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 information about Gisle's lecturing style and approach to preaching.

“Johnson's academic lectures were of great value. What matters to the students is, on the one hand, that the lecture captures and maintains interest, on the other, that it gives them a positive contribution; to this end, it is required that the lecture be held in such a way that the attendees can note down the essentials. But this double requirement is difficult to fulfill: it requires, on the one hand, avoidance of mechanical, sloppy dictation, and on the other, that the lecture is not so free and fast that it only leaves a fleeting impression. While Professor Welhaven arranged his academic lectures in such a way that he first dictated a short paragraph to us, over which he then expanded in a free, composed lecture, which was difficult to take notes on, Johnson’s lecture went in a continuous, calm stream, where these moments were so incorporated and demarcated that they could be written down with good context. When I compared my notes and others’ notes after Caspari’s and Johnson’s lectures, there was a strange difference: it was difficult to follow Caspari’s lively and rambling speech; the notes were therefore often defective and incoherent; Johnson’s notes, on the other hand, were kept in good context and in good language. With Johnson’s strictly logical and rigid form, however, there was a less beneficial side for us students for which he could not be blamed—namely, that we could not free ourselves from the form he gave us. We therefore had no other choice but to swallow everything from him with skin and hair: his form was so adequate that we could not find an alternative. We therefore learned his lectures almost by heart from cover to cover, so it was not without reason when the theological students and candidates from that time were characterized as pocket editions of Gisle Johnson."

"I was always present at the Bible readings Johnson held in the 1950s over Luke's Gospel. In my long life I have read and heard many sermons and Bible readings, but none like the ones he gave then. I probably heard him later too, but nothing with the glow and breathtaking power that he had initially. He was then manifestly just beginning to be stirred. The characteristic feature of his preaching was that it was strongly rousing. His voice had a heart-winning sound of its own, which also did its part to pave the way for his words. He had a strange ability to make the text he spoke over vivid and practical: what can often occur by a superficial reading an everyday or insignificant thing, obtained through his explanation a surprising novelty and depth. Unforgettable for all those who were present was thus the hour when he spoke of the sinner, who wet the Lord’s feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. Here it was important to read the apparent contrast between the Lord’s words to Simon the Pharisee: 'Her many sins are forgiven her, because she loved much,' and His words to the woman: 'Your faith has saved you, go in peace.' He points the wise self-righteous Pharisee to her love, but the sinner, who felt how poor her love was, he points to the faith that has driven her to him."

(Pages 125-145)