The purpose was to investigate the relevance of philosophy of life as well as optimism for the psychological distress among Swedish individuals in a stage where death is approaching. Sixty-nine persons were included; of these were 42 patients newly diagnosed with advanced gastrointestinal cancer and 26 were partners to these patients. The participants' philosophy of life was studied through a semi-structured interview. The interview statements were subjected to content analysis. Optimism was measured by the Life Orientation Test and psychological distress by the Hospitality and Depression Scale. The results showed that optimistic respondents had less psychological distress. Two aspects of philosophy of life had relevance for such distress. These were wondering about why the cancer had occurred and having a feeling of being able to live a good life having or living near a person with advanced cancer. In conclusion, the above-mentioned aspects of philosophy of life as well as optimism have relevance for psychological distress among these individuals, which stress the importance that health-care staff address both patients' and their partners' concerns about their philosophy of life.

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By studying the responses to the last expulsion for “apostasy” from the Swedish National Church in 1858, this article examines how an international Protestant identity was constructed in mid‐nineteenth‐century Europe. It is the argument of this study that a comprehensive identity — including both evangelicals and theological progressives — could be built around the notion of religious liberty. The advocacy of religious freedom became a line of demarcation that separated this group from the Roman Catholic Church, as well as from those Protestants that were firmly attached to an exclusivist position. In order to manufacture this unity, strategies that had been used to fortify the Catholic–Protestant divide were now also used to establish distinctions between different forms of Protestant belief. It is the argument of this article that this unity definitely broke with the theological disputes of the 1860s.

Cet article présente une vue d’ensemble sur l’histoire religieuse suédoise de 1840 à 1900. Durant cette période, le luthéranisme suédois connut des mutations significatives sous l’influence des cercles évangéliques britanniques, de nombreux pasteurs fondèrent des entités indépendantes destinées à réformer et améliorer la vie religieuse de la Nation. Cependant, de considérables bouleversements politiques, comme une contestation sociale croissante émanant des rangs subalternes du luthéranisme conduisirent à la naissance d’Églises libres. En réponse, et afin de conserver l’ascendant sur la population, les leaders ecclésiastiques optèrent pour un conservatisme de Haute Église. Pour ce faire, ils ne défendirent pas seulement une orthodoxie confessionnelle mais épousèrent des conceptions politiques organicistes de la société en décalage avec le libéralisme prévalant alors.