Post-secular religion and the therapeutic turn: three Norwegian examples

Authors

• Ingvild Sælid Gilhus University of Bergen

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30674/scripta.67409

Keywords:

Religious change, Postsecularism, Norway, Therapeutics, Healing, Health, Experience (Religion), New Age movement, Folklore, Norwegian, Christianity, Angels, Religious movements, Popular, Spirituality, Mind and body, Holistic medicine, Alternative medicine

Abstract

The focus of this article is three contemporary Norwegians, who claim that they communicate with superhuman beings and/or promote therapeutic practices based on superhuman intervention. They come from different walks of life: Margit Sandemo is a best-selling author and housewife; Joralf Gjerstad is now retired, but was a dairy assistant and a bell-ringer in the local church; Märtha Louise is a princess and trained as a physiotherapist and Rosen ther­apist.What sorts of religion do they promote? How do they relate to the Church? How do they reflect the situation of post-secular religion in Norway? They personify in different ways the therapeutic turn of contemporary culture and religion, which challenges traditional religion as well as the field of medicine/science. Sandemo, Gjerstad and Märtha Louise and Samnøy try to solve everyday problems—illness, difficulties in mastering life and personal relations, the need for safety, feelings of unease in one’s house—problems that are basic in human life, but in some cases neglected by the expert fields or not able to be solved within them.