Ethics from Pulpits of the Church of Norway: A Self-Report Survey of Social-Ethical Issues

Abstract

To what extent do Norwegian ministers deal with social-ethical issues in their sermons? While we examine the frequency of such topics in this article, we primarily explore the potential determinants of their priorities in discussing these issues: their individual backgrounds, their ethical and political orientations, the local parish characteristics and the ministers’ sources of inspiration in preparing sermons. The results shows that different ethical orientations appear to be largely unrelated to the frequency of addressing social-ethical issues. Experiences in nature are the most important source of inspiration. The school at which the minister was trained has a significant impact on frequency, while political orientation has a very weak influence. Different parish characteristics—affluence and level of social challenges—and the age and marital status of the clergy do have an impact on which issues are given priority. The minister’s gender and geographical location both have no effect.