Visit Norway

The concert "Book of Ruth - an oratorio about goodness" by cathedral cantor Petra Bjørkhaug is a story of inclusion, courage and love that is as relevant today as it was three thousand years ago.

The Book of Ruth is one of the shorter books in the Old Testament. The story of Ruth is about hunger and hardship, love and faithfulness, loyalty and inclusion across cultural boundaries, and most of all, about a strong woman who broke with societal norms.

The young widow and Moabite woman Ruth left her people and her religion to follow her mother-in-law to Bethlehem. She took the initiative herself towards Boaz, who would become her second husband. She made independent choices on her own behalf, which was unusual in the patriarchal society in which she lived some 3,000 years ago. And these choices led to her, the immigrant woman Ruth, carrying on the lineage, becoming the great-grandmother of King David and the ancestor of Jesus.

Cast