Norwegian Unitarian Church
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Unitarforbundet Bét Dávid (Unitarian Union Beth David, The Norwegian Unitarian Church) (the Hebrew house of David) is the denomination of Unitarian Christianity in
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 ...
. The Unitarian Church continues the Christian tradition, which today exists in the Hungarian and
Transylvanian Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the A ...
Unitarian Church. It shares this common background with the first Unitarian Church in Norway created by
Kristofer Janson Kristofer Nagel Janson (May 4, 1841 – November 17, 1917) was a Norwegian poet, author and Unitarian clergyman. Kristofer Janson is commonly recognized as the founder of the Norwegian Unitarian Church. Background Kristofer Janson was born in Be ...
in 1895, but also places emphasis on practicing a common Jewish heritage, differentiating it from other denominations . The Norwegian Unitarian Church is located close to the Jewish-Unitarian Szekler-sabbatarianism and probably represents today one of the closest to the religious context called
Judeo-Christianity The term Judeo-Christian is used to group Christianity and Judaism together, either in reference to Christianity's derivation from Judaism, Christianity's borrowing of Jewish Scripture to constitute the "Old Testament" of the Christian Bible, or ...
. Proximity to Judaism is due to a belief that Christianity must be understood through a Jewish perspective. This is justified historically from the fact that Christianity was regarded as a part of Judaism prior to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in the year 70 AD. However, the Unitarian Church faith community is established in a clear
liberal Christian Liberal Christianity, also known as Liberal Theology and historically as Christian Modernism (see Catholic modernism and Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy), is a movement that interprets Christian teaching by taking into consideration m ...
historical tradition.


History

In 1894,
Hans Tambs Lyche Hans Tambs Lyche ( 21 November 1859 – 16 April 1898) was a Norwegian engineer, Unitarian minister, journalist, and magazine editor. Background Hans Tambs Lyche was born in Fredrikshald, in Østfold county, Norway. His parents were Wilh ...
(1859–1898) established Norway's first Unitarian periodical, ''Free Word''. The previous year, he had made an unsuccessful attempt to establish the country's first Unitarian church. Based on the preliminary work that Tambs Lyche did,
Kristofer Janson Kristofer Nagel Janson (May 4, 1841 – November 17, 1917) was a Norwegian poet, author and Unitarian clergyman. Kristofer Janson is commonly recognized as the founder of the Norwegian Unitarian Church. Background Kristofer Janson was born in Be ...
founded the first Unitarian church in Norway in 1895. Until 1900 this church was called Broderskabets Church (Church of the Brotherhood), but was later simply referred to as the Unitarian Society. Because this antitrinitarian church community did not accept Jesus' divinity, it was refused approval by
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
in 1897 as a Christian church upon revision of the Dissenter Act. Instead, it was approved as one among the country's non-Christian
dissenter A dissenter (from the Latin ''dissentire'', "to disagree") is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc. Usage in Christianity Dissent from the Anglican church In the social and religious history of England and Wales, and ...
societies. The Unitarian Society was in existence until 1937, when the Unitarian pastor
Herman Haugerud Herman may refer to: People * Herman (name), list of people with this name * Saint Herman (disambiguation) * Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman Places in the United States * Herman, Arkansas * Herman, Michigan * Herman, Minnes ...
(1864–1937) died, leading to the closure of his congregation. Among the most famous Norwegian Unitarians outside of the Unitarian Society were
Nina Nina may refer to: * Nina (name), a feminine given name and surname Acronyms *National Iraqi News Agency, a news service in Iraq * Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, on the campus of Norwegian University of Science and Technology *No income, ...
and Edvard Grieg; they became familiar with Unitarians in
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
in 1888. Nina Grieg, after her husband's death, helped to finance the church building for the Danish Unitarians. Also in Oslo, Unitarians tried to erect a church building and money was collected. In this regard, the Hungarian Unitarian Church in 1909 sent contributions to the Unitarians in Oslo, and from then until today, there is close contact between the Norwegian and
Transylvanian Unitarian Church The Unitarian Church of Transylvania ( hu, Erdélyi Unitárius Egyház; ro, Biserica Unitariană din Transilvania), also known as the Hungarian Unitarian Church ( hu, Magyar Unitárius Egyház; ro, Biserica Unitariană Maghiară), is a Christian ...
es. For unknown reasons the planned church was never built.


Norwegian Unitarian Christianity today

In 1995, a hundred years after the first Unitarian Church (Broderskabets Church/Unitarian Society) was founded, part of this denomination re-emerged as a small Unitarian group in the Oslo area. On 1 January 2004 the religious community known as the Unitarian Union (The Norwegian Unitarian Church) was founded, establishing close contact with today's Transylvanian Unitarians in Hungary and Romania. In late April 2005 the church was registered with the County of
Østfold Østfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in southeastern Norway. It borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other side o ...
, and the Royal Culture and Church Affairs granted exclusive rights to the name Unitarforbundet Beth David (of the Hebrew , 'David's house'), which today is the church's official name. The more commonly-used name today is simply the Norwegian Unitarian Church. The first Norwegian baptism in a Hungarian Christian Unitarian church was performed on 12 April 2006, and from the introduction of the gender neutral Marriage Act in Norway in 2009 the church began to marry both same-sex and non-same-sex couples. In May 2009, it was decided by the Norwegian Unitarian group to establish a national umbrella organization, ''Unitarian Umbrella Organization of Norway'', whose task is to be the official liaison between Norwegian Unitarians and the
International Council of Unitarians and Universalists The International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU) was an umbrella organization founded in 1995 comprising many Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist organizations. It was disolved in 2021 along with the Unitarian ...
(ICUU).


Norwegian Unitarian Ministers

*Kristofer Janson (1841-1917), founder of the first Norwegian Unitarian Church (1895-1937). *Herman Haugerud (1864-1937), last Unitarian minister of the first Norwegian Unitarian Church. *Knut Heidelberg (1959 - ), one of the founders of the second Norwegian Unitarian Church (2005), served as Unitarian minister 2005-2009. *Kjell Morten Bråten, present Unitarian minister of the second Norwegian Unitarian Church.


External links


Unitarian Union Beth David (Norwegian Unitarian Church)
{{Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist topics Churches in Norway Unitarianism Christianity and Judaism