RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Norton Norway
them to embrace Christianity, while the kings supported the preachers by using force wherever opposition showed itself against the new movement. Among these bishops, who thus became the real founders of the new faith, the Anglo-Saxon Sigurd, who accompanied Olav Tryggvesson, has been named by some historians the " Apostle of Norway," while his nephew, Grimkjell, figured as missionary bishop under Olav the Holy, rendering his king efficient service in establishing the new faith after the pattern of the Anglo-Saxon Church. While engaged in battle against his own rebellious people, King Olav Haraldson fell near Stikklestad (July 29, 1030); and there resulted a thoroughgoing change in the minds of the people. Within a short time, the people came to regard the fallen king as a great saint, at whose grave mighty miracles were supposed to occur, and whose self-sacrifice immortalized itself with a glorious halo.
Of the history of the Church of Norway in the middle ages, little more is worthy of mention than that it was identical with that of the other European countries of that time; the
Church most important event of this period
History being that Norway, like Jutland, lost in the its independence, becoming in 1536 a
Middle province of Denmark. Thus it became Ages and self-evident, that when Denmark dethe Refor- cided in the same year to introduce the
mation. Reformation, this applied also to Norway; although the people themselves were but little prepared for such a thoroughgoing spiritual revolution, the old order was abolished. The last Roman Catholic archbishop had to flee before the Danish authorities. Such bishops as remained were unfrocked, monasteries were destroyed, and the vested lands together with all other property of the bishoprics and monasteries were confiscated. Only the priests were allowed to remain to preach after their accustomed manner, until such time as Protestant ministers could be educated to replace them. The real work of evangelizing the country was left in the hands of Protestant officialdom, called superintendents at first, and later bishops, whose duty it was to establish the new church discipline and provide the congregations with Evangelical pastors. In every diocesan city a seminary was established for the education of ministers where theology and humanism were taught in the conciliatory spirit of Melanchthon. Among the bishops of the time of the Reformation were several very thorough men : such as Torbjoren Olafson Bratt of Drontheim, who studied two years at Wittenberg and for a time was a member of Luther's household; Geble Pederson of Bergen, a fine and pious figure and prominent schoolman; Jens Nilson of Oslo, a thorough disciplinarian and humanist; and Jorgen Erichson of Stavanger, the most prominent personality identified with the Protestantism of the sixteenth century. The latter, an imperious but sane advocate of church order, earned for himself the title " Norway's Luther," by his strong, clear, ardent, Evangelical sermons. At the close of the Reformation century, the organization of the Protestant Church was fully established. Every parish was presided over by an evangelically trained minister, and from
every pulpit Lutheran doctrine was proclaimed. In spite of this, the people, with but few happy exceptions, were but little imbued with the spirit of the Gospel until Pietism relieved the period of slow growth under orthodoxy.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church is the official or State Church of Norway, acknowledged as such in the constitution. While separation from the State Church is tolerated, it is obligatory upon all whose position bears any relation to the State The Church to be members of the same; Evangelical such are the king and his ministers, Lutheran theological professors in the universi- Organiza- ties, religious teachers in the public tion and schools, ministers, bishops, and the Statistics, like. Otherwise, any one is at liberty to separate from the established church without any material sacrifice; but all members of the State Church are required to have their children baptized and instructed in its confession of faith. The Norwegian parliament (Storthing) makes all the laws of the church. The king is the highest ecclesiastical potentate, who operates through his council or the minister of public worship and instruction. These also administer with constitutional accountability the properties of the church, which amount to 30,000,000 crowns ($8,040,000). According to the last census (1900), 2,187,200 of the entire population were accounted members of the State Church; there were 10,286 Methodists, 5,674 Baptists, 1,969 Roman Catholics under a vicar apostolic, 501 Mormons, 175 Quakers, and 642 Jews. For administration of the State Church, the country is divided into six chapters or bishoprics, whose administrators are appointed by the king. The ministerium of each chapter has the right of representation. Each bishopric is again subdivided into provost districts whose heads are called provosts, and who are elected by the clergy, but appointed by the king. The provost is an intermediary between the bishop and the clergy, but is at the same time pastor of a congregation. All appointments in the individual congregations are made by the king. Besides a chief pastor in the larger congregations, there are resident chaplains. All incomes are fixed by the act of 1897. The bishop of Christiania is primus inter pares and receives the highest salary. There is a rule without exception that no one can be appointed in the State Church without an official examination in theology at the University of Norway. The children who belong to the State Church receive their religious instruction in the public schools, which are entirely independent of the Church. The bishop has oversight of the training of religious teachers, the proper administration of the affairs of the parishes by the pastors, and the spiritual progress of the congregations; and he is required to visit in person each parish once in three years; the necessary traveling expenses being paid by the exchequer. In every diocese there is an official who with the bishop directs all material interests. Norway also takes a lively interest in home and foreign missions, whose administration is in the hands of private societies not controlled by the State. The principal missionary society has its headquarters in Stavanger, and supports
Norwich Novatian