Erling Johan Pettersen (born 1950) is a Norwegian theologian, priest, and since 2016, a Bishop Emeritus of the

Church of Norway The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church b ...

. Pettersen served as the Bishop of the

Diocese of Stavanger The Diocese of Stavanger ( no, Stavanger bispedømme) is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers all of Rogaland county in western Norway. The cathedral city is Stavanger, where the Stavanger Cathedral is located. The bishop is Anne Li ...

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

, Norway from 2009 until his retirement in 2016.

Biography

Erling Pettersen was born on 21 February 1950 in the city of Bergen in Hordaland county, Norway. He is a 1977 graduate of the MF Norwegian School of Theology in Oslo, Norway. He was ordained as a priest on 1 July 1979. Pettersen was a teacher at the MF Norwegian School of Theology from 1975 to 1976 and again from 1981 to 1984, he was a theological consultant at the ''Diakonhjemmets'' school for social workers from 1977 to 1979 and a consultant for the

from 1979 to 1985. From 1985 until 1989, he was a missionary priest in Joinville, Brazil. After returning to Norway in 1989, he was the department head of the Institutt for Kristen Oppseding (IKO), a position he held until 1996. He was then the director of the Church of Norway executive council from 1996 to 2006. Pettersen was the main parish priest of Nordstrand Church in Oslo from 2007-2009.

Bishop

Pettersen was nominated to be Bishop of the Diocese of Tunsberg in 2002 and Bishop of the

Diocese of Oslo Oslo bishopric is the Church of Norway's bishopric for the municipalities of Oslo, Asker and Bærum. It is one of Norway's five traditional bishoprics and was founded around the year 1070. History Oslo was established as a diocese in 1068. It ...

in 2004, but he ultimately was not chosen. In 2009, after the resignation of Bishop

Ernst Baasland Ernst Oddvar Baasland (born 3 April 1945 in Kristiansand, Norway) was the Bishop of the Diocese of Stavanger in the Church of Norway from 1998 to 2009. He resigned from his position on 15 June 2009, following the ''Baasland case'' involving his s ...

in the

, Pettersen was again nominated to be Bishop there. He was voted in second place after Kjetil Aano, but the government chose Pettersen instead. On 19 June 2009, Pettersen was appointed Bishop of the

, and he was

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

as Bishop on 8 November 2009. There was some public questioning as to why the labour party government chose the second-place finisher for the office of Bishop of Stavanger. The Norwegian Minister of Culture and Church Affairs, Trond Giske, said that Pettersen's support for the ordination of homosexual priests living in same-sex relationships was not the deciding factor even though Pettersen was the only person nominated for Bishop that supported this. After becoming Bishop, 19 priests within the diocese wanted a change because Pettersen was too liberal and not in-line with Biblical teaching. These priests requested an alternate solution so that they did not report to a Bishop that they believed was theologically incorrect. After a lot of discussion, the two sides agreed that the church and bishop's conference were split on the topic and that they would continue to try to find a local solution. Erling Pettersen retired at the end of 2016 and he was replaced by

Ivar Braut Ivar Braut (born 1956) is a Norwegian theologian and priest. He was the Bishop of the Diocese of Stavanger from 2017-2019. He is considered to be a conservative bishop, a contrast to his predecessor. Personal life Ivar Braut was born on 28 Febr ...

Personal life

Pettersen has been married to his wife, Turid Barth Pettersen, since 1971. They have 2 daughters and 2 granddaughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pettersen, Erling Johan 1950 births Living people Bishops of Stavanger 21st-century Lutheran bishops