Instruments of Devotion in Close Bodily Contact : Jewellery, Costume Details and Other Personal Belongings in Relation to Late Medieval Piety

Late medieval personal belongings such as jewellery, costume details, weapons and tools are sometimes provided with direct and indirect prayers for help and protection, images of Christ and saints relating to motifs in the church interior and in prayer books, and image composition giving associations to altar-screens and shrines. Taken altogether these objects explicitly have a devotional character, which has been further strengthened through analysis of written sources such as exempla and preserved more extensive prayers. This point towards the relevance of talking about these objects as instruments of small-scale and everyday devotion. People were in constant need of help and protection from everyday threats. By relating to preserved prayers and exempla from late medieval Sweden, the article shows that these objects with prayers and holy images were regarded as transmitting divine help, protection, consolation and blessing. Due to the small size and portability of the personal objects carried on the body, divine intervention could take place irrespective of time and space. Lived religion and everyday devotion could therefore be performed anywhere, including on the move.Helgon att hålla i hande

Remembering the Dead and Reminding the Living : Blessing of the Corpse and Burial in Sixteenth-Century Sweden

The article shows how Swedish reformers – through the ordo for the blessing of the corpse and the funeral – introduced a new focus in relation to the medieval tradition: from the deceased to the living. The reformers rejected the medieval idea of purgatory and refused intercession and the celebration of Mass before funeral. Therefore, the relation between the living and the dead must have suffered and the living would no longer be reminded of those who departed to the same extent as before. Instead, according to the reformers, during the funeral service the living would be reminded of their own condition, their certain death and Christian hope. Sources from late sixteenth century which demonstrate prohibitions of certain customs emphasize that the Swedish Reformation did not mean a sudden break with earlier tradition and custom, but that it was a longue durée

Gudstjänstens mening

Frågan efter gudstjänstens mening kan inte ges något enkelt svar, den är alldeles för stor. Men det är en fråga att ständigt återvända till – för att reflektera över om vi rätt har förstått denna mening, om vi förklarar den bra och om våra gudstjänster speglar den på ett adekvat sätt.Till hjälp för denna nödvändiga reflektion erbjuder årets årsbok sex artiklar som bearbetar olika aspekter av frågan: Vad betyder gudstjänsten för syrisk-ortodoxa kristna födda i Sverige? Vad är centralt i Alexander Schmemanns och Gordon Lathrops liturgiska tänkande, och vad har dessa framstående teologer betytt i olika sammanhang? Kan vi med hjälp av Bibeln och liturgiska texter ringa in vad gudstjänst djupast sett syftar till? Och kan modern ritvetenskap hjälpa oss att bättre förstå den tidigaste kyrkans gudstjänst?I tillägg till detta innehåller årsboken en artikel om predikan och spiritualitet i den svenska pingströrelsen samt en fyllig recensionsavdelning