Law & religion in the 21st century : Nordic perspectives

How come that countries which are regarded as being among the most secularized in the world, still have national churches with more or less defined relations to the state? – Why is a vast majority of the population still members of these churches, which are all more or less regulated by public law? – And why then do the other religious communities present in the public sphere have their own internal legal structures? Such puzzling – and challenging – questions are the focus of this book in which Nordic scholars from the disciplines of law, ethics, religious studies, and theology offer critical analyses of religious and secular norms influencing Nordic law. Their research analyzes the historical roots and the current status of relations between religious and secular norms and the law, and they point to possible new routes to offer in this relation in the 21st Century. This book not only demonstrates where and to what extent the Nordic models need adjustment with inspiration from Europeanized or globalized perspectives. A central conclusion is that the Nordic models themselves can be used for adjustment of other legal and religious systems. The Nordic idea of public religions combined with the secularity of law might be worth reflecting on also outside these countries. . With this rich publication an old scientific field is reopened within Nordic research in new contexts and with new theories and methods. The book explains why studies in Law & Religion have been undermined throughout modernity.