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

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

. 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 official 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 (''Landsmål''), parallel to the Da ...

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 () 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, and those outside of Norway in the Seamen's Church. The cathedral cit ...

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 (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

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 Munici ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. 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 List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It was located in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sunnfjord. The administrative centre was the vil ...

Gaular Gaular is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It was located in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sunnfjord. The administrative centre was the villa ...

, and finally

Vestre Aker Vestre Aker (Western Aker) is a List of boroughs of Oslo, 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 org ...

. In 1911, he began to study

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

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 ...

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) 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 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. He received his

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 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 ( - 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 southernmost parts of Brem ...

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 organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

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 or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...

and female priests 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 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 writt ...

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