Inledning: Prästens yrke är grundat i kristen tro medan psykodynamisk terapi har sin utgångspunkt i psykoanalytisk teori som inledningsvis betraktade religiösa föreställningar som kompromissbildningar. Syftet med denna studie är att fördjupa kunskapen om hur präster upplever att centrala aspekter i yrket som präst förändras av en psykodynamisk terapiutbildning. Frågeställningar: Upplever deltagarna en förändring i sin tro gällande deras gudsbild? På vilket sätt upplever deltagarna att psykodynamisk terapiutbildning påverkat deras yrkesutövande som präster? Metod: Fem semistrukturerade intervjuer med präster i Svenska kyrkan som är legitmerade psykoterapeuter, psykodynamisk inriktning, analyserades i en induktiv tematisk analys. Resultat: Studien visar att prästerna upplever att en psykodynamisk psykoterapiutbildning förändrar centrala aspekter i yrket som präst. Genom en psykodynamisk psykoterapiutbildning sker en intrapsykisk förändring och de två yrkena präst och psykoterapeut integreras.  Diskussion: Diskussionen tar fram en modell som visar att psykoterapiutbildningen ger en intrapsykisk förändring och att de två yrkena integreras med varandra. Resultatet förankas och diskuteras utifrån objektrelationsterori, anknytningsteori och empiri. / Introduction: The work of ministers in the Church of Sweden is based on Christian faith. Psychodynamic therapy is grounded in psychoanalysis which from the beginning viewed religious belief as psychic compromises. This study investigates how ministers are affected in their primary vocation by a psychotherapy training founded on psychoanalysis. Research questions: Do the ministers experience a change in their religious belief as regards the image of god? How do they describe that change? How has psychotherapy education influenced the clergy in their ministry in church? Method: Five semi-structured interviews with clergy in the Church of Sweden who are qualified psychodynamic psychotherapists were analyzed using thematic analysis. Result: The study shows that the ministers experience a change in central aspects of their ministry as well as intrapsychic changes as regards their image of god, their horizon for understanding and general approach in meeting others. The ministers describe an integration of the two professions as regards pastoral care, interpretation of texts and leadership. Discussion: A model is proposed showing that psychotherapy education brings forth an intrapsychic change and how the two professions become integrated. The results are discussed using object relation theory, attachment theory and other empirical studies.

<p>Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka vilken syn några företrädare för Svenska Kyrkan har på homosexualitet. Uppsatsen behandlar följande områden inom frågan om homosexualitet: Intervjupersonernas inställning till homosexualitet, Det bör finnas plats för flera åsikter inom kyrkan, En bibeltolkningsfråga, Homosexualitet är inte naturligt, Registrerat partnerskap, Partnerskap är inte ett äktenskap, Intervjupersonernas inställning till homosexuellas rätt att ansöka om adoption, Har alla rätt till allt?, Konsekvenser i verkligheten, Inga problem med homosexuella präster, Konflikt att vara kristen och homosexuell?, Frågan om homosexualitet är ett problem inom kyrkan. Diskussion och slutsatser kring dessa kategorier återges under varje kategori. Det breda spektra av åsikter inom området som min undersökning givit, speglar, med största sannolikhet, desamma som finns bland övriga företrädare för Svenska Kyrkan, dock bara en bråkdel av dem.</p>

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka vilken syn några företrädare för Svenska Kyrkan har på homosexualitet. Uppsatsen behandlar följande områden inom frågan om homosexualitet: Intervjupersonernas inställning till homosexualitet, Det bör finnas plats för flera åsikter inom kyrkan, En bibeltolkningsfråga, Homosexualitet är inte naturligt, Registrerat partnerskap, Partnerskap är inte ett äktenskap, Intervjupersonernas inställning till homosexuellas rätt att ansöka om adoption, Har alla rätt till allt?, Konsekvenser i verkligheten, Inga problem med homosexuella präster, Konflikt att vara kristen och homosexuell?, Frågan om homosexualitet är ett problem inom kyrkan. Diskussion och slutsatser kring dessa kategorier återges under varje kategori. Det breda spektra av åsikter inom området som min undersökning givit, speglar, med största sannolikhet, desamma som finns bland övriga företrädare för Svenska Kyrkan, dock bara en bråkdel av dem.

The Church of Sweden had barely 6.5 million members in 2012. Just over 1% of the members visit a church service regularly every Sunday. The number of visitors in worship services has diminished continuously for a very long time. From 1990 to 2010, the annual number of visitors at the main worship services has decreased by 50% from 9 million to about 4.5 million. The service activities can still be maintained at the current level because the many passive members still pays their membership fee. According to the national documents from the Church of Sweden the Sunday service is the most important mission. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between the mission to celebrate divine worship as the official church gives local parishes and how this is perceived by the employees and the elected officials of the local parish. What are the similarities, differences and tensions between the mandate given by the Church of Sweden at the national level and the way performers perceive this? The study was based on three main documents: The Church Order for Church of Sweden (Kyrkoordningen), The theological basic principles for preparations for a new book of Common Prayer (2006), and the Explanations for the Proposal of the Book of Common Prayer. Part 1. Finally I analyzed the documentation (2011-2012) for preparation of the parish structural regulation on Northern Gotland. From these documents I formed 26 claims about the service that was presented to the informants in the attitude survey. The claims were then grouped into eight tentative quality dimensions for a "right celebrated worship", namely practical issues, faith, didactics, emotions, ethics, fellowship, diaconal issues and tradition. The empirical study was made in seven parishes in the North of Gotland. The informants were 34 employees and 40 elected officials. To this survey I added ten semi-structured interviews with the same groups. This study has essentially a religious sociological frame of reference. The main contribution of theories has been given by Grace Davie, Per Pettersson, Ole Riis and Linda Woodhead.  Davie analyzes North European churches which has or has had any ties to the State and where the majority of the population belongs to the Church, but very few members makes use of church services. Davie has described this in terms like "belonging without believing" or “vicarious religion”. Pettersson describes the relationship between the Church and the many members in service theoretical terms. He measures the quality of what the Church of Sweden offers as a service organization and from a theoretical perspective of this service. Riis and Woodhead have mainly contributed to this study through their theories about religion and emotions. The result of the study was that the elected officials were slightly more satisfied with the service as it is performed today compared with the employees. Overall, it was a surprisingly unanimous group that shall plan and develop the service. The elected officials emphasize the importance of parish church more than the employees while matters of faith are more important to the employees. The national documents often points to the importance of tradition. This ambition was not found in any of the groups in the study.

Inspired by Valerie DeMarinis quantitative study Pastoral care, existential health, and existential epidemiology: a Swedish postmodern case study (2003), and Peter Strang and Susann Strang’s research Questions posed to hospital chaplains by palliative care patients (2002) the aim of this quantitative research was to continue to investigate the field of Existential health and pastoral care. With the background of previous research within the field of Psychology of Religion and Existential health, this study also wants to direct attention to a group especially affected by the Covid-19 Pandemic: the group of old adults, living at retirement homes in Sweden. A group who, bound by the restriction orders, got isolated from their social surroundings outside their homes. By investigating priests and deacons in the Church of Sweden's perception of their relations and conversations with older adults before, during, and after the implemented Covid-19 restrictions, this study tries to answer the following research questions: (1) How has the expression of existential health, according to priests and deacons who work with old adults living at elderly centers, has been affected during the pandemic? (2) In what way has the relationship between the Church of Sweden and retirement homes gotten affected during the pandemic? By using DeMarinis theory on levels of health and existential information, (DeMarinis 2003:2008) a suggestion of categorisation of themes in pastoral care was created. The original themes in this study were based on DeMarinis survey posed to church chaplains (DeMarinis, 2003) and got categorized into seven head categories: (a) Loneliness, (b) Psychological themes, (c,) Identity-themes, (d) Social themes, (e) Existential themes, (f) Religious- and Spiritual themes, and (g) Fysical themes. The head categories were later used in the analysis. The material was collected through a survey, posed to priests and deacons within the Church of Sweden. The survey was sent by email to 644 parishes all across the country, and answered anonymously by 355 priests and deacons. By dividing the survey into four parts: (1) demographic information about the respondents, followed by repeated questions to (2) the time before the restraining orders (3) the time during the restraining orders, and (3) the time after the release of the restraining orders, the results came out as following: through all the time-periods loneliness was the most common theme, followed by Psychological themes. Identity-themes, such as life story, work, ageing, decreased during the times of restriction orders. In the same period of time, existential and religious themes got more common, especially themes that can be seen as negatory, such as depression, fear of death, God’s absence, suicidal thoughts. Regarding the relational question between the Church of Sweden and retirement homes, the respondents indicated a change in frequencies of contact, and places of contact. Before the pandemic, the majority of the respondents often had contact with older adults living at the retirement homes, usually in relation to the parish activities at the centers. With the restrictions 80% (N=350) had contact less than once a month, compared to before, 57,8% (N=351) had contact more than 2-3 times a month. Contact by phone got more common, and the contact depended on either staff at the elderly-center, relatives to the elderly, or the respondent during the restraining orders.