He later reflected,This University offered me such a rich assortment (samling) of all that could possibly have been of interest and meaning for my studies, that ... if I had been able to spend another half year abroad would in a moment have thought of nothing other than Erlangen.

In 1858 he established, together with Carl Paul Caspari, an annual publication entitled Theologisk Tidskrift for den evangelisk-lutherske Kirke i Norge which he edited until 1891.

"[13] Likewise, Nostbakken considers that Gisle's reticence to address certain issues and his recension from the public eye in later years may have been due to this naturally-withdrawn character: "He was timid and cautious.

J.C. Heuch had recorded that "he was so gripped by the forcefulness and the interest of Johnson's lectures that on more than one occasion he caught himself sitting with mouth open and pen fallen on the desk completely fascinated by the address.

"[5] In fact, with regards to his preaching ministry and revivalism, he was likened to Jonathan Edwards: People poured into the meeting place and sat spellbound while he spoke, often for as long as two hours.

Systematic theology finds its total content in these three disciplines... (s. 1)[15]A potential fourth element of Johnson's thought is the Forelæsninger over dogmehistorien, or Lectures on Dogmatic History, also published posthumously, which will be discussed below.

[16] As such, it represents a different ordo cognitio (order of knowing) than typical dogmatic treatments of the period, largely related to the influence of Kierkegaard and Erlangen theology on his thinking.

(s. 53)Significantly, although this initial section on Pistiks is highly experiential, it is also intended to establish a definite ontological basis for the construction of his dogmatic in the second part.

[16] Instead, Gisle's method is self-consciously "scientific" (vitenskapelige) and his concern is to ascertain the essence (being or ontology) of faith (Troens Væsen, s. 7), the development of which he holds is organically related to the individuals and proceeds by way of existential conflict.

Gisle then extends a family analogy to justification by way of adoption, lending it a personal quality and defining it from Romans 5:19 as "the objective restoration of his fellowship with God, previously disturbed by sin.

This he sees as consisting in two parts: the creative initiation of the new life principle (nyt Livsprincip) in the heart of the sinner, formally regeneration (Gjenfødelse, lit.

In so doing He brings them together out of the world into a new human society, and thereby makes them members of a spiritual body of which He is the head: the organic, living life-communicating central point, controlling all things and directing all things (s. 86).Sticking close to classical theological categories, Gisle goes on to state that the church is "both an invisible and visible fellowship," and "essentially a holy one," "the only one of its kind, and therefore also universal," citing the Apostolic and Nicene Creeds (ss.

Indeed, as the pure source of truth, this Word essentially also is the unshakeable and infallible rule, norm and touchstone for all Christian understanding and proclamation of truth, and, as the sure foundation of the Church's faith, essentially also the invariable norm for its faith" (Grundrids, s. 115).Here, in a large footnote, Gisle cites classic prooftexts for the infallibility of Scripture (e.g. 2 Timothy 3:16 & 2 Pt.

To this perfection belongs in part also a clarity which certainly does net exclude all obscurity, but nevertheless makes it possible not only for the Church as a whole, but also for each individual who possesses the necessary natural and spiritual subjective prerequisites, to find satisfaction in it for his need for an inspired Word from God (s. 115).It is hard, then, to conclude with Nostbakken that Gisle held to only a salvific view of Scripture.

It is the essential other side of the Christian faith, which here becomes the object of consideration, the side, after which it shows itself to be active in life, intervenes in the life of will as a controlling and determining power (p. 1).As such, ethics is a product of both Pistiks and Dogmatics: "The Task of Ethics thus becomes, more precisely, that of recognizing the Christian Faith-Life, as it emerges with inner necessity from the Essence of Faith in the specifically expressed Form, in which this is presented to us in both of the prior main parts of the Systematic Theology" (p. 3).

Using agricultural language, Gisle describes the ethical Faithlife as growing and blossoming like a sprout, also moving into a family analogy by way of comparison between a child and father.

Where now this trust in God appears as confident Expectation of the discovery of a definite goal promised by God himself in the Word, which the heart has thus grasped in advance, as if it were already present, there it receives the name of hope (p. 14).This future orientation of the Christian Faith character, taking it out of this world and directing it toward the next: "The believer's hope gives his whole life of will a heavenly direction and as it thus determines the goal of his endeavor, it also bestows upon him the power of steadfast and patient endurance in this endeavor, under all the tribulations of this world" (p. 16).

At the close of the work Gisle makes special application of ethics in its societal elements, considering the Christian's duty to the world as a sort of extension of the grace-restores-nature concept found in the Grundrids.

In the introduction, Gisle attempts to situate the importance of his work within the greater sphere of his dogmatic project: The concept of ecclesiastical doctrine, which is the rediscovery of the dogma of history, is the church's common confession of faith as it exists in a conceptually developed and determined form mediated by scientific and theological reflection.

Insofar as theology sets itself the task of recognizing ecclesiastical doctrinal concepts in the form in which they actually exist at the present time, it receives the name of 'ecclesiastical symbol' which it has become, what it is now, it is usually called dogma-history.

Unlike the Grundrids or Ethiks, what is seen in the Dogmehistorien is a careful and concerted integration of the historical theological debates that he believed undergirded and vindicated the truth of the Lutheran Confessionalism.

Likewise, whereas the former two works focused on dogmatic and ethical integration of biblical, theological, and philosophical concepts, the Dogmehistorien demonstrates his broad and eclectic exposure to figures from Nestorius to Chemnitz.

The dogmatic historical analysis in these late lectures thus may provide a clearer picture into the objective doctrinal and confessional backbone that Gisle aimed toward in his subjective constructions in the Grundrids, although more work needs to be done in this area.

This underlying structuring from confessional and biblical material seems to indicate that his theology proceeds along an objective canonical and traditional level even though constructed subjectively and inductively from the presuppositions of faith.

Even the focus on faith sets itself apart from similar treatments by Schleiermacher, Kierkegaard, and Dorner, revolving strongly around assumptions of ontological and essential properties cast in a classically Lutheran Law/Gospel paradigm.

As such, although his writing and charisma seems to have waned toward the end of his career, Nostbakken concludes his analysis of Gisle's theological influence by stating "...the fact remains that Johnson has been the single most influential theologian in Norway's history.

"[4][5] Having broken from Danish rule in 1814, Norway functioned as a largely independent parliamentary republic under the Swedish monarch until Norwegian parliament formally broke from the House of Bernadotte in 1905.

Endorsed by 453 prominent signatories, the Appeal warned against free thought (fritænkeriet) as "the modern infidelity" and calling the nation back to "the Christian" view in contrast with "progressivism" and "radicalism."

The Appeal created an immediate sensation and was widely panned as both polarizing in its extreme language, as well as out of touch with then-contemporary trends and concerns, with Frederik Peterson, the chair of theology succeeding Johnson, refusing to add his name to the document.

His influence upon Norwegian-American Lutheranism during its formative years came largely through the 107 theological students and pastors who emigrated to America and brought with them the confessional-pietistic outlook which they had acquired from their teacher, Gisle Johnson.