 [05.02.2004]:
Una
Obispo Valiente
A Valiant Bishop
By Håkon Gundersen,
Morgenbladet, Norway
Translation and comments by LIOWLB/Enkidu
Bishop Rosemarie Köhn won the
battle. Gays are allowed to preach. With the book gudsforgiftning,
(God-Poisoning) she now gives her opponents a last kick.
“Ask if she is Lesbian”.
Yes, indeed. “You have to ask if she is Lesbian”. But of course.
But then you find yourself sitting together with her in Hamar, eating
biscuits. Do you brush your teeth, Madam? I cannot just continue
asking just like that. It is exactly the boring part of it that the
Church has placed itself in a position where it must talk about
sexuality all the time. The
Church, however, is much more competent about life and death. Let this
Lesbian stuff come if it seems natural.
- It is no disease disagreeing
with me, you know, says Rosemarie Köhn.
Why does she say that? The book Gode
Gud? Gudsforgiftning og gudsbilder ”Good God?, God-Poisoning and
Images of God” can invoke the impression that Köhn thinks that
those opposing gay priests must be ill. Poisoned by their own image of
God. And thus, wrote the person reviewing her book in VG (Verdens
Gang – one of Norway’s major Newspapers - LIOWLB),
Rosemarie Köhn uses the same ammunition against her critics as she
herself had to endure from them: “To Bishop Köhn. Such a horrible
person you are”. Or as it was expressed in the letter from a more
empathetic person: “You are a clever lady, but how tragic that you
have been fooled by Satan to destroy people”
- I was not able to take that
review seriously. I did not recognize myself, says Köhn.
The
Public Health Service
I was on my way to the headland
into the Lake Mjösa where the ruins of the medieval cathedral of
Hamar are situated.
[The
Hamar Cathedral Priory, was built here when the Episcopal see was
founded in 1152-53. After the Reformation, the See of Hamar was placed
under Oslo, the church lost its position and importance and went into
a long decline. In 1567, during the Scandinavian Seven Years’ War,
the cathedral was set on fire. All that remained were some columns and
arches along the aisle. Today this is an open-air museum and
archaeological excavation zone. The bishopric of Hamar was
reestablished in the 19th century, but the old Cathedral
was never rebuild. LIOWLB]
I thought Rosemarie Köhn lived
in the ruins, like a druid. However, this terrible human being, this
clever lady, this former Hebrew teacher, has her office in a villa in
Swiss style, one of the grand ones, of the kind that often are
converted into kindergartens. However the localities of the Bishop See
of Hamar remind me of the offices of the Public Health Service or any
Norwegian public service. The invitation to a co-worker talk for the
parish priests in the bishopric is on the desk. “I thought we should
discuss working conditions, salary issues and thoughts about our work
in a walk-of-life perspective”.
- Here we administer economy,
pay salaries and function as all other public services. It is not
necessary for the Church to go through such big efforts in order to
distinguish itself from the “World” as it used to be in the old
days. After all, we are the public service dealing with the big
issues; life and death, and thus, we administer a mystery.
- It is strange that you are an
expert on the Old Testament. You seem so new testament and totally
Jesus oriented, even though some people consider you terrible.
- I developed an early sense for
Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament. Now I do not have time very
often, but it happens that I take a look at the Hebrew Bible and just
enjoy the language. The attraction that draws me to it has something
to do with the feeling inherent in the language and its forms of
expression. It is not a chitchatting language. It is strong.
God-Poisoning
Rosemarie Köhn herself is not
more chitchatting than Jesaja. Köhn and her co-author Susanne Sønderbo
use in their book the angry letters the bishop received during the
debate about Siri Sunde [the
first Lesbian priest in the Church of Norway living in a registered
partnership. Sunde was appointed priest by Rosemarie Köhn 5 years
ago, an act which led to criticism in Christian Fundamentalist
circles. LIOWLB]
to support a psychological theory: Those who early have been
indoctrinated with a negative image of God, risk living with a demonic
and corrupted image of God, where the punishment aspect is
overemphasized. Such an individual will as an adult have an
aggressive, all-knowing, forced zeal towards God and his cause. Is it
really good taste to give one’s opponents such a diagnosis?
- We discussed thoroughly
whether we should use this material at all. But, when someone writes
that I am the child of Satan, a barrier has been crossed. It is
worthwhile to try to find a reason for such reactions and we found an
explanation in the concept “God-Poisoning” termed by the German
psychologist Tilman Moser. Thus one might say we find a psychological
explanation for these statements, which we cannot take seriously as
arguments.
- Is it possible to disagree
with you regarding gay priests without being god-poisoned?
- Yes. I am used to
disagreements between people. However, a number of these letters were
beyond anything that can be labelled normal. We think that this shows
how an image of God can fasten itself in body and mind as a poison. It
develops into a disease in one’s life, and one risks living with
fear all one’s life.
- Were any of your fellow
bishops poisoned?
- No, I would not say that. They
were opponents with a different view.
Gro and
God
The former School of the
National Railways, which today serves as the Faculty of Theology at
the University of Oslo is to an unreasonable extent a planet of its
own in relation to the linguistic and historic subjects derived from
theology. In the library, one finds the writings of the young
Rosemarie Köhn, in the shape of stencils and books from the early
1970s about structuralist as well as historicist-critical approaches
to the Scripture.
The short version of the story
about Köhn’s path to the Bishop See starts in 1989 when she, as an
amanuensis at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo, was
promoted to Rector for the Seminar for Applied Theology, a position
which the Harlem Brundtland cabinet wanted to be a step-stone for Köhn,
enabling the cabinet to have a suitable candidate that could be
appointed the first female bishop in the Norwegian National Church.
Does Rosemarie Köhn accept this version of the story, where she
appears to be a tool for Gro [Gro Harlem Brundtland was Noway’s first female
prime minister. She was re-elected several times and represented the
Social Democratic Party. She achieved an incredible popularity in
periods and was generally referred to in the media with her first name
only; Gro. LIOWLB] as
well as for God?
- I did not participate in that
process myself and I cannot say anything about what really happened.
However, it is certain that the cabinet wanted a woman. For me,
however, life went on as expected at the university. Sooner or later
you get a promotion as long as you behave more or less. For me
personally, it was nothing peculiar about my appointment as rector.
The students were joking about the inscription on my gravestone:
”She, who never was appointed bishop”. However, at that time, I
never considered it possible that there would be a female bishop in my
lifetime. I thought the time was not yet ripe. Still, when they called
me from the Council of the Bishopric and asked if I, together with
another woman, would accept nomination, I realized that it could
become reality. At that time I had been chairperson in the Norwegian
Association of Female Theologians and worked for female priests, so I
felt it was a right decision to say yes to female bishops. I therefore
accepted nomination, at least in order to make the possibility
visible.
- Are you Lesbian?
No, I did not ask now. It was
not really the time. She forestalled the question offering me another
biscuit. But there is no reason to expect that she will be fiery. She
does not lean forward when she gets engaged, but she leans back with
even less gestures in order to elucidate issues and faith matters with
huge pedagogical care. Rosemarie Köhn possesses big serenity. When
she also infuses it in others, it may be because she adopts herself
the words, which the person she talks to let out without reflection.
Perhaps it is a spiritual advisor habit?
Vengeance
I wonder why she, after so much
debate, choose to publish a book that invites another fight with the
fundamentalists, and I ask her, wherefrom comes her vengeance?
Thereupon, the bishop talks exhaustedly about the vengeance and its
sources.
- I don’t think the media
really noticed, but after the Siri Sunde debate five years ago, I have
appointed another gay priest living in a registered partnership. I
think it was last year. He is the parish priest in Trysil. Both of
them are very good boys, Köhn says and laughs.
- When I was on a visitation in
the area, the opponents told me that what I did had created some
wounds.
- But you are willing to that?
- Considering that this is about
human rights and the value of human beings, one must risk it.
- Do you have other crazes [kjepphest
– craze in the sense of a matter one is really burning for]?
- I do not have that many crazes
really. But I do have some vengeances, and I will stand up when ever
the value of human beings is being compromised. The office of the
Bishop is often the court of the last instance, for example when
refugees are denied residence because they do not meet the Norwegian
criteria to grant them permission to stay. I also became a bit fierce
during the war in Iraq. I think that we should not have participated
at all [Norway
sent a humanitarian, yet armed force to support the British troops in
Southern Iraq. Yet the government denies vehemently that the Norwegian
contingent should be counted as part of the coalition forces. LIOWLB].
When I uttered this, Bondevik [the
Norwegian prime minister from the Christian-Democratic party. LIOWLB]
ordered me to meet him to a debate in NRK [Norsk
Rikskringkastning - the National Public Service Norwegian Broadcasting
Company LIOWLB],
early in the morning. He felt that I had been to hard with him when I
called him a yielding [in
the Biblical sense. LIOWLB]. He strongly
desired to defend himself against this.
- The Bishop of Hamar is not
voting for the Christian Democrats?
- No, she is not.
- So we guess, she is a Social
Democrat?
- Rather that.
The
Personified Argument
In the ongoing debate about the
dissolution of the Church of Norway as a State Church, Rosemarie Köhn
is mentioned as an argument to maintain it. It does not come from the
most frequent churchgoers, but from those who find it sensible that
the society maintains an institution to take care of religious needs.
- The political authorities have
been pushing in several church issues and some people find that this
is an inappropriate interference from the outside. It irritates
me enormously when it is argued in church circles that someone from
the outside decides internal church matters. When taking
a closer look at those on the outside with a vote, one sees that they
are actually members of the Church. And, as such, they must have a
right to say their opinion.
- Also someone who just goes to
church on Christmas Eve?
- Yes, I am committed to a way
of thinking, in which the Church should be open for all people.
I often think about the Christmas Gospel and the message of the angels
when they say: “I bring you good tidings (…), which shall be for
all people”. There is no limitation; the good tidings are for
everyone. Then I think that the Church must be such a house, such an
enterprise that accommodates all people searching for it, regardless
if they do it this or that way. In this bishopric we talk about the
People’s Church with great joy.
- So you conclude that the State
Church is an appropriate institution?
- Now we are evaluating it, but
my preliminary conclusion, until the opposite has been proven, is that
I believe that for the time being, the State Church actually works,
that it is the church form that is closest to the ideal of an open
church.
- But there is a larger
intensity in the churches that are independent of the state, as for
instance in the United States?
- Yes, but the low intensity –
if you prefer that term – is an impression you get from a certain
distance. It looks pale, but on the inside there is activity and
movement.
- This is not a fundamental
statement on your behalf?
- No, it is pragmatic. I am
thinking about Luther who claimed that the kind of Church order one
has, does not matter as long as it enables the free course of the
gospels. To Luther, the question of Church organisation was what you
call adiafora, a question that does not relate to the true
faith.
Spectacle
and Purification
- I have always thought that
“fire and brimstone preachers” was something that Dagbladet [a
liberal and traditionally very progressive, but also politically
correct Norwegian newspaper. LIOWLB]
kept alive to provide itself with a purpose. However, that is not the
case.
- It is not longer ago than
1997, I think, that I was invited to celebrate the mass in Bergen
together with Maria Jebsen, who later became bishop of Hamburg. The
church was filled up, but it turned into a spectacle. We had to dress
in a congregation centre across the street, and when we were going in
the procession on our way to the church, we needed police protection.
As we entered the church, there were tears in people’s faces. The
situation was so tensed that we made a true impression on people’s
minds when we entered. However, it has not been publicly known that
some of those who were the hardest opponents performed some kind of a
purification ceremony afterwards. We had polluted and contaminated the
church.
- This was the State Church?
- Yes. How this purification was
performed I do not know, but they did something in there.
Rosemarie Köhn entered Norway
on a ship on the Oslo Fjord on Christmas Eve 1946, from a devastated
Germany. She was 7 years old and came together with her mother, who
had a Norwegian passport. The father who was a German soldier was
taken into captivity by the Allies during the Battle of North Africa
and returned to Germany a couple of years after the war. Both he an
the mother married new spouses and Rosemarie Köhn has 2 half sisters,
one in Norway and one in Germany. Until she moved to Hamar, her home
was Gjerderum, not that far away, to the south of Gardermoen, where
she lived together with her mother in the same country courtyard as
her brother’s family.
- Since I don’t have children
of my own, I exhaust my brother’s children and grand children.
- Are you lesbian?
- Prophetism
- Prophestism?
- Yes, the kind of movements
they represented, Amos, Jeremiah, Jesajah, Mika
Texts of
Comfort
It is not Rosemarie Köhn who
avoids the question. I am the one that did not ask anyway. What I
asked was what she had been doing if she had stayed in the purely
academic sphere. She would have studied the prophets. Why?
- They spoke up against things.
They were criticising their societies, they were critiquing organised
religion, and they were huge.
- And they appear to be mad.
- Yes, but huge. I have worked
the most with Amos and Jeremiah. The favourite, however, is Jesajah.
He talks about judgement. But he also talks strongly about the future,
and about hope. The prophecies have functioned as comforting texts for
many people.
- What would you like to study
about them?
- I would have studied their
preaching. What was their message for the contemporary world?
- Does you interest in Jesajah
and the others depend on your faith?
- No, but for me personally, it
means something for my faith that they believed in a god administering
a future. Once when I was on a visitation, I was asked by a school
child; ”Why do you bother to believe in God”?
- What did you answer?
- The scripture fascinates me.
However, when I say that I bother to believe in a god, it is because I
see a love in Christ, which I do not see elsewhere. If we, as one
church, could implement some of that love, I will remain a member.
- You fought for female priests
for 25 years before you were appointed bishop. Did they who nominated
you back then also know that they got an advocate for gays within the
church?
- No, they did not know that,
nor did I actually. My position regarding gays is something that
developed during a long time. It was a very open environment at the
university, and it became clear that there were people around fighting
with their sexual orientation. Therefore, I knew the problem, and I
had been one of those thinking about a solution.
- Has your knowledge in Hebrew
enabled you to find passages in the scripture that gave you an
eye-opening experience in this field?
- Yes, in the Norwegian
translation of the Bible we can read: Gud skapte dem til mann og
kvinne “God created them as man and woman”. It is all right,
but in Hebrew the text says “God created them as male and female”.
This way, the gender perspective crystallizes already from the very
beginning. Further we can read that God created them in his own
image, as male and female. That makes me think that it is not that
far removed to assume that the gender dimension, the combined
dimension, he and she, is part of God’s nature. It provides both
sexes with a specific dignity.
- Are you a lesbian yourself?
- No, I am not. But usually I do
not answer that question, because I think people need not answer that.
- So this has not been a
personal burning issue for you?
- No, it has not been my
personal issue.
Rosemarie Köhn
Born 20. October 1939 in
Rathenow not far from Berlin
Honour’s Degree in Theology (teologisk
embedseksamen, cand. Theol.) at the University of Oslo in 1966
Bishop of Hamar since 1993
* [Si
desea información sobre la fuente original favor de solicitarla a ENKIDU].
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Document created 27.01.2004, 12:58:09 CET
Published 27.01.2004
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Los
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Febrero 2007
