Per Lønning

Per Lønning (born February 24, 1928 in Fana , Hordaland , † August 21, 2016 in Oslo ) was a Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran theologian and conservative politician.

Life

Lønning studied at the University of Oslo and was ordained in the Church of Norway in 1951 . During his work as a lecturer at the Teachers' College in Oslo, he was awarded a Dr. theol. and in 1959 Dr. phil. PhD. Since 1964 provost of the cathedral in Bergen , he was appointed bishop of the newly established diocese of Borg in 1969. In 1975 he resigned from office in protest against the liberalization of the right to abortion . After a year as a visiting professor at Aarhus University , he became a lecturer in 1977, later professor of the history of theology at Oslo University. From 1981 to 1987 he held a research professorship at the Ecumenical Institute of the Lutheran World Federation in Strasbourg . In 1987 Lønning was elected bishop of Bjørgvin (Bergen) by a large majority . The confidence of the electorate enabled him to accept the government's appointment, even though the abortion law was unchanged. He served until his retirement in 1994.

Even in retirement, Lønning participated intensively in public debates. He supported the opposition to the Norwegian law on equality of same-sex marriage of 2008 and sought, together with others, to file a lawsuit at the European Court of Human Rights . In addition, he wrote and composed numerous hymns.

As a member of the conservative Høyre party , Lønning was a member of the Norwegian Parliament from 1958 to 1965 .

Since 1978 Lønning has been a member of the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and since 1987 a member of Kongelige Norske Videnskabers Selskab . In 2001 he was appointed commander of the Order of Saint Olav .

The theologian Inge Lønning was his younger brother, the oncologist Per Eystein Lønning and the mathematician Jan Tore Lønning are his sons.

Fonts (selection)

• "Samtidighedens situation". A study in Søren Kierkegaards kristendomsforståelse . 1954 (Diss. Theol.)
• Hva er kristendom? . 1955 (and other editions)
• Then again, Blaise Pascal . En idéhistorisk study . 1958 (Diss. Phil.)
• The dilemma of contemporary theology. Pre-figured in Luther, Pascal, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche . Oslo 1962
• Vandring gjennom fast . 1963 (4th edition 2000; English: Pathways of the Passion; daily meditations for the Lenten season . Minneapolis 1965)
• Off the beaten path . New York 1966
• Til Borg fra Bergen . 1971 (autobiography)
• Abortion: Test Case of Social Ethics . Casting 1976
• Cet effrayant pari - une "pensée" pascalienne et ses critiques . Paris 1980
• The understandably intangible. “Being of God” and modern theological thought structures . Goettingen 1986
• Creation - An Ecumenical Challenge . Macon (USA) / Louvain 1989
• Kristen tro - tradisjon og oppbrudd . 1989
• Fundamentalism - Ord til fordømmelse, ord til fordummelse? En begrepshistorisk undersøkelse . Bergen 1997
• Jeg tror - Funderinger slowly veikanten . 1998
• Guds hus er eit under. 16 salmer med melodies . 1999
• Virkelig fri. Kristen tro and current livsorientering . Kristiansand 2000
• Is Christ a Christian? On interreligious Dialogue and intrareligious Horizon . Göttingen 2002
• Sursum corda. 15 texts and melodies . 2002
• Vi er Guds barn og bilde. Lovsang i lydisk toneart . 2004
• Gratias deodorant. 20 salmer . 2006

Individual evidence

1. ^ Article on death in Aftenposten , August 22, 2016.
2. ↑ “Minneside for Per Lønning” .
3. ↑ from left to right: Per Lønning vil ha ekteskapsloven til Strasbourg ( Memento of the original from April 9, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Norwegian). 

Web links

• Per Lønning on www.stortinget.no
• Article by Torleiv Austad in Norsk biografisk leksikon