Robb Torseth

In the possession of the Gisle Johnson Project are two copies of Dogmahistorien, or Dogmatic History, a historical theology where Gisle Johnson analyzes the progress of doctrine as it unfolds through time and in the Church. Published posthumously in 1897 in this early example of a paperback edition (one having been rebound due to understandably poor condition), this work is the product of Gisle Johnson's lecturing career after his move from the Chair of Theology into the Chair of History in...

Gisle Johnson lived during a time of immense change. Norway, along with the entire world, was quickly modernizing: the rural farmlife enjoyed by the bønder class was now becoming mixed up with the industrial revolution, and the vast expansion of the cities—particularly Kristiana (Oslo)—meant that mercy ministry and pastoral care via the state church was stretched thin. The chairman of the Inner Mission Society, Gisle was able to utilize the resources of this organization to rise to the...

In First Timothy, the Apostle Paul considers the qualifications for elders, listing several qualities he feels are sine qua non for those in vocational ministry: "An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money" (1 Tim. 3:2-3). The word reading this list, there are some qualities that might stand out more immediately: obviously,...