Content provided in partnership with
The Nordic Churches and the Ecumenical Movement
Ecumenical Review, The, April, 2000 by Peter Lodberg
From the responses in the diocese of Aarhus, one must conclude that the national church said No to Porvoo on account of national motives, substantiated by theological points of views, serving to legitimate the Evangelical Lutheran Church as a national church living on a continued alleged identity between people, nation, state and church. A positive response to Porvoo was thus out of the question from the outset, because its intentions were incompatible in principle with the dominant mentality in the Danish national church.
Conclusion
- Most Popular Articles in Reference
- The importance of understanding organizational culture
- Credit card attitudes and behaviors of college students
- What factors attract foreign direct investment?
- Libraries Need Relationship Marketing - mutual interest marketing concept, ...
- How to set performance goals: employee reviews are more than annual critiques
- More »
The Nordic countries are still very homogeneous societies, and the Lutheran churches play a numerically important role in them. But the Nordic scene is changing. The influence of globalization, the presence of Islam and the existence of New Ageinspired religiosity are changing the churches. The close identification between state, church, nation and people, which took hundreds of years to establish, is breaking apart. The Nordic states have chosen different directions and cannot gather around the realization of a Nordic vision of unity. The churches also are choosing different directions. In the ecumenical field, especially, Denmark is now moving in its own direction, away from the other Nordic Lutheran churches. Ecumenically, this will lead in the future to isolation and more diversity than unity in the Nordic region.
NOTES
(1) Ted A. Campbell, Christian Confessions: A Historical Introduction, Louisville, Westminster/John Knox, 1996, pp.5ff.
(2) See Margaret Canovan, Nationhood and Political Theory, Cheltenham, UK, Edward Elgar, 1996, pp. 119ff.
(3) Dag Thorkildsen, "Religious Identity and Nordic Identity", in Oystein Sorensen and Bo Strath, The Cultural Construction of Norden, Oslo, Scandinavian Univ. Press, 1997.
(4) See the report "The Right to Freedom of Religion and Religious Associations: A Survey with Recommendations" (1 March 1999); text at www.cbss.commissioner, org/surveys.
(5) See Bent Hylleberg, "Grundloven, baptisterne og religionsfriheden", in Jorgen Nybo Rasmussen, ed., Religionsfrihed i 150 ar: En jubilaeumshilsen fra danske katolikker or baptister, Copenhagen, 1999, pp.62ff.
(6) N.F.S. Grundtvig, Den Danske Stats-Kirke upartisk betragtet, Copenhagen, 1834.
(7) See Peter Lodberg and Gerhard Pedersen, Kirke -- ar 2000, Copenhagen, 1995, Unitas, pp.75f.
(8) See Margrit Warburg, "Restrictions and Privileges: Legal and Administrative Practice and Minority Religions in the USA and Denmark", in Eileen Barker and Margrit Warburg, eds, New Religions and Religiosity, Aarhus, Aarhus UP, 1998, pp.262ff.
(9) Thorkildsen, loc. cit., p. 151.
(10) Ibid.
(11) H.L. Martensen, Den christelige Ethik, vol. 2: Den sociale Ethik, Copenhagen, 1878, pp. 125ff.
(12) Henning Koch, "Mellem flertal, flerhed og frihed: religiose minoriteters statsretlige stilling", in Lisbet Christofferson and Jorgen Baek Simonsen, eds, Visioner for religionsfrihed, demokrati og etnisk ligestilling, Copenhagen, Naevnet for Etnisk Ligestilling, 1999, pp. 149ff.
Find Research Guides for:
Most Popular Articles in Reference
- The importance of understanding organizational culture
- Credit card attitudes and behaviors of college students
- What factors attract foreign direct investment?
- Libraries Need Relationship Marketing - mutual interest marketing concept, ...
- How to set performance goals: employee reviews are more than annual critiques
- More »