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Gisle on Thankfulness
“The Believer’s Childlike Obedience to God,” Lectures on Christian Ethics As gratitude to the God of grace, this love is also necessarily a heartfelt desire to please Him in everything. This speaks, of course, about someone's desire to attain to God's good pleasure. Precisely, it is the essential presupposition of the believer’s love for God. It solely concerns the grateful heart's desire to thank Him, He to whom one thus has to thank for everything one is and everything one
Robb Torseth
Nov 272 min read


Gisle on the Nicene Creed
The title page to Gisle Johnson's translation of the Book of Concord. With the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed, a great deal of theological literature has been published, presented on, and disseminated to celebrate what is essentially the most seminal theological document in the history of Chrsitianity outside of the Bible itself. Gisle Johnson cared deeply about Nicene theology. This is apparent not only in his sections on the Trinity in his own systematic theology, b
Robb Torseth
Nov 177 min read


Gisle Johnson's Signature
Significant to the study of historical figures is the discovery of their signature. Although it might seem a trivial things, signatures are a personal touch: seeing the signature of someone long-gone is a glimpse into their personality, a sort of written fingerprint. It was exciting, then, to find Gisle Johnson's signature, here adorning a letter of recommendation for one Ole Christiansen Bjornstad. A rough translation with magnified signature is as follows: Testimony of the
Robb Torseth
Oct 271 min read


Introducing the Unpublished Gisle
Title page: "The Pauline Concept of Doctrine," presented by Gisle Johnson, Lecturer in Theology. The last post mentioned a series of lost...
Robb Torseth
Jul 243 min read


Gisle's Lost Lectures
Several authors mention Gisle's lost lectures and manuscripts. Part of the Gisle Johnson Project is to track down these lost lectures,...
Robb Torseth
Jul 212 min read


Gisle et al: Three Theologians in Comparison
Gisle was a continentally-trained theologian: before proceeding to lecture at the University of Kristiana, he toured Europe studying with...
Robb Torseth
Jul 1114 min read


Gisle as Lecturer & Preacher
Nils Herzberg was a student of Gisle Johnson's. In his memoir, Fra min barndoms og ungdoms tid: 1827-1856 , he records first-hand...
Robb Torseth
Jul 73 min read


The Appeal to the Christian Friends of Our Nation (1883)
The Norwegian Political Climate of the 1800’s [1] The greatest political crisis since 1814 was beginning to boil, climaxing in the...
Robb Torseth
Jul 440 min read


Forward to the Swedish Edition (1878)
FORWARD This work, left in translation, has been used at the Theological Seminary of the Augustana Synod since 1868. The teacher of...
Robb Torseth
Jul 31 min read


Sample: Gisle on the Irrefutable Demand
One of the more significant elements in Gisle thought comes within the Pistik. It is what Gisle calls the "irrefutible claim" on...
Robb Torseth
Jul 35 min read


A Baptist & A Lutheran: Origin Story
One of the more common questions I get is how a rather Reformed Baptist living in the Southern California became acquainted with Gisle...
Robb Torseth
Jul 32 min read


Translational Philosophy
Translation is part art and part science. There is a certain malleability to words, and a certain concreteness as well. The well-worn...
Robb Torseth
Jul 23 min read


Who was Gisle Johnson?
"People poured into the meeting place and sat spellbound while he spoke, often for as long as two hours. His words seemed to grip his...
Robb Torseth
Jul 14 min read


Gisle on The Christian Society
Original page of "Det Kristelige Selskap." Gisle Johnson , Forel æ sninger af den Kristelige Ethik, “Det Kristelige Selskap” What makes...
Robb Torseth
Jul 14 min read


Exploring Gisle Johnson's Theological Legacy Through Translation
Translating the Theological Legacy of a Norske Theologien Who was Gisle Johnson? This is the most common question posed when the name is...
Robb Torseth
Jun 272 min read
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