Thomas Skat Rørdam (1832–1909) was a Danish priest and theologian who was Bishop of the Diocese of Zealand from 1895 until his death.
As a theological scholar of the Syriac language, he published translations of a variety of Christian texts in Danish.
[3] Following his return to Denmark after studying in England, Rørdam married Ovine Marie Frederikke Hauch on 19 May 1858.
[8] In 1857, with public assistance, he traveled to England to study Syrian manuscripts which had recently been acquired from monasteries in the Wadi Natron.
[10] Rørdam returned to Denmark from England and in the following years resided in Copenhagen where he taught at Blaagaard Seminarium and studied privately.
[12] In 1866, he applied for the theological docent post in ethics at the University of Copenhagen, but was passed over in favor of Henrik Scharling in 1867.
In 1866 he also published Historisk Oplysning om den hellige Skrift (English: Historical Information on the Holy Scripture).
[13] Later, while working as a priest, he published a translation of Afrem Syrer's poems from Syriac into Danish, which he titled Aandelige Digte (1879).
He also authored a variety of shorter writings and lectures, including: Grundtvig and Luther's Small Catechism (Grundtvig og Luthers lille Katekismus, 1873), Tidens Alvor (1876), Ret og Frihed (1877), and Det er godt at haabe (1879).
[19] During this period, Rørdam also found time to publish a new Danish translation of the New Testament, accompanied by a brief introduction and remarks, between 1887 and 1892.
Shortly after becoming Bishop, Rørdam established the Copenhagen Church Foundation (Danish: det Kjøbenhavnske Kirkefond).
[4] While he had been a provost at Holmen Church, Rørdam had published a proposal that took a more relaxed view on the sacraments of baptism and communion in collaboration with then professor Fredrik Nielsen.
These reforms were now entrusted to him as Bishop of Zealand, and he was tasked with producing a new altar book based on the revisions to the sacraments made by the church council.