| Summary: | This is an empirical study on changes and reform attempts in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland (ELCI), focusing on the role of pastors in the processes. The aim is to understand the role pastors played, how and why they contributed to or resisted changes or reforms. The emphasis is both on the role of pastors locally, in the parish, and at national level, looking at the interaction between the pastoral office and the organisation that constitutes the work environment. The approach is thus bifocal, on the pastors and on the church as an organisation. The main research question is: How did changes and attempted reforms in the ELCI affect the role of pastors, and which role did pastors play? The research is based on three separate case studies which all study changes in the wake of reforms or attempted reforms. The first one looks at changes in the church following tax reforms which boosted church funding significantly and led to numerous changes in church work, especially in the capital and in larger towns. The study shows that pastors were active participants in the changes that followed in the parishes and that these changes were locally instigated. The second study analyses the reception of a strategic planning process in the ELCI and the third evalues the success of a centrally instigated attempt to establish cooperation areas in the ELCI. In both cases the results show limited participation on behalf of the pastors. All three studies have been published in peer reviewed journals. The case studies employ qualitative methodology, two sets of interviews, two short questionnaires which included open ended questions and study of related documents, including parish reports and official documents from the General Assembly of ELCI, the Parliament and other institutions. The theoretical framework is taken from organisational studies and sociological analysis on change and reform, authority and legitimacy focusing on the pastoral agency in the church structure, locally and nationwide and on the meeting of ...
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