The Complexity of Conversion - Intersectional Perspectives on Religious Change in Antiquity and Beyond - Valérie Nicolet
Complex Interactions: Conversion and Interreligious Dialogue in the Norwegian Context
The Complexity of Conversion - Intersectional Perspectives on Religious Change in Antiquity and Beyond - Valérie Nicolet
Anne-Hege Grung [+]
University of Oslo
Anne Hege Grung is Associate Professor in Interreligious Studies and Practical Theology at the Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo. She teaches gender and interreligious relations and interfaith chaplaincy, and is presently doing research on the discourse of violence against women among the religious leadership and feminist NGOs in Lebanon. In 2015, she published the book Gender Justice in Muslim-Christian Readings: Christian and Muslim Women in Norway Making Meaning of Texts from the Bible, the Koran and the Hadith. The article “Negotiating Gender Justice Between State, Religion and NGOs: A Lebanese Case” was published in 2018.
Description
This essay explores the process of creating a text that communicates a joint declaration on the right to conversion. It was put together by a Contact group bringing together the Islamic council of Norway (ICN) and the Church of Norway (CoN) and released in 2007. In this context, a question highlights the connection between conversion, identity politics and the discourse on immigration: who has the authority to decide whether a person is a convert or not?