The Church of Norway is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church became the state church of Norway around 1020, and was established as a separate church intimately integrated with the state as a result of the Lutheran reformation in Denmark–Norway which broke ties with the Holy See in 1536–1537; the King of Norway was the church's head from 1537 to 2012. Historically the church was one of the main instruments of royal power and official authority, and an important part of the state administration; local government was based on the church's parishes with significant official responsibility held by the parish priest.
Nidaros is a diocese in the Lutheran Church of Norway. It covers Trøndelag county in Central Norway and its cathedral city is Trondheim, which houses the well-known Nidaros Cathedral. Since 10 September 2017, the Bishop of Nidaros is Herborg Finnset. The Bishop Preses, currently Olav Fykse Tveit is also based at the Nidaros Cathedral. The diocese is divided into nine deaneries (prosti). While the Bishop Preses holds episcopal responsibility within the Nidaros domprosti (deanery) in Trondheim, the Bishop of Nidaros holds episcopal authority of the other eight deaneries as well as the language based parish of the Southern Sámi.
MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, formerly the Free Faculty of Theology and MF Norwegian School of Theology, is an accredited Norwegian specialized university focused on theology, religion, education and social studies, located in Oslo, Norway. It is one of three private specialized universities in Norway, alongside VID and BI.
Ole Christian Mælen Kvarme is a Norwegian bishop of the Church of Norway. He was bishop of Oslo in the Lutheran Church of Norway from 2005 and 2017. As Bishop of Oslo, Kvarme was the personal prelate of the Norwegian royal family.
Eivind Josef Berggrav was a Norwegian Lutheran bishop. As primate of the Church of Norway, Berggrav became known for his unyielding resistance against the Nazi occupation of Norway during World War II. Berggrav also became an important figure in 20th-century ecumenical movement and served as president of the United Bible Societies.
Vidar L. Haanes is a Norwegian professor of Church- and Intellectual History and rector of MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Oslo.
Gisle Christian Johnson was a leading 19th-century Norwegian theologian and educator.
Philip Alford Potter was a leader in the Methodist Church and the third General Secretary of the World Council of Churches (1972–1984).
Inge Johan Lønning was a Norwegian Lutheran theologian and politician for the Conservative Party of Norway. As an academic, he was Professor of Theology and Rector of the University of Oslo during the term 1985–1992. As a politician, he served as President of the European Movement in Norway, as a Member of Parliament, as Vice President of the Parliament, as Vice President of the Conservative Party, and as President of the Nordic Council.
Johan Edvard Sverdrup was a Norwegian educator, author and church leader. Sverdrup was one of the key theologians in the Church of Norway in the first few decades of the 1900s.
Johan Christian Heuch or J. C. Heuch was a Norwegian bishop in the Church of Norway and politician for the Conservative Party.
Dagfinn Hauge was a Norwegian writer and Lutheran Bishop in the Church of Norway. During the German occupation of Norway he served as priest at the Akershus Prison, where prisoners with death sentence spent their last days before execution.
Olav Skjevesland was a Norwegian theologian and priest. He was the Bishop of the Diocese of Agder og Telemark from 1998 until his retirement in 2012, and since that time he was a Bishop Emeritus. He was also the Preses 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.
Johannes Smemo was a Norwegian theologian, psalmist, and a long-time bishop in the Church of Norway. Theologically, he was a conservative, confessional Lutheran priest who lived during the time of great liberal-conservative debates within the Church of Norway.
Shoaib Sultan is a Norwegian analyst and politician of Pakistani descent.
Tveit is a former municipality that was located in the old Vest-Agder county in Norway. The 107-square-kilometre (41 sq mi) municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1965. The municipality was located in the eastern part of the present-day municipality of Kristiansand along the river Topdalselva. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Tveit where Tveit Church is located.
The Preses of the Church of Norway is a titular bishop who leads the Bishops' Conference of the church as one who is primus inter pares. The name comes from the Latin word Praeses which means "placed before" or "at the head". In 2011, the office of Preses was changed by law to be a 12th permanent bishopric within the Church of Norway. Prior to 2011, it was an elected position from within the 11 diocesan bishops that made up the Bishops' Conference of the Church of Norway.
Emilio Castro was a Methodist minister from Uruguay. He served as general secretary of the World Council of Churches from 1985 to 1992.
Isabel Apawo Phiri is a Malawian theologian known for her work in gender justice, HIV/AIDS, and African theology. She has been a Deputy Secretary for the World Council of Churches since 2012.
The Reverend Ioan Sauca is the acting general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC). He assumed the office on 1 April 2020 after Reverend Olav Fykse Tveit resigned on 31 March 2020. He is to hold the office until the next World Council of Churches (WCC) committee meeting in 2021, was the Deputy secretary general in 2020.
