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The Church of Norway (Den norske kirke in Bokmål or Den norske kyrkja in Nynorsk) is the state church of Norway. The church confesses the Lutheran Christian faith. It has as its foundation the Christian Bible, the Apostles' Creed, Nicene Creed, Athanasian Creed, Luther's Small Catechism and the Augsburg Confession. The Church is a member of the Porvoo Communion with 12 other churches, among them the Anglican Churches of Europe. It has also signed some other ecumenical texts, including the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification with the Roman Catholic Church.
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The constitutional head of the Church is the King of Norway, who is obliged to profess himself a Lutheran. The Church of Norway is subject to legislation, including its budgets, passed by the Norwegian parliament, the Storting, and its central administrative functions are carried out by the Royal Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs.
The Church has a congregational and episcopal structure, with 1,284 parishes, 106 deaneries and 11 dioceses, namely:
The General Synod, which convenes once a year, is the highest representative body of the Church. It consists of 85 representatives, of whom seven or eight are sent from each of the dioceses. Of these, four are lay members appointed by the congregations; one is a lay member appointed by Church employees; one is a member appointed by the clergy; and the bishop. In addition, one representative from the Sami community in each of the two northernmost dioceses, representatives from the three theological seminaries, representatives from the Youth Council, and other members of the National Council are also members of the General Synod.
The National Council, the executive body of the Synod, is convened five times a year and comprises 15 members, of whom ten are lay members, four are clergy and one is a bishop. It prepares matters for decision-making elsewhere and puts those decisions into effect. The National Council also has working and ad hoc groups, addressing issues such as church service, education and youth issues.
The Council on Ecumenical and International Relations deals with international and ecumenical matters, and the Sami Church Council is responsible for the Church of Norway's work among the country's indigenous Sami people.
The Bishops' Conference convenes three times a year, and consists of the eleven bishops in the Church. It issues opinions on various issues related to church life and theological matters.
The Church also convenes committees and councils both at the national level (such as the Doctrinal Commission (Den norske kirkes lærenemnd) 1, and at diocesan and local levels, addressing specific issues related to education, ecumenical matters, the Sami minority and youth.
There are 1,600 Church of Norway churches and chapels. Parish work is led by a priest and an elected parish council. There are more than 1,200 clergy (in 2007 20.6% were women ministers) in the Church of Norway.
The focus of church life is the Sunday Communion and other services, most commonly celebrated at 11:00 am. The liturgy is similar to that in use in the Catholic church. The language is entirely Norwegian, apart from the Kyrie Eleison, and the singing of hymns accompanied by organ music is central. A priest (often with lay assistants) celebrates the service, wearing an Alb and Stole. In addition, a Chasuble is worn by the priest during Eucharist, and on an increasing scale during the whole service.
The Church of Norway baptises children, usually as part of ordinary Sunday services.
This is a summary of the liturgy for High Mass: 23
The Church of Norway traces its origins to the introduction of Christianity to Norway in the 9th century. Norway was Christianized as a result of mission from both the British Isles by Haakon I of Norway and from the Continent Ansgar. Still, it took several hundred years to convert Norway to Christianity, culminating in 1030 with the Battle of Stiklestad, where Saint Olaf II of Norway was killed. He is traditionally regarded as being responsible for the conversion to Christianity and is Norway's patron saint - "Rex perpetuum Norvegicae". The Nordic churches were initially subordinate to the archbishop of Bremen, until a Nordic archdiocese of Lund was established in 1103. The separate Norwegian archdiocese of Nidaros (in today's Trondheim) was created in 1152, and by the end of the 12th century covered all of Norway, parts of present Sweden, Iceland, Greenland, the Isle of Man, the Orkney Islands, the Shetland Islands, the Faroe Islands, and the Hebrides. Nidaros is an important site of pilgrimage due to its association with the cult of Saint Olav. Another and smaller pilgrimage site is the island of Selja in Northwest Norway with its 3 monastery churches with evidently Celtic tradition similar to Skellig Michael. See also Sunniva .
The Reformation in Norway was accomplished by force in 1537 when Christian III of Denmark and Norway in a coup d‘état declared Lutheranism as the official religion of Norway and Denmark, sending the Roman Catholic Archbishop Olav Engelbrektsson into exile. Catholic priests were persecuted, monastic orders were suppressed, and the crown took over church property, while some churches were plundered and abandoned, even destroyed. Bishops (initially called superintendents) were appointed by the king. This brought forth the tight integration between church and state still prevalent today. After the introduction of absolute monarchy in 1660 all clerics were civil servants appointed by the king, but theological issues were left to the hierarchy of bishops and other clergy.
When Norway regained national independence from Denmark in 1814, the Norwegian Constitution recognized the Lutheran church as the State Church.
The pietism movement in Norway (embodied to a great extent by Hans Nielsen Hauge) has served to reduce the distance between lay and clergy in Norway, which persists to this day. In 1842 lay congregational meetings were accepted in church life, though initially with limited influence. In the years to come, a number of large Christian organizations were created. Still today, they serve as a "second line" in Church structure. The most notable of these are the Norwegian Missionary Society and Norwegian Lutheran Mission.
After the fascist Vidkun Quisling was made dictatorial head of state by the Nazi occupiers during World War II, and introduced a number of controversial measures such as state-controlled education, the Church's bishops and the vast majority of the clergy disassociated themselves from the government in the Foundations of the Church (Kirkens Grunn) declaration of Easter 1942, stating that they would only function as pastors for their congregations. The bishops were interned with deposed priests and theological candidates from 1943, but congregational life continued more or less as usual. For three years the Church of Norway was a Church free of the State.
Since World War II, a number of structural changes have taken place within the Church of Norway, mostly to institutionalize lay participation in the life of the church.
Although 82% of the Norwegian population belongs to the state church, only about 3% attend church services or other religious meetings more than once a month. Baptism of infants fell from 96.8% in 1960 to 73.5% in 2007, while the proportion of confirmants fell from 93% in 1960 to 67% in 2007. The proportion of weddings to be celebrated in the Church of Norway fell from 85.2% in 1960 to 44% in 2007. The proportion of funerals has remained on a high level, in 2007 93% of all funerals took place in the Church of Norway. 45
In spite of the relatively low level of religious practice in Norwegian society, the local clergy often play important social roles outside their spiritual and liturgical responsibilities. A survey conducted by Gallup International in 65 countries in 2005 found that Norway was the least religious among the Western countries surveyed, with only 36% of the population considering themselves religious. However, only 9% explicitly stated that they were atheists, while the biggest group, 46%, were those that considered themselves neither religious nor atheists. 6
For a long time the Church's membership registry was of poor quality due to the traditionally tight connection between church and state, even listing a considerable number of people of other faiths. This fault is gradually being corrected.
There is continuous discussion about separating church and state in Norway, and after a decision in Parliament 2008 it appears a considerable relaxation of the ties will take place, even if state control is still evident.
While an increasing number of women have entered the priesthood and even risen to be bishops, there is still a small but highly vocal opposition to women clergy.
Certain liberal-leaning bishops' standpoint on whether practising homosexuals can serve as priests is under continuous debate, and is still considered very controversial in wide areas, not least among lay people. In 2007 a majority in the General Synod voted in favour of accepting people living in same-sex relations into the priesthood, while at the same time rejecting same-sex marriages. In 2008, the Norwegian Parliament voted to establish same-sex civil marriages. This question has created much unrest in the Church of Norway and seems to serve as a trigger for conversions to independent congregations and other churches.
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