The Role of the Church in contemporary Norway: Changed Relations between State and Church
Church of Norway is in a process of transition from being a State Church to get a looser relation to the state. This process will take time and for the time being the church does not have a proper church order. The Church shall remain a Lutheran Folk church, but what that implies is rather unclear b...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
2012
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| In: |
Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte
Year: 2012, Volume: 25, Issue: 2, Pages: 272-292 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | Church of Norway is in a process of transition from being a State Church to get a looser relation to the state. This process will take time and for the time being the church does not have a proper church order. The Church shall remain a Lutheran Folk church, but what that implies is rather unclear both among politicians and church leaders. Probably it expresses a wish for continuity with the Church from the Age of Reformation to M ay 2012, when the Constitution was changed. The new text wishes to promote the importance of human rights, but that implies some problems since there is an ongoing debate on these rights. Further the changes have created a power vacuum in the Church that different groups try to fill. This shows how the Church is split between pietistic inspired traditionalism and modernizing liberalism. Like in other churches the present controversy revolves around views and attitudes towards homosexuality and same-sex-marriages. In spite of pluralization, secularization and church elites which have distanced themselves from people, the Church seem to have a surprisingly strong position; not on the institutional and central level, but on individual and decentralized levels. Particularly, the diaconical work gets much respect and sympathy. The church rituals stand strong no matter that some politicians try to introduce secular rituals and promote so-called life stance neutrality. Further the Church gets in contact with people in several everyday arenas like Christian teaching, concerts, meetings and gatherings of people from different age groups etc. A greater threat may come from the Church itself, from the several comprehensive revisions that have been started the last years. The new translation of the Bible has been a success, but if rituals, liturgy and hymns are changed in a way that people do not recognize or relate to, they may make the Church irrelevant to people. |
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| ISSN: | 2196-808X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.13109/kize.2012.25.2.272 |