Børre Knudsen

Knudsen, Børre Arnold, born 1937 in Vennesla, Norway. Prominent (and much disputed) Norwegian Lutheran theologian and anti abortion activist. Ordained priest 1967 (Bergen Cathedral), served as a priest in Northern Norway 1967-1983, mostly in Balsfjord, Troms within the Norwegian (Lutheran) State Church. In 1979 he laid down the state part of his office - in protest against a new law with a free right to abortion of this year. The Norwegian High Court decided 1983 that the state part of the church office could not be separated from the ecclesial or spiritual part of it within a State Church like the Norwegian, and he had to quit his office as a rector which he had maintained without state stipends since '79. He has since then worked as a free-lance pastor, lecturer and defender of the Lutheran confession. In 1997 he was elected and consecrated bishop for a continuing Lutheran group called The Church of Norway in Exile. Knudsen has written a lot of hymn poetry, and collections of some of his sermons have been printed in books and booklets. His hymns point to the Calchedonian christology, and to a high interpretation of the sacraments. His hymns are mainly edited in Det Hellige Bryllup, (Oslo 1976) Sangverk for Den Norske kirke, (Oslo 1980), and may be found in the Norwegian 1998 Roman Catholic Hymn book as well as in other collections.