Olav Skjevesland (31 May 19428 September 2019) was a Norwegian

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

. He was the

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

of the

Diocese of Agder og Telemark The Diocese of Agder og Telemark ( no, Agder og Telemark bispedømme) is a diocese of the Church of Norway, covering all of Agder county and most of Vestfold og Telemark county in Norway. The cathedral city is Kristiansand, Norway's fifth larges ...

from 1998 until his retirement in 2012, and since that time he was a Bishop Emeritus. He was also the Preses (''

Primus inter pares ''Primus inter pares'' is a Latin phrase meaning first among equals. It is typically used as an honorary title for someone who is formally equal to other members of their group but is accorded unofficial respect, traditionally owing to their sen ...

'', "first among equals") and thus presided over the Bishops' Conference of the Church of Norway from 2006 until 2010. During his time as a bishop, he was considered to be theologically conservative and he was opposed to letting gay priests serve in the church.

Personal life

Olav Skjevesland was born on 31 May 1942 in

Drøbak Drøbak is a List of cities in Norway, town and the centre of the municipality of Frogn, in Viken county, Norway. The city is located along the Oslofjord, and has 13,409 inhabitants. History Drøbak and Frogn was established as a parish on its o ...

in the Frogn municipality of

Akershus Akershus () is a traditional region and current electoral district in Norway, with Oslo as its main city and traditional capital. It is named after the Akershus Fortress in Oslo. From the middle ages to 1919, Akershus was a fief and main county ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. His wife, Anne Katrine Skjevesland, died in 2009.

Education and career

Skjevesland attended the Menighetsfakultet school, graduating in 1967 with a

Cand.theol. Candidatus theologiæ (male), Candidata theologiæ (female), abbreviated cand. theol. is an academic degree with a long tradition, awarded after a six-year higher education in theology in Iceland, Denmark, and Norway. In Norway, the title has re ...

degree, followed by taking the Practical Theology exam in 1969. His first job was as an assistant priest in the Nordstrand parish in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

from 1968 to 1972. Next, he was a lecturer with the Norwegian Diakonhjem organization from 1972 to 1974. He also worked as a secretary for the Norwegian priest's

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

from 1973 to 1975. From 1975 to 1976, Olav Skjevesland was a parish priest at the Kampen Church in

. From 1976 until 1979, he became the resident

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

at the

Nøtterøy Church Nøtterøy Church ( no, Nøtterøy kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Færder Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the village of Borgheim. It is one of the churches for the Nøtterøy parish which is part o ...

Vestfold Vestfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in Eastern Norway. In 2020 the county became part of the much larger county of Vestfold og Telemark. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it bordered th ...

county. In 1981, he was hired as the rector of the Menighetsfakultet's practical theological

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

, a position he held until 1994. He then took a job as professor at the same school from 1994 to 1998. In 1998, he was appointed to be the

of the

Diocese of Agder The Diocese of Agder og Telemark ( no, Agder og Telemark bispedømme) is a diocese of the Church of Norway, covering all of Agder county and most of Vestfold og Telemark county in Norway. The cathedral city is Kristiansand, Norway's fifth larges ...

. In 2005, the diocese was renamed "Agder og Telemark" to fully represent the area that it covered. In 2006, he was elected for a four-year term as the Preses of the Bishops' Conference in 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 ...

. In 2012, he retired from his job as bishop.

Works

*Editor of ''Luthersk Kirketidende'' from 1976 to 1998 *He wrote ' (2003)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skjevesland, Olav 1942 births 2019 deaths People from Frogn Bishops of Agder og Telemark Primates of the Church of Norway