About the project
The position of religious leaders in Norwegian public life may be characterised as ambiguous. Religious leaders in communities dominated by minority groups or immigrants are often accused of obstructing their members’ integration in Norway. There are many myths concerning religious leaders, but little empirical knowledge. For example, what kind of power can leaders in various religious communities exert over their members? What factors regulate this exercise of power? How do the religious leaders themselves assess their opportunities to exert power? And what kind of working day do various religious leaders have?
This book sought to go behind the myths and analyse religious leaders’ power/impotence on the basis of tangible, empirical factors in a number of different religious communities. The book takes as its starting point various religious communities’ understanding of what a religious leader is; what kind of power structure they are defined as belonging to, what tasks they are expected to perform and what opportunities they actually have to exert power over their members. The book also sheds light on how religious leaders themselves assess their service and how they view this in relation to Norwegian society as a whole.
Publications
- Døving, Cora Alexa: Position and Self-understanding of Sunni Muslim Imams in Norway in Journal of Muslims in Europe, 3 (2014), 209-233, Brill, 2014
- Døving, Cora Alexa and Terje Emberland: Religiøse ledere. Makt og avmakt i norske trossamfunn [Religious leaders – power and impotence in Norwegian religious communities], Døving, C. A. & Thorbjørnsrud, B. (Eds.), Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 2012