays. The tendency in question varies from example not including women in certain aspects, only focusing on the good that Christianity stands for but choosing not to account for the “dark spots” in the history of this religion such as the crusades or the Spanish inquisition. Finally, there are also an interest in this study to show how the chosen textbooks also treats the didactic questions to see in what way that some fundamental aspects are covered.   In short it can be said that the book that represents the “earlier” period in this study shows signs or tendency to promote Christianity a bit more than the others. The meaning of this is simply put, that the textbook from 1968 praises the religion more and gives it a lot of space in the book, compared to the other ones. The textbook from 1997 however shows signs of the complete opposite. In fact, the 1997 textbook tended to show less of Christianity as a whole and give more room to acknowledging the “dark history” that happened in the name of Christianity, for example the crusades. The textbook from 2018 shows signs of a more “balanced” approach to Christianity of the three. A sort of middle path where there are signs of a better proportioned number of pages is given to the religion, and a recognition to both the good that Christianity stands for as well as the bad that has happened in the name of said religion.