Church of Norway

"Norwegian Church" redirects here. For other uses, see Norwegian Church (disambiguation).
For church buildings, see Churches in Norway.

Church of Norway
Den norske kirke
Coat of arms of the Church of Norway, a cross laid over two St. Olaf's axes. Based on the coat of arms of 16th-century archbishops of Nidaros.
TypeNational church
ClassificationChristian
OrientationProtestant
ScriptureChristian Bible
TheologyLutheranism
PolityEpiscopal
PresesOlav Fykse Tveit of Nidaros
Associations
RegionNorway
Origin
Separated fromCatholic Church
SeparationsNordic Catholic Church (1999)
Members3,526,133 (2021)[1]
Official websiteOfficial website (in Norwegian)
Official website (in English)

The Church of Norway (Bokmål: Den norske kirke, Nynorsk: Den norske kyrkja, Northern Sami: Norgga girku, Southern Sami: Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway.[2] The church became the state church of Norway around 1020,[3] and was established as a separate church intimately integrated with the state as a result of the Lutheran reformation in Denmark–Norway which broke ties with the Holy See in 1536–1537; the King of Norway was the church's head from 1537 to 2012. Historically the church was one of the main instruments of royal power and official authority, and an important part of the state administration; local government was based on the church's parishes with significant official responsibility held by the parish priest.

In the 19th and 20th centuries it gradually ceded most administrative functions to the secular civil service. The modern Constitution of Norway describes the church as the country's "people's church" and requires the King of Norway to be a member.[4][5][6][7][8] It is by far the largest church in Norway; until the mid 19th century the state church had a near-total monopoly on religion in Norway. It was the only legal church in Norway, membership was mandatory for every person residing in the kingdom and it was forbidden for anyone other than the official priests of the state church to authorise religious meetings. After the adoption of the 1845 Dissenter Act, the state church retained its legally privileged position, while minority religious congregations such as Catholics were allowed to establish themselves in Norway and were legally termed "dissenters" (i.e. from the government-sanctioned Lutheran state religion).[9][2] Church employees were civil servants from the Reformation until 2017, when the church became a legal entity separate from the state administration. The Church of Norway is mentioned specifically in the 1814 constitution and is subject to the Church Act. Municipalities are required by law to support activities of parishes and to maintain church buildings and church yards. Other religious communities are entitled to the same level of government subsidies as the Church of Norway.[10]

The church is led by ordained priests, traditionally and primarily divided into the ranks chaplain, parish priest (sogneprest) who was traditionally the head of a parish (prestegjeld; literally area that owes allegiance to a priest), provost (prost) and bishop. Today more priests may hold the title parish priest, while some priests who work directly under a provost are known as provostship priest (prostiprest). All priests were appointed by the King-in-Council until the late 20th century and thus held the status of embetsmann (higher civil servant appointed by the King). Prior to 2000 ordination required the theological civil servant examination (cand.theol.) that required six years of university studies, but from 2000 other equivalent degrees may also be accepted for certain applicants over the age of 35 with relevant experience.[11]

  1. ^ "Den norske kirke". Statistics Norway. 15 June 2022. Archived from the original on 2 September 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Norway and its national church part ways". Religion News Service. 5 January 2017. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
  3. ^ Norgeshistorie.no, Om; Institutt for arkeologi, konservering og historie (IAKH) ved UiO. "Landet blir kristnet". www.norgeshistorie.no. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  4. ^ Løsere bånd, men fortsatt statskirke Archived 8 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine, ABC Nyheter
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference auto was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Forbund, Human-Etisk. "Ingen avskaffelse: / Slik blir den nye statskirkeordningen". Archived from the original on 20 November 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  7. ^ I dag avvikles statskirken Archived 18 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine (State church will be abolished today), Dagbladet, published 14 May 2012, accessed online 24 October 2015.
  8. ^ State church in Norway? Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Church of Norway, published, 6 March 2015, accessed 24 October 2015.
  9. ^ "Kristen-Norge åpnes". Archived from the original on 18 September 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  10. ^ Kulturdepartementet (5 March 2019). "Endringer i finansiering av Den norske kirke som følge av skille mellom stat og kirke fra 1. januar 2017". Regjeringen.no (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 5 July 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  11. ^ "Kvalifikasjonskrav for prestetjeneste" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 September 2021. Retrieved 19 September 2021.