Carl Fredrik Wisløff (31 December 1908 – 25 June 2004) was a Norwegian Lutheran theologian and preacher, who spent much of his professional career at the

MF Norwegian School of Theology MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society (MF for short) is a Norwegian private specialized university. MF focuses on education, research and dissemination of their fields of expertise. The specialized university is located at Majorstu ...

. He is considered among the most important

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preachers in 20th-century Norway.. Retrieved on 31 December 2008.

Early life and career

He was born in

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Buskerud county, 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 ...

, but grew up in

Sarpsborg Sarpsborg ( or ), historically Borg, is a List of cities in Norway, city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Sarpsborg. Sarpsbor ...

. He was the nephew of Johan Martin Wisløff and a first cousin of later bishop Hans Edvard Wisløff. Carl Fredrik Wisløff graduated with the

cand.theol. Candidate ( or ) is the name of various academic degrees, which are today mainly awarded in Scandinavia. The degree title was phased out in much of Europe through the 1999 Bologna Process, which has re-formatted academic degrees in Europe. The de ...

degree in 1931, and was hired as a priest at Vaterland the next year. He was also hired as the first secretary of the '' Norges kristelige student- og gymnasiastlag'', and also founded the organization's magazine, ''Credo''. In 1940, he was appointed as a

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 p ...

Birkenes Birkenes is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Birkeland, where about half the municipal population lives. Other vill ...

Later life and career

''Jeg vet på hvem jeg tror''

In 1946, Wisløff published ''Jeg vet på hvem jeg tror'' ('I Know in Whom I Believe'). In 2008, the liberal newspaper ''

Dagbladet () is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally it was considered the main liberal newspaper of Norway, with a ...

'' recognized the book as among the twenty-five most influential

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books in post-1945 Norway.

Academic career

In 1947, Wisløff was hired to head the priest's seminary at the

. He also chaired the ''Norges kristelige student- og gymnasiastlag'', from 1948 to 1960. He took the

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in 1958 on the thesis ''Nattverd og messe'' ('Communion and Mass'), which was translated into English (as 'The Gift of Communion') in 1964 and German in 1969. He joined the executive committee of the

International Fellowship of Evangelical Students The International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) is an interdenominational association of 180 evangelical Christian student movements worldwide, encouraging evangelism, discipleship and mission among students. The headquarters is in O ...

in 1959, and was appointed as professor of church history at the MF School of Theology in 1961. In 1967, he took over the presidency of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, a post he held until 1979. He retired as a professor in 1975. Wisløff was known as an opponent of 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, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodo ...

and

liberal theology Religious liberalism is a conception of religion (or of a particular religion) which emphasizes personal and group liberty and rationality. It is an attitude towards one's own religion (as opposed to criticism of religion from a secular position ...

, rather adhering to a literal interpretation of

the Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writte ...

. Among his preaching books were ''Ordet fra Guds munn'' (1951), ''Ordet om korset'' (1973), ''Lyset skinner i mørket'' (1976) and ''Daglig brød'' (1983). Other books include ''Politikk og kristendom'' (1961), volume one and three of ''Norsk kirkehistorie'' (1966, 1971), ''Kristne kirkesamfunn'' (1974), ''Den lutherske bekjennelse og katolisismen'' (1980), ''2000 år med Kristus'' (1981) and ''Martin Luthers teologi'' (1984). Wisløff died in June 2004, following short-term illness. His 100th anniversary was commemorated by the

Norwegian Lutheran Mission The Norwegian Lutheran Mission (''Norsk Luthersk Misjonssamband'' in Norwegian; NLM) is one of several independent Lutheran organisations working within the Lutheran Church of Norway. History The organization was founded in 1891 as Det Norske ...

. He was also honoured with two

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

s, both on his seventieth birthday.BIBSYS
Retrieved on 31 December 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wisloeff, Carl Fredrik 1908 births 2004 deaths Academic staff of the MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society 20th-century Lutheran theologians Lutheran writers Norwegian male writers Norwegian non-fiction writers Norwegian religious writers Norwegian theologians People from Drammen People from Sarpsborg Norwegian Lutheran theologians