From the Washington Times.
Excerpt:
Bibles have been flying off the book shelves in Norway, a country hailed more for its adherence to secular politics and culture than spiritual development. And while religious leaders aren’t quite calling the strong biblical book sales proof positive of a spiritual awakening, they are seeing it as a sign of the nation’s more public embrace of God and a continuing quiet growth in biblical teachings.
A new Norwegian-language version of the Bible has become the country’s No. 1 best-seller, The Associated Press reported. And its popularity has been evidenced for some time. The Blaze reported that the version has been in the top 15 best-seller list for 54 of the past 56 weeks.
As The Guardian noted, Bible sales in Norway have topped the charts for longer the pop star Justin Bieber’s autobiography or the hugely popular “Fifty Shades of Grey.”
Meanwhile, Norwegians are taking their faith to the stage, too. A six-hour play called “Bibelen,” which means “The Bible” in Norwegian, has been drawing thousands. In a three-month span, more than 16,000 people saw the production, The Blaze reported.
Leaders of the Lutheran Church of Norway say it’s not quite an awakening. After all, they say, only 1 percent of the country’s 5 million residents attend church. And others, such as biblical scholars, say the furor is over nothing — that Norwegians are traditionally quiet followers of the faith who don’t necessarily need to go to church as part of their belief system. But the sales are significant, nonetheless. If nothing else, they show the mindset of the nation.
“Thoughts and images from the Bible still have an impact on how we experience reality,” said Karl Ove Knausgaard, one of the Norwegian authors who helped translate the popular Bible version, in the AP report.
Norway actually was one of the more conservative countries in Europe, and one of the last to have the big decline of the family that we see in the other Scandinavian countries.
WINTERY KNIGHT 
Living in Norway, I would say 1 % attending churches in Norway is too pessimistic. To put it in perspective, there is one percent pentecostals in Norway. A more realistic figure for church attendance is 5 %. Still very small compared to a 85 % membership in christians churches, where the national lutheran church is by far the largest.
I also think the Bible has been the bestseller in Norway for decades.
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If this article is correct, it looks like the Norwegian language version of the Bible had been “politically corrected”:
“In 2011, the Norwegian Ombudsman for Children, Reidar Hjerman, has suggested to the head translator of the modern version of the Bible, Hans Olav-Mørk, to remove the term “discipline” (tukt) from some verses and proposed using the word “rebuke” (irettesette). Unfortunately, totally unprofessionally and unscientifically, the term was removed from the verses where it has the meaning of physical punishment. http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/Evighet-og-tukt-pa-vei-ut-av-Bibelen-6535287.html
Where was the Christian press when this happened? Is it not ethically, don’t mention scientifically, to have an accurate translation of the Bible, the most influencing book in the history of the mankind and let people to interpret or accept it rather than to interfere at a such level with a scientific work on grounds of political correctness? Where is the Christian press when the State dictates to the people what to believe in and what to accept?”
http://www.jurnaldenord.info/english/opinions/what-happens-with-press-in-norway/#more-11839
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