The thesis deals the question of the last things of man, so the theme of the death, dying and imagines about the world and the other world, especially in the first and the second third of the 18th century in the South Bohemian town of Písek. The themes of the last things of man are studied on the example of two possible contemporary discourses, namely the semipopular and popular discours. The contemporary popular discours was constructed by the analysis of testaments of town people of Písek from the thirties of the 18th century, as the resources of the semipopular discours books ars moriendi and hymn-books were used. The world and the other world diffused especially in the time of the funeral; the almighty God was usually coming into the world through the death and the ritual of the funeral and manifested his fairness and grace. In the view of the popular discours the reality of baroque world was still confirmed and accepted by the funeral ceremonies again.

In this paper I will examine the sources for the tradition of the address of the soul to the body or the dialogue between, the two. I will consider the Old and Middle English poetic expressions of the body-and-soul legend in terms of the criticism of the ten poems which specifically belong to that tradition and the elements which constitute that genre. I will also deal with those poems written at the same time which exhibit one or more of those elements, with the body-and-soul tradition in English morality plays, with the Ars Moriendi, and with the Dance of Death. I will demonstrate that a shift occurs in the consideration of death from a concern for the soul to a preoccupation with the grotesque and gruesome aspects of death. The address and dialogue forms fall into disuse as a vehicle for theological argument concerning the responsibility for sin, and the view of death reflected by the popular pictorial representations of the Dance of Death becomes prominent.

Abstract of Master essay - 10 HP Izabel Lind Färnstrand Mentor: Emma Kihl Examinator: Sigrid Sandström How to Prepare for Death In this essay I dwell into the failures of our moral senses in relation to the concept of death. How does modern death culture affect our way of life and our ability to take responsibility for the life and death of others? These questions are formed by these current times and affect both my art practice and my everyday life. When facing death within my family it occur- red to me that my and my family’s relationship to death is failing us. I have become frustra- ted with the fear and silence that seems too natural to my surrounding. Not being able to talk about a part of life that is inevitable seems irrational. It became clear when the lack of under- standing and acceptance of death caused relatives an immense suffering. The struggle seemed unnessesary and urged me to try to understand more, based on their deaths. Seeing how very different the experience of dying can be made me wonder what makes a ”good” death possible for some and others not. From there my interest in the topic death culture and fear emerged, and this essay touches on this in a variety of aspects. I use my personal experiences in combina- tion with thoughts of others to talk of layers of these issues through my artistic practice. This personal method is my way of trying to structure a thinking – in a way that I can use and make sense of it – with a varied level of success. I feel it is important to note that I don’t claim to have any answes. This essay is more an attempt to pose questions around human behaviour. Even though many of these ques- tions have been asked over and over again, throughout different times, I believe it is impor- tant to ask them again and again. As long as the Human is part and violently effecting this suffering world. Many of the thoughts in this essay are based on fragments of ideas by Judith Butler, espe- cielly from her book Frames of War: When is Life Grievable? (2009). I also reference Caitlin Doughty’s From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death (2017) and and Sogyal Rinpoche The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying (1992). The themes gathered that I try to make use of in this essay and in my artistic practice are purpose, fear, death, health, happiness, narcissim and resposibility. / Abstract of Artistic work How to Prepare for Death @ Galleri Mejan, Exercisplan 3, october 2019 Media: Spatial installation with a performance (1 h) Materials: Clay, plaster, metal & red plastic film How to Prepare for Death is a spatial installation in one of the gallery rooms of Galleri Mejan. The work includes the whole space of the area, such as the floor and the walls. You step into an altered reality, where the floor is covered with clay that is cracking increasingly over time and windows that are tinted red so that the air you breath seems red. When you enter your eyes need to adjust and after a while it is rather the outside that seems colored, neon green -  the complementary color of red. From the clay there are metal rods sticking out vertically, with plaster sculptures at the end. These sculptures are broken, and resemble body parts with a medical aesthetics. Similar sculptures come out from the walls, like fragile fragments of something that used to be. When you walk around the sculptures the clay crackle under your feet, and crumble into smaller pieces and dust. It is constructed as an ambivalent experience of nothingness, emptiness, ”afterness” and a sanctuary of thoughts. My questions about life and death drive me to investigate how to create spaces for these subjects to feel present, so that we can face our fears.

In broad terms, this thesis is a study of what Protestant theologians in early modern England taught regarding the interdependence between physical health and spirituality. More precisely, it examines the specific and complex doctrines taught regarding health-related issues in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and evaluates the consistency of these messages over time. A component of the controversial Protestant-science hypothesis introduced in the early twentieth century is that advancements in science were driven by the Protestant ethic of needing to control nature and every aspect therein. This thesis challenges this notion. Within the context of health, sickness and death, the doctrine of providence evident in Protestant soteriology emphasised complete submission to God's sovereign will. Rather, this overriding doctrine negated the need to assume any control. Moreover, this thesis affirms that the directives theologians delivered governing physical health remained consistent across this span, despite radical changes taking place in medicine during the same period. This consistency shows the stability and strength of this message. Each chapter offers a comprehensive analysis on what Protestant theologians taught regarding the health of the body as well as the soul. The inclusion of more than one hundred seventy sermons and religious treatises by as many as one hundred twenty different authors spanning more than two hundred years laid a fertile groundwork for this study. The result of this work provides an extensive survey of theological teachings from these religious writers over a large span of time.