Stein Reinertsen

Last updated

The Right Reverend

Stein Reinertsen
Bishop of Agder og Telemark
Stein Reinertsen.jpg
Church Church of Norway
Diocese Diocese of Agder og Telemark
Appointed2012
In office2013–present
Predecessor Olav Skjevesland
Orders
Ordination1987
by  Andreas Aarflot
Consecration27 January 2013
by  Helga Haugland Byfuglien
Personal details
Born (1960-01-21) 21 January 1960 (age 61)
Nationality Norwegian
Denomination Lutheran
Education Cand.theol. (1986)
Alma mater MF Norwegian School of Theology

Stein Reinertsen (born 21 January 1960) is a Norwegian Lutheran clergyman who since January 2013 has been bishop in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark of the Church of Norway.

Contents

Early life and education

Stein Reinertsen was born and grew up in Oslo, with parents originally from Lista in Southern Norway. [1] His father died when he was 14. [2]

Reinertsen obtained a cand.theol. degree from the MF Norwegian School of Theology in Oslo in 1986. After finishing practical theological studies, he was consecrated as a pastor of the Church of Norway in the Oslo Cathedral in 1987. [3]

Career

In 1988, Reinertsen worked as a military chaplain in Hans Majestet Kongens Garde (the Royal guards). From 1989 to February 1992, he worked for the Norwegian Christian Student and School Association. Then he worked as a student pastor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences from 1992 to 1995. In 1995, he was head of Credo Forlag, a publishing house owned by the Norwegian Christian Student and School Association. [3]

He served as parish priest in Farsund from 1996 to 2012; between 2010 and 2012 he also worked as a hospital pastor at the Sørlandet Hospital Flekkefjord. [3]

In March 2012, he became dean of the Mandal prosti (deanery). [4]

Stein Reinertsen was one of five nominated candidates to become bishop after Olav Skjevesland announced his retirement in 2012. [5] After a round of input from various church bodies, Reinertsen remained as a candidate together with Anne-May Grasaas and Ludvig Bjerkreim. [6] In the second round, he obtained the most votes among local parishes and priests. Eight bishops preferred Anne-May Grasaas, while four preferred Reinertsen. The Church's National Council, having the final say, voted ten for Reinertsen and five for Grasaas. [4]

His appointment was announced in December 2012. It was the first time after the reformation that a bishop in the Church of Norway was appointed by a body of the church and not by the Norwegian government. [4] This was a result of changes to the Constitution of Norway in 2012. [7]

He was consecrated bishop in Kristiansand Cathedral on 27 January 2013. King Harald attended the ceremony, which was the first time he attended a bispevigsling without being head of the Church. Minister of Church affairs Rigmor Aasrud also attended the event which was led by bishop Helga Haugland Byfuglien who was the Preses. [8]

Theological profile

Stein Reinertsen is considered a conservative theologian, [9] but refuses the label of theological conservative. [7]

Early in his career, he was opposed to ordination of women to priesthood, but he changed his view as a result of further studies of bible texts and conversations with former bishop Odd Bondevik. [10] After he was elected bishop, Aftenposten featured a story about Reinertsen being opposed to marrying people who are divorced. [9] This stance was criticised by politicians and others, with the leader of the Vest-Agder Labour Party Linda Verdal leaving the church in protest. In subsequent interviews, Reinertsen underlined that subordinate priests in the diocese were free to follow their own conscience on the issue and he would not discourage them from marrying divorced persons. [11]

In 2013, Reinertsen was among a minority of four bishops who opposed a proposal to allow gay marriages in the Church of Norway, as well as opposing a compromise of allowing church blessing of gay couples who have married secularly. The church's national council has the final say on the issue. [12]

He has been engaged in multicultural work to include immigrants in the Church of Norway, and took courses in the topic in 2008 and 2009. [1] [3]

Personal life

Reinertsen is married and has three grown children. [4] As bishop, he lives in an apartment in the centre of Kristiansand which is owned by the Church of Norway. [13]

Related Research Articles

Songdalen Former municipality in Vest-Agder, Norway

Songdalen is a former municipality in the old Vest-Agder county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1964 until 2020 when it was merged with Søgne and Kristiansand municipalities to form a new, much larger Kristiansand municipality in what is now Agder county. It was located in the traditional district of Sørlandet, just outside of the city of Kristiansand. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Nodeland. Other villages in the municipality included Brennåsen, Finsland, Kilen, Nodelandsheia, and Volleberg. The Sørlandsbanen railway line ran through the municipality, stopping at Nodeland Station. The European route E39 highway also ran through the southern part of the municipality.

Kristiansand City & Municipality in Norway

Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth largest and the municipality the sixth largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, following the incorporation of the municipalities of Søgne and Songdalen into the greater Kristiansand municipality. In addition to the city itself, Statistics Norway counts four other densely populated areas in the municipality: Skålevik in Flekkerøy with a population of 3,526 in the Vågsbygd borough, Strai with a population of 1,636 in the Grim borough, Justvik with a population of 1,803 in the Lund borough, and Tveit with a population of 1,396 in the Oddernes borough. Kristiansand is divided into five boroughs: Grim, which is located northwest in Kristiansand with a population of 15,000; Kvadraturen, which is the centre and downtown Kristiansand with a population of 5,200; Lund, the second largest borough; Søgne, with a population of around 12,000 and incorporated into the municipality of Kristiansand as of January 2020; Oddernes, a borough located in the west; and Vågsbygd, the largest borough with a population of 36,000, located in the southwest.

Diocese of Agder og Telemark

The Diocese of Agder og Telemark 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 largest city. Kristiansand Cathedral serves as the seat of the presiding Bishop. The bishop since 2013 has been Stein Reinertsen. As of 1 January 2003, there were 347,324 members of the Church of Norway in the diocese.

Tor Berger Jørgensen 20th and 21st-century Norwegian bishop

Tor Berger Jørgensen is a Norwegian bishop who until 2015 was Bishop of the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland in the Church of Norway. Appointed in 2019, he now serves as the Bishop of the Lutheran Church in Great Britain and resides in London.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen

Ketil Solvik-Olsen is a Norwegian politician of the Progress Party who has served as the party's first deputy leader since 2021. He also served as Minister of Transport and Communications from 2013 to 2018 and as the party’s second deputy leader from 2013 to 2019.

Kjell Elvis Musical artist

Kjell Henning Bjørnestad, known as Kjell Elvis, is a Norwegian professional Elvis impersonator: He is an Elvis look alike and has had plastic surgery to look more like Elvis. He is also a sound alike and has released a couple of albums with Elvis songs.

Olav Skjevesland

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.

Ole Herman Fisknes is a Norwegian jurist and civil servant.

Bernt Ivar Eidsvig

Bernt Ivar Eidsvig, known after 1991 as Markus Bernt Eidsvig, is a Norwegian prelate of the Catholic Church. He has been the Bishop of Oslo since 2005 and the Apostolic Administrator of the Roman Catholic Territorial Prelature of Trondheim from 2009 until 2019.

Events in the year 2012 in Norway.

Ansic AS, trading as FlyNonstop, was a virtual airline which operated out of Kristiansand Airport, Kjevik, Norway, in 2013. The airline had a 100-passenger Embraer 190 operated by Denim Air. FlyNonstop was owned by Espen Hennig-Olsen, and focused on full service on flights to primary airports serving the tourist market. The company slogan was Norwegian: Fra der du bor. Til dit du skal.

Oluf Arntsen is a Norwegian businessperson and politician for the Christian Democratic Party.

Rasmus Hansson

Rasmus Johan Michael Hansson is a Norwegian biologist, civil servant, environmental activist and a former national spokesperson for the Green Party. He led the Norwegian chapter of World Wide Fund for Nature from 2000 to 2012. In 2013, he was elected to the Parliament of Norway as the first representative for the Green Party.

Events in the year 2014 in Norway.

Johannes Ulltveit-Moe was a Norwegian church leader and later consultant and civil servant.

Erling Pettersen

Erling Johan Pettersen is a Norwegian theologian, priest, and since 2016, a Bishop Emeritus of the Church of Norway. Pettersen served as the Bishop of the Diocese of Stavanger in Stavanger, Norway from 2009 until his retirement in 2016.

Flekkerøy Church Church in Agder, Norway

Flekkerøy Church is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Kristiansand Municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the village of Mæbø on the island of Flekkerøy in the city of Kristiansand. It is the church for the Flekkerøy parish which is part of the Kristiansand domprosti (arch-deanery) in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark. The white, concrete church was built in a rectangular design in 1960 using plans drawn up by the architect Gabriel Tallaksen. The church seats about 760 people, but when a back wall is moved, the room can accommodate up to 900 people. The church is surrounded by a cemetery.

Christine Harstad Schuff Musical artist

Christine Harstad Schuff is a former Greek-Orthodox priest, musician and artist, recognized for her humanitarian work and social activism. She has held discourses on religion and society, social justice, human rights and participates in inter-faith dialogue. Schuff has appeared in the media regularly, especially in Norway and Greece, since 2006. She has been the subject of several documentaries and in various programs in Europe and the United States for her work with refugees.

Ann-Helen Fjeldstad Jusnes

Ann-Helen Fjeldstad Jusnes is a Norwegian bishop of the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland. She succeeded Tor Berger Jørgensen on 24 January 2016. Before she became a bishop, Jusnes was the Dean of Lofoten for eight years, and had previously also been a member and politician of the Labor Party in Flakstad.

Kari Veiteberg Norwegian Lutheran theologian and bishop (born 1961)

Kari Veiteberg is a Norwegian Lutheran theologian and bishop. Since December 2017 she has been the Bishop of Oslo in the Church of Norway.

References

  1. 1 2 "Stein Reinertsen blir ny biskop" (in Norwegian). Kirken.no. Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  2. ↑ Holbek, Jan Arild (8 December 2013). "Stein Reinertsen tok papparollen da faren døde". Vårt Land (in Norwegian). Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Stein Reinertsen" (in Norwegian). Kirken.no. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Holbek, Jan Arild; Eikeland, Martin (7 December 2012). "Stein Reinertsen ble første kirkeutnevnte biskop". Vårt Land (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  5. ↑ Kallestad, Jarle (7 September 2012). "En av disse blir biskop i sør". Vårt Land (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  6. ↑ Eikeland, Martin (29 October 2012). "Stein Reinertsen leder bispekampen i Agder". Vårt Land (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  7. 1 2 Trondsen, Rebecca; Eliassen, Håkon; Damsgaard, Eirik (27 January 2013). "Reinertsen vigslet til ny biskop". NRK (in Norwegian). Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  8. ↑ Drangsholt, Inger Anna M. (27 January 2013). "En såmann vigslet på Såmannssøndagen". Dagen (in Norwegian). Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  9. 1 2 Ruud, Solveig (21 December 2013). "Ny biskop har aldri viet fraskilte". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  10. ↑ Eikeland, Marin (31 October 2012). "Nå sier bispefavoritt Reinertsen ja til kvinnelige prester". Vårt Land (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  11. ↑ Kristensen, Eivind (2 January 2013). "Jeg skulle gjerne vært denne saken foruten". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  12. ↑ Eie, Lars Gunnar; Heggheim, Sander (17 October 2013). "Agder-biskop sa nei til å vie homofile". NRK (in Norwegian). Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  13. ↑ Trondsen, Rebecca (18 February 2013). "Biskopen får leilighet til nesten 9 millioner". NRK (in Norwegian). Retrieved 1 January 2013.
Religious titles
Preceded by Bishop of Agder og Telemark
Since 2012		Incumbent
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.