Robb Torseth

The title page of student notes on Gisle's Dogmatik, fittingly adorned with flowers. A common structural devise in the nineteenth century is the concept of organicism. The word "organic" is generally used today to describe something growing, alive, and natural, as in the 'organic' sciences, i.e. the study of carbon-based compounds. Indeed, the nineteenth century theologians and philosophers often found the concept of an 'organic' relationship a helpful tool for articulated various abstract...

A good theologian has many influences in his life, both those in the present, and those in the past. Martin Luther once wrote, “If you, O human being … are capable of unveiling the concealed truth only in part—be it as large as it may—then know that there is a witness there that points past you and will only be revealed to you or others in the future.” Eclecticism is thus an important part of being a theologian; but, significantly, it must be a learned eclecticism, reaching out into the...

What are the Grundrids? This is a question that has arisen in my own contemplation of Gisle's seminal volume in tandem with two other sources for his theology: the earlier Swedish edition, Föreläsningar öfver Systematiska Theologien (1878), from the lecture note of August Weenaas, along with the 1850 Den Kristelige Dogmatik from the lecture notes of Gjermunde Hoyme. In the latter two instances, more elaboration is clearly present, with more direct engagement with prominent thinkers,...