Gisle Johnson

Gisle Johnson (1889)

Gisle Christian Johnson monument at at Vår Frelsers gravlund, Oslo

Gisle Christian Johnson (10 September 1822 – 17 July 1894) was a leading 19th Century Norwegian theologian and educator.

Biography

Gisle Christian Johnson was born in Halden in Østfold, Norway.and grew up in Kristiansand in Vest-Agder. He studied theology at the University of Christiania and was graduated in 1845. In 1849 he became a lecturer at the University of Christiania, and in 1860 became a professor, first in systematic theology and Dogmatic theology and from 1875 in church history.

In 1855, he founded the Christiania Inner Mission Society (Christiania Indremissionsforening), in 1863 the Lutheran Church Official Journal (Luthersk Kirketidende) and in 1867 the Norwegian Luther Foundation (Den norske Lutherstiftelse). In 1858 he established, together with Carl Paul Caspari, an annual publication entitled Theologisk Tidskrift for den evangelisk-lutherske Kirke i Norge which he edited until 1891. Religiously he followed strict Confessional Lutheranism. During revival which went across Norway during the 1850s, he reflected the pietistic and ecclesial tradition of Hans Nielsen Hauge. Johnson emphasized a theology that was both based on the experience of faith and grounded in Lutheran orthodoxy.

He was a member of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters from 1858. He was appointed a Knight in the Order of St. Olav in 1866 and made a Commander 1st class in 1882. In 1879, he was conferred an honorary doctorate by the University of Copenhagen. Both Gisle Johnsons plass in the district of Grünerløkka in Oslo and Gisle Johnsons gate in Trondheim were named in his honor.

Selected Works

• Grundrids af Den systematiske teologi (Foundations of the systematic theology) (1878)
• Forelæsninger over dogmehistorien (Lectures in dogmatic history) (1898)

See also

• Lutheran orthodoxy