Gudsrelationer i Astrid Lindgrens böcker : En innehållsanalys av Emil i Lönneberga

Sammanfattning: Abstract The purpose of this essay is to examine and compare the characters' relationship with God in Astrid Lindgren's book series Emil i Lönneberga and to study how this reflects Christianity in the Swedish agricultural society of the 1900s. The characters investigated is Emil, mother Alma, father Anton, the farm maid Lina, the farmhand Alfred and Emil's younger sister Ida. The method to bring out the purpose is a content analysis combined with a hermeneutic approach, where the content analysis is used for the linguistic and concrete. The hermeneutics is used to gain an understanding of the text’s purpose, which means looking at the context of the text. The results indicate that a relationship with God was prevalent in most of the characters in the books, but to varying degrees. For example, characters like Alma and Anton had significantly more connections and a relationship with God compared to characters such as Alfred and Ida. The result also highlights how spiritual relationships are complex and can be difficult to decipher. These relationships with God reflected in several ways how Christianity looked in the Swedish agricultural society, where the church and catechetical meetings were often equated. Keywords: Relationship, God, Emil i Lönneberga, Swedish agricultural society