Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Palgrave Macmillan

Religious Complexity in the Public Sphere

Comparing Nordic Countries

  • Book
  • © 2018

Overview

Editors:
  1. Inger Furseth

    1. Institutt for sosiologi og samfunnsgeografi, Oslo, Norway

    View editor publications

    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Deploys and develops the complexity frame of reference in a way that reflects paradoxical developments and a range of social, cultural, and political problems
  • Analyzes religion, secularization, and religious complexity in the public sphere in the past thirty years using Nordic case studies
  • Gathers perspectives from across the Nordic regions and a variety of disciplines such as the sociology of religion, political science, communication, cultural studies, and social theory
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Religion, Politics, and Policy (PSRPP)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Inger Furseth
    Pages 1-29

  3. Changing Religious Landscapes in the Nordic Countries

    • Inger Furseth, Lars Ahlin, Kimmo Ketola, Annette Leis-Peters, Bjarni Randver Sigurvinsson
    Pages 31-80

  4. Religion and State: Complexity in Change

    • Lene Kühle, Ulla Schmidt, Brian Arly Jacobsen, Per Pettersson
    Pages 81-135

  5. Religion on the Political Agenda

    • Mia Lövheim, Jonas Lindberg, Pål Ketil Botvar, Henrik Reintoft Christensen, Kati Niemelä, Anders Bäckström
    Pages 137-191

  6. Religion and the Media: Continuity, Complexity, and Mediatization

    • Knut Lundby, Henrik Reintoft Christensen, Ann Kristin Gresaker, Mia Lövheim, Kati Niemelä, Sofia Sjö et al.
    Pages 193-249

  7. Faith and Worldview Communities and Their Leaders–Inward or Outward Looking?

    • Inger Furseth, Lars Ahlin, Kimmo Ketola, Annette Leis-Peters, Pål Repstad, Bjarni Randver Sigurvinsson et al.
    Pages 251-289

  8. Secularization, Deprivatization, or Religious Complexity?

    • Inger Furseth
    Pages 291-312

  9. Back Matter

    Pages 313-341
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

This book is an empirical comparative study of the complexity of religion in the public spheres of the five Nordic countries. The result of a five-year collaborative research project, the work examines how increasingly religiously diverse Nordic societies regulate, debate, and negotiate religion in the state, the polity, the media, and civil society. The project finds that there are seemingly contradictory religious trends at different social levels: a growing secularization at the individual level, and a deprivatization of religion in politics, the media, and civil society. It offers a critique of the current theories of secularization and the return of religion, introducing religious complexity as an alternative concept to understand these paradoxes. This book is for scholars, students, and readers with an interest in understanding the public role of religion in the West. 

Reviews

“The book’s main target audience is probably international scholars with an interest in the Nordic situation, but it will also be suitable for Nordic scholars and students … . the book will surely be a reference work for years to come.” (Andreas Häger, Temenos, Issue 1, 2019)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Institutt for sosiologi og samfunnsgeografi, Oslo, Norway

    Inger Furseth

About the editor

Inger Furseth is Professor of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, Norway, and adjunct professor at KIFO Centre for Church Research, Norway. Some of her books include A Comparative Study of Social and Religious Movements in Norway, 1780s-1905 (2002), From Quest for Truth to Being Oneself (2006), and An Introduction to the Sociology of Religion (2006, co-author). She was the director of the research program, The Role of Religion in the Public Sphere: A Comparative Study of the Five Nordic Countries 1998-2008 (NOREL 2009-2014). 

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation