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=?iso-8859-1?Q?Jehova=B4s?= witnesses in Norway
Torgrim Hoff (torgrim.hoff@IMA.UIO.NO)
Mon, 6 Nov 1995 20:29:01 +0000
Where I grew up was also the village in Norway where Jehova Witnesses have
their main centre, one of the larger in Europe. The reason in fact that
they are situated there is because of the postal code being 1914, which I
gather you know
is also a year of great importance in their beliefs. This village is called
Ytre Enebakk, and is some thirty kilometers southeast of Oslo.
The reason I write U is that I see you are interested in some information ab=
out
witnesses outside an anglo-american cultural context. As for january I am
planning writing something on jehovah=B4s witnesses focusing on their histor=
y
myths. I am nothing of an expert at this point on Jehova=B4s witnesses as
regarding race, ethnicity and nationalism, but these issues is of my great
interest, and I would be happy to conduct an interview with some of the
witnesses at the "Guardian Tower", as their centre is called.
If you do have questions that you want me to put forward for you, I would
gladly do so, but I can=B4t conduct the interview before late January -96.
In Norway JW (called Jehovas Vitner in norwegian) is connected publically wi=
th
sectarianism, and with great suspicion and in negative terms. There is a
moral condemnation by media and public on JW as for their exclusion policy
on "lost members" and as for their several given dates for armagedon that
failed, and so on. But their missionaries are higly active, and their
psychological force very convincing to a increasingly number of people
becoming members.
It is of some importance I think too, to emphasize that I myself is not
a member of JW. (If you didn=B4t already figure that out.)
I=B4ll be happy to hear from you. :)
********************************************
Torgrim Hoff
Institute and Museum for Anthropology
University of Oslo, Norway
Blindern Studenterhjem PB4
EMAIL: torgrim.hoff@ima.uio.no
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