Ole Edvard Borgen (8 November 1925 – 24 March 2009) was a Norwegian theologian and Methodist bishop. He was born in

Lillestrøm Lillestrøm is a municipality in Viken county. It is located in the traditional district of Romerike. With a population of 85,757 inhabitants, it is the fourth most populated municipality in Viken. It was founded on 1 January 2020 as a merger be ...

as a son of meat merchant Omar Emil Borgen (1900–1985) and Harda Pytte (1901–1989), and older brother of

Peder Borgen Peder Johan Borgen (born 26 January 1928 in Lillestrøm, Norway) is a Norwegian Methodist minister, has a Doctorate in Theology, and is a retired professor at Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He is considered a pioneer "within the th ...

. In June 1949 he married Martha Olava Rygge (1928–2003). He attended

Tomb Agricultural School A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immuremen ...

from 1944 to 1946, and also completed an apprenticeship in

sausage making The origins of meat preservation are lost to the ages but probably began when humans began to realize the preservative value of salt. Sausage making originally developed as a means to preserve and transport meat. Primitive societies learned ...

, intent to take over his father's store and the family farm. He was elected to Lillestrøm city council, serving from 1950 to 1956. Besides that, the entire family adhered to the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

creed, and in 1956 Borgen travelled to the United States to study different subjects. From 1959 to 1962 he was a choir leader and pastor for youths in Edgemont Baptist Church,

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...

, and from 1963 he was a pastor at West Side Avenue Methodist Church in

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Drew University Drew University is a private university in Madison, New Jersey. Drew has been nicknamed the "University in the Forest" because of its wooded campus. As of fall 2020, more than 2,200 students were pursuing degrees at the university's three scho ...

with the thesis ''John Wesley on the Sacraments. A Theological Study''. He had then been stationed in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

since 1966, as an aide to the Methodist bishop to the Nordic countries, Odd Hagen. After a spell as secretary at the Methodist World Council office in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

, Borgen served as the Methodist bishop to the Nordic countries from 1970 to 1989. He was a delegate to the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most juri ...

and became president of the Council of Methodist Bishops, as the first non-American. He rounded off his career as a professor of

systematic theology Systematic theology, or systematics, is a discipline of Christian theology that formulates an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the doctrines of the Christian faith. It addresses issues such as what the Bible teaches about certain topi ...

Asbury Theological Seminary Asbury Theological Seminary is a Christian Wesleyan seminary in the historical Methodist tradition located in Wilmore, Kentucky. It is the largest seminary of the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. It is known for its advocacy of egalitarianism, giving ...

from 1989 to 1992. He died in March 2009 in

Lørenskog is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus in Viken (county), Viken Counties of Norway, county, Norway. A suburb of Oslo, it is part of the Oslo urban area and the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Romerike. The administrati ...

References

1925 births 2009 deaths People from Skedsmo People from Lillestrøm Akershus politicians Norwegian theologians Norwegian Methodists Norwegian bishops 20th-century Methodist bishops Drew University alumni Asbury Theological Seminary faculty Norwegian expatriates in the United States Norwegian expatriates in Switzerland 20th-century Protestant theologians {{Norway-reli-bio-stub