Changing Religiosities in the Nordic Countries
A Complexity Perspective
Will be published approx. on 27. November 2025
Book
Hardback
341 pages
978-90-04-73680-1 (ISBN)
Description
From decades-long shifts in state-Church relations to the intimate spiritual journeys of individuals, religious change in the Nordic countries defies simple explanation. This volume advances the Complexity Frame of Reference, a new theoretical framework that enables nuanced analysis of transformation at every level of scale.
Together, the fourteen chapters offer a vivid and multifaceted portrait of religious change in the Nordic region, showing how the Complexity Frame accommodates analyses ranging from comparisons of large-scale social trends - examined in ways that reveal significant local and national disparities - to the most personal religious quests.
Together, the fourteen chapters offer a vivid and multifaceted portrait of religious change in the Nordic region, showing how the Complexity Frame accommodates analyses ranging from comparisons of large-scale social trends - examined in ways that reveal significant local and national disparities - to the most personal religious quests.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Leiden
Netherlands
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
653 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-04-73680-1 (9789004736801)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Peter B. Andersen Ph.D. (1994), dr.phil. (2023), is an Associate Professor in the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen. He has published monographs, edited volumes and articles on religion and modernity in India and in Europe. He has recently chaired a survey on Covid-19 in Denmark.
Peter Gundelach mag. scient. soc. (1972) is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen. He has published monographs, edited volumes and many articles on social movements, national identity, religon and values including a series of edited volumes on the European Values study in Denmark
Peter Gundelach mag. scient. soc. (1972) is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen. He has published monographs, edited volumes and many articles on social movements, national identity, religon and values including a series of edited volumes on the European Values study in Denmark
Content
Preface
List of Tables and Figures
List of Abbreviations
Notes on contributors
PART 1: The Complexity Approach: Trends and New Concepts
Introduction: Complexity and Religious Changes
?Peter B. Andersen and Peter Gundelach
1 Religion in Nordic Societies: Legal Structures and Demographic Trends
?Sille Fusager, Kimmo Ketola, Pal Ketil Botvar and Maria Klingenberg
part 2: Complex Changes in Religiosity
2 Belief in an Irrelevant God: Exploring Fuzzy Belief in the Nordic Countries
?Maria Klingenberg and Evelina Lundmark
3 'Religious Change Is Not Only about Decline': the Complexity of Religious Change from a Family Perspective in Finland
?Kati Tervo-Niemelae
4 The Ritual Shift: Examining Religious Complexity in the Light of Life Cycle Rites
?Ida Marie Hoeg and Karin Jarnkvist
5 A Complexity Analysis of Religiosity in the Nordic Countries
?Peter Gundelach and Peter B. Andersen
6 Between God and Caesar: Young People's Views on the Public Role of Religion
?Pal Ketil Botvar
7 Who are the 'Spiritual but Not Religious'? Complex Patterns of Religiosity in Nordic Countries
?Kimmo Ketola
part 3: State Regulation, the National Church and Religiosity
8 Considering the Default Template: Supreme Overseers of Legality and Religion Complexity in Finland
?Pamela Slotte Russo
9 'There Is No Proof that the Law Has Had No Effect': Recent Danish Legislation on Islam and the Problem of Complexity in Regulating Religion
?Niels Valdemar Vinding
10 National Identity and Religion in the Nordic Countries
?Hans Morten Haugen and Heikki Hiilamo
11 The Danish Folk Church and the Complexity of Social Cohesion
?Karen Marie Leth-Nissen and Marlene Ringgaard Lorensen
12 An Unexpected Dimension of Care Work: Feminine Evangelization among Christian Filipinas in Denmark
?Astrid Krabbe Trolle
13 School and Religious Complexity: Lessons from Four Nordic Countries
?Anders Sjoeborg
part 4: Testing the Complexity Approach in International Settings
14 Complexity Religiosities beyond the Nordic Countries
?Peter B. Andersen and Peter Gundelach
Index
List of Tables and Figures
List of Abbreviations
Notes on contributors
PART 1: The Complexity Approach: Trends and New Concepts
Introduction: Complexity and Religious Changes
?Peter B. Andersen and Peter Gundelach
1 Religion in Nordic Societies: Legal Structures and Demographic Trends
?Sille Fusager, Kimmo Ketola, Pal Ketil Botvar and Maria Klingenberg
part 2: Complex Changes in Religiosity
2 Belief in an Irrelevant God: Exploring Fuzzy Belief in the Nordic Countries
?Maria Klingenberg and Evelina Lundmark
3 'Religious Change Is Not Only about Decline': the Complexity of Religious Change from a Family Perspective in Finland
?Kati Tervo-Niemelae
4 The Ritual Shift: Examining Religious Complexity in the Light of Life Cycle Rites
?Ida Marie Hoeg and Karin Jarnkvist
5 A Complexity Analysis of Religiosity in the Nordic Countries
?Peter Gundelach and Peter B. Andersen
6 Between God and Caesar: Young People's Views on the Public Role of Religion
?Pal Ketil Botvar
7 Who are the 'Spiritual but Not Religious'? Complex Patterns of Religiosity in Nordic Countries
?Kimmo Ketola
part 3: State Regulation, the National Church and Religiosity
8 Considering the Default Template: Supreme Overseers of Legality and Religion Complexity in Finland
?Pamela Slotte Russo
9 'There Is No Proof that the Law Has Had No Effect': Recent Danish Legislation on Islam and the Problem of Complexity in Regulating Religion
?Niels Valdemar Vinding
10 National Identity and Religion in the Nordic Countries
?Hans Morten Haugen and Heikki Hiilamo
11 The Danish Folk Church and the Complexity of Social Cohesion
?Karen Marie Leth-Nissen and Marlene Ringgaard Lorensen
12 An Unexpected Dimension of Care Work: Feminine Evangelization among Christian Filipinas in Denmark
?Astrid Krabbe Trolle
13 School and Religious Complexity: Lessons from Four Nordic Countries
?Anders Sjoeborg
part 4: Testing the Complexity Approach in International Settings
14 Complexity Religiosities beyond the Nordic Countries
?Peter B. Andersen and Peter Gundelach
Index