Ragnvald Andreas Indrebø (22 November 1891–26 June 1984) was a Norwegian Lutheran

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 ca ...

. He was born in Os. He was part of the movement to translate the Norwegian Bible into the

Nynorsk Nynorsk () () is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language ( no, Landsmål) parallel to the Dano-Nor ...

written language during the 1930s. He edited the periodical '' Luthersk Kirketidende'' from 1938 to 1948. He served as Bishop of the

Diocese of Bjørgvin The Diocese of Bjørgvin ( no, Bjørgvin bispedømme) is one of the 11 dioceses that make up the Church of Norway. It includes all of the churches located in the county of Vestland in Western Norway. The cathedral city is Bergen, Norway's second ...

from 1948 to 1961.

Early life

Ragnvald Indrebø was born on 22 November 1891 in Os, a small municipality, just south of the city of

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Municipal ...

county,

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 t ...

. His parents were Ludvig Johannes Indrebø and Severine Malene Frøysland. His brother was

Gustav Indrebø Gustav Indrebø (17 December 1889 in Samnanger, Hordaland – 3 August 1942) was a Norwegian philologist. His father was a teacher in Årdal, Jølster. His brother Ragnvald Indrebø became bishop of the diocese of Bjørgvin. He graduated i ...

, who went on to be a famous linguist in Norway. The family moved around when he was young, living in

Jølster Jølster is a former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It was located in the traditional district of Sunnfjord. The administrative centre was the village of Skei. Other villages in the municipality included Helgheim, Ålhus, Vass ...

Gaular Gaular is a former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It was located in the traditional district of Sunnfjord. The administrative centre was the village of Sande. Other villages in the municipality included Bygstad, Hestad, an ...

, and finally

Vestre Aker Vestre Aker (Western Aker) is a borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. It has a population of 50,157 as of 2020. The previous Aker Municipality was merged into the city of Oslo in 1948. The borough of Vestre Aker was organized as part of the 1 Ja ...

. In 1911, he began to study

theology 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 ...

at the

MF Norwegian School of Theology MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society ( no, MF vitenskapelig høyskole for teologi, religion og samfunn), formerly the Free Faculty of Theology ( no, Det teologiske menighetsfakultet) and MF Norwegian School of Theology, is an accr ...

Oslo 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 ...

. He received his

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 1918.

Career

Indrebø first took a job as a teacher from 1919–1922. In 1922, he was hired as the priest of the parish of

(where he lived as a child). He kept that job until 1927 when he took a new job as the leader of the

Sunnfjord Sunnfjord ( en, the southern fjord - in contrast to Nordfjord) is a traditional district in Western Norway located in Vestland county. It includes the municipalities of Askvoll, Fjaler, the southernmost parts of Kinn, Sunnfjord, and the souther ...

School. In 1929–1930, he was the general secretary of the Norwegian Christian Youth Organization (affiliated with the worldwide

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

organization), but illness forced him to quit after 1 year's service. From 1930 until 1948, he was a priest working in

. From 1930-1934 he was based at the Matteus parish, then from 1934-1946 he was based at the St. Jakob parish, and then from 1946-1948 he was based at the

parish. In 1948, he was named the

of the

, based in

. He held this post until his retirement in 1961. Indrebø died on 26 June 1984 in

Beliefs

Indrebø was a conservative and traditionalist priest. During the debates on

hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

and

female priests The ordination of women to ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain Christian traditions and most denominations in which "ordin ...

of the 1950s, Indrebø sided with other priests such as

Ole Hallesby Ole Kristian Hallesby (5 August 1879 – 22 November 1961) was a conservative, Norwegian Lutheran theologian, author and educator. Biography Ole Kristian Hallesby was born in Aremark, in Østfold, Norway. Hallesby grew up as the sixth of eight s ...

and opposing fellow bishops such as Kristian Schjelderup. Indrebø believed in a literal

, as well as opposing the ordination of female priests because he believed the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

did not support that position.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Indrebo, Ragnvald 1891 births 1984 deaths People from Os, Hordaland Bishops of Bjørgvin Norwegian resistance members Translators of the Bible into Norwegian