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Abstract
The article investigates how preaching relates to political debate on refugees through a study of sermons in Church of Norway in 2015/2016. The sermons are analysed in the context of the “refugee crisis” as it was mediated by national media and treated in public debate. The debate revolved around refugee politics, but included an exchange over the church’s role in the debate. The article investigates sermons as contributions to political debate on refugees and as negotiating the church’s role in political debate. A distinct finding is that most sermons collapse the historical distance to the biblical texts and employ them directly as instructions for moral and political action. The article identifies three homiletic strategies connected with three different ways of relating to public debate: A sentimental, a moralistic, and a heroic style of preaching.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
The authors have contributed equally and both are accountable for the research work.
1 The presented study is part of a European research pilot where sermons from the same period from seven countries (Germany, Netherlands, Hungary, Denmark, Sweden and Greece) are compared. See: Deeg, “Preaching” and Lorensen and Kaufman, “Preaching.”
2 The data material has been established in cooperation with Tone Stangeland Kaufmann, Linn Rystad and Tron Fagermoen at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society. Preliminary drafts of this article have been discussed with the scholars from MF and presented at The International Academy of Practical Theology (IAPT) 2017 (https://www.tf.uio.no/english/research/iapt-conference/). Johnsen and Angel also presented a preliminary draft at Reassembling Democracy? Ritual as Resource 2017 (https://www.tf.uio.no/english/research/projects/redo/workshops-and-conferences/final-redo-conference/conference-program-20022017-redo-22-25-february-2017.pdf). The cooperation has resulted in separate articles. Kaufman, Rystad, and Fagermoen, “Flyktningene i forkynnelsen.”
3 All preachers have received information about the project, and have given their informed consent. We have omitted parts of their sermons that contain personal identifiable information, but it is still difficult to make sure that pastors cannot be recognized. We have therefore sent preliminary drafts of our analyses to the informants. The study is approved by Norwegian Centre for Research Data. See: http://www.nsd.uib.no/nsd/english/index.html (Project number 48653). General guidelines for research ethics: https://www.etikkom.no/en/ethical-guidelines-for-research/.
4 McClure, Listening to Listeners. See: Allen, “Listening to listeners.”
5 Gaarden and Lorensen, “Listeners as Authors”; Gaarden, Prædikenen.
6 Lorensen and Buch-Hansen, “Listening to the Voices.”
7 See the discussion about the homiletic turn towards the listener in: Angel, “Talerens troverdighet.”
8 Lorensen and Buch-Hansen, “Listening to the Voices,” 39.
9 Angel, The Confessionalist Homiletics; Morland, “Forkynnelsen i en kampsituasjon”; Kaufman, “Lutherische Predigt Im”; Schorn-Schütte, Evangelische Geistlichkeit.
10 It has, for instance, a prominent place in the Nordic research project NORDHOST: Nordic Hospitalities in a Context of Migration and Refugee Crisis (http://www.uio.no/english/research/strategic-research-areas/nordic/research/research-groups/nordhost/).
11 See: Wyller, “Gjestfrihet og rettferdighet” and, ibid., “Heterotopic Ecclesiology.”
12 Machado, Turner and Wyller, “Traces,” 5.
13 Løland, “Biskoper.”
14 Sundeen, 68-kyrkan.
15 Borg and Göndör, Omvägen om Gud, 29.
16 Repstad, “Moral Involvement?”
17 Church of Norway, “New Common Effort for Syrian Refugees” (https://kirken.no/nb-NO/om-kirken/aktuelt/ny-dugnad-for-syriske-flyktninger/).
18 Listhaug announcing a new refugee politics: “We are going to have one of the most restrictive asylum politics in Europe” (https://www.nrk.no/norge/_-vi-kommer-til-a-fa-en-asylpolitikk-som-er-blant-de-strengeste-i-europa-1.12724216).
19 Op-ed by bishop Byfuglien: “Human worth in the age of migration” (https://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/menneskeverd-i-migrasjonens-tidsalder/69208489).
20 Statement from Church of Norway’s Council of Bishops: “Love of neighbour and hospitality” (https://kirken.no/globalassets/kirken.no/bispemotet/2015/dokumenter/protokoller/protokoll-bm-september-2015_godkjent.pdf and https://www.aftenposten.no/norge/i/gPOKOL/Kirken-oppfordrer-til-gjestfrihet-for-flyktninger).
21 Listhaug: “The church is permeated by socialism” (https://www.nrk.no/norge/listhaug_-_-kirken-er-gjennomsyret-sosialistisk-1.12709203).
22 Listhaug: “A tyranny of goodness is hounding Norway” (https://www.nrk.no/norge/frp-listhaug_-_-godhetstyranniet-rir-norge-som-en-mare-1.12633044).
23 Tvedt og Barkved, De private organisasjonene.
24 Tvedt, Norske Tenkemåter.
25 Reference to bishop Stålsett’s speech, 20.12.15 (http://www.vl.no/meninger/kommentar/usigelige-ord-1.710247?paywall=true).
26 Speech by bishop Sommerfeldt: “Proud of being a tyrant of goodness” (https://www.f-b.no/nyheter/biskop/flyktninger/atle-sommerfeldt-er-stolt-av-a-vare-en-godhetstyrann/s/5-59-352015).
27 The position of Nordic church leaders correlates highly with the Norwegian bishops. Church of Sweden (www.svenskakyrkan.se/default.aspx?id=1391172) and Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (https://evl.fi/our-work/our-policies/migration) engaged in the political debate and supported explicitly a liberal refugee policy in 2015/16. Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark has no public policy statements on refugee politics and were less univocal in the public debate on refugees and refugee politics in 2015/16 (http://www.lutheranchurch.dk/ and https://www.kristendom.dk/kristendomsanalysen/2015-flygtninge-udfordrer-folkekirken).
European churches and ecumenical organizations campaigned for a more liberal refugee policy and argued politically in a theological language. Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) argued along the same line as the Norwegian bishops: “Today, Europe – both West and East – is being tested on the strength of its commitment to human dignity and rights. This is a test of our human values and Christian legacy”. (https://www.globalministries.org/european_churches_and_ecumenical_organizations_respond_to_refugee_crisis, Accessed March 11, 2019).
28 McClure, Four Codes of Preaching, 16.
29 Ibid., 17–18.
30 Buttrick, Homiletic Moves and Structures, 153.
31 Ibid., 163.
32 This analytical approach is also employed in Angel, “Talerens troverdighet.”
33 To present refugees as persons with agency comes close to the arguments made by Settler, “A Postcolonial Perspective.”
34 The campaign “I am a Proud to be Tyrant of Goodness” was initiated by Norsk Folkehjelp, one of the major aid organizations (https://www.tb.no/meninger/flyktninger/politikk/jeg-er-en-stolt-godhetstyrann/o/5-76-356643 and https://www.f-b.no/nyheter/biskop/atle-sommerfeldt-er-stolt-av-a-vare-en-godhetstyrann/s/5-59-352015).
35 Repstad, “Moral Involvement?”
36 Lorensen and Buch-Hansen, “Listening to the Voices.”
37 Settler, “A Postcolonial Perspective.”
38 Løland, “Biskoper.”
39 Machado, Turner and Wyller, “Impacting Religions, Impacting Societies,” 164.
40 Tvedt and Barkved, De private organisasjonene.