Ragnvald Gjerløw (17 June 1853 – 1936) was a Norwegian priest and writer. He was born in

Aurland Aurland () is a municipality in the county of Vestland, Norway. It is located on the south side of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center is the village of Aurlandsvangen. Other villages include Bakka, ...

as a son of Jens Larsen Gjerløw and Anne Marie Nitter Ohnstad. He was a brother of

Mons Klingenberg Gjerløw Mons Klingenberg Gjerløw (11 November 1850 – 1935) was a Norwegian editor. He was born in Aurland as a son of Jens Larsen Gjerløw and Anne Marie Nitter Ohnstad. He was a brother of Ragnvald Gjerløw. He took secondary education as well as the ...

. He spent some time at sea and took secondary education before enrolling in higher education. He graduated with the

cand.theol. Candidatus theologiæ (male), Candidata theologiæ (female), abbreviated cand. theol. is an academic degree with a long tradition, awarded after a six-year higher education in theology in Iceland, Denmark, and Norway. In Norway, the title has re ...

degree in 1881, and worked as a teacher and school manager until 1887, when he became

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

Kvinnherad Kvinnherad is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnhordland, along the Hardangerfjorden. The municipality was the 5th in size in former Hordaland county. The administrative centre of the mu ...

. He was then

vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

Lunde, Telemark Lunde is a former municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The municipality centre was Bjervamoen. It was created by a split from Bø on 1 January 1867. At that time Lunde had a population of 2,257. On 1 January 1964 the municipality was merged ...

from 1895 to 1906, in St. John's Church,

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

from 1906 to 1909 and in

Stavanger Cathedral Stavanger Cathedral ( no, Stavanger domkirke) is Norway's oldest cathedral and the seat of the Bishop of Stavanger who leads the Diocese of Stavanger in the Church of Norway. It is located in the centre of the city of Stavanger which lies in the ...

from 1909 to 1918. He then became

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 * ...

in the Diocese of Christianssand, and in 1925 he was acting bishop of the newly created

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 ...

. On 1 July 1925 he resigned and moved to Oslo. He has been credited for playing a main role in re-establishing the Diocese of Stavanger, having agitated for it since 1919, and presented the case for

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Vestfold og Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. In 2020, it had a population of 47 ...

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...

. In 1923 he was a part of a delegation (together with County Governor Thorvald Andreas Larsen and school inspector Tveteraas) to the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

. They met with the President of the Parliament and politician Tjalve Gjøstein, and also won the support of politician

Lars Oftedal Lars Oftedal (3 January 1877 – 19 April 1932) was a Norwegian attorney and newspaper editor. Biography Oftedal was born in Stavanger in Rogaland, Norway. He was the son of parish priest Lars Oftedal (1838–1900) and his wife Olava Mat ...

. Gjerløw was a member of the board of the trade union Norwegian Association of Clergy, and also 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, ...

. He wrote some books, including ''Bibelske skisser'' and ''Korte søndagsbetragtninger'', and contributed to the works ''Bibelen med forklaringer'' and ''Stavangerboken 1814–1914''. He also translated

Alfred Edersheim Alfred Edersheim (7 March 1825 – 16 March 1889) was a Jewish convert to Christianity and a Biblical scholar known especially for his book ''The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah'' (1883). Early life and education Edersheim was born in V ...

's seven-volume ''Bible History'' to Norwegian. He wrote several articles in newspapers and magazines, and favored ''

Morgenbladet ''Morgenbladet'' is a Norwegian weekly, newspaper, covering politics, culture and science. History ''Morgenbladet'' was founded in 1819 by the book printer Niels Wulfsberg. The paper is the country's first daily newspaper; however, Adresseavi ...

'', where his nephew

Olaf Gjerløw Jens Olaf Gjerløw (20 March 1885 – 5 December 1949) was a Norwegian newspaper editor. He was editor for the newspaper ''Morgenbladet'' from 1920 until his death in 1949, except for a period in German prisons during World War II. Personal life ...

was editor-in-chief from 1920. He was also an uncle of Lilli Gjerløw. In September 1885 in

Heddal Heddal is a village and parish in Notodden municipality in Telemark County, Norway. History The parish of ''Hitterdal'' was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). Notodden was separated from Heddal both as a ...

he married Laura Flood, a sister of Immanuel Flood and Jørgen W. Flood. He died in 1936.

References

1853 births 1936 deaths 19th-century Norwegian Lutheran clergy Norwegian writers People from Aurland 20th-century Norwegian Lutheran clergy {{Norway-reli-bio-stub