Jacob Christian Petersen or J.C. Petersen was a Norwegian

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

. He served as the first

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

of the (modern-day)

Diocese of Stavanger The Diocese of Stavanger ( no, Stavanger bispedømme) is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers all of Rogaland county in western Norway. The cathedral city is Stavanger, where the Stavanger Cathedral is located. The bishop is Anne Li ...

from its re-establishment in 1925 until his retirement in 1940.

Personal life

Jacob Christian Petersen was born on 22 February 1870 in

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Viken, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such as Konne ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

to the merchant Peter Petersen and his wife Kristine Marie Svendsen. He married Sara Marie Myhre in 1900.

Education and career

He began his theological studies in 1888 and received his cand.theol. degree in 1894. He was a teacher in

Kristiania Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

from 1895-1897. Then he was assistant priest in Våler in 1897 for one year. Next, he was hired as a chaplain in Vang in

Hedmark Hedmark () was a county in Norway before 1 January 2020, bordering Trøndelag to the north, Oppland to the west, Akershus to the south, and Sweden to the east. The county administration is in Hamar. Hedmark and Oppland counties were merged int ...

. Then in 1905, be moved to Norddal in Sunnmøre to be the parish priest. In 1910 he became the parish priest at Stranda and a year later he was called to be the

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of the Østre Sunnmøre deanery, a job he held from 1911-1919. In 1919, he was called to be the parish priest at

St. Petri Church St. Petri Church ( no, St. Petri kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in the large Stavanger Municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the borough of Storhaug which lies near the centre of the city of Stavanger in th ...

in Stavanger. During that time, he was also the chairman of the

Norwegian Missionary Society The Norwegian Missionary Society or the Norwegian Mission Society ( no, Det Norske Misjonsselskap, NMS) is the first and oldest missionary organization in Norway. It was started by a group of approximately 180 Stavanger residents in August 1842, ...

from 1921 until 1923 and again in 1928. In 1924, it was decided that the large Diocese of Kristiansand was going to be divided with all of Rogaland county becoming the newly re-established

which had been dormant since 1682. On 1 January 1925, the new diocese came into existence and Jacob Christian Petersen was appointed to be its first

. He was the first "Bishop of Stavanger" since Jacob Jensen Jersin in 1682. Petersen retired in 1940 and he lived until the age of 94. He died in 1964.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petersen, Jacob Christian 1870 births 1964 deaths Bishops of Stavanger 20th-century Lutheran bishops