Bertil Edgar Gärtner (13 December 1924 – 20 September 2009) was a Swedish

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

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 ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

(1970–1991) and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

exegesis Exegesis ( ; from the Ancient Greek, Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation (philosophy), interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Bible, Biblical works. In modern us ...

Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a Private university, private seminary, school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Establish ...

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. In 1969 Gärtner became provost of

cathedral and on 24 July 1970 bishop of the Lutheran diocese of Gothenburg. Like his predecessor Bo Giertz, Gärtner was theologically conservative and

High Church A ''high church'' is a Christian Church whose beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, Christian liturgy, liturgy, and Christian theology, theology emphasize "ritual, priestly authority, ndsacraments," and a standard liturgy. Although ...

. He was the writer of a number of books about the ministry of the Church as well as on

subjects and one of the Swedish church leaders opposing the

ordination of women The ordination of women to Minister of religion, ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain religious groups in which ordination ...

in the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden () is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.5 million members at year end 2023, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest List ...

, an episcopal

Visitor A visitor, in English and Welsh law and history, is an overseer of an autonomous ecclesiastical or eleemosynary institution, often a charitable institution set up for the perpetual distribution of the founder's alms and bounty, who can interve ...

Societas Sanctae Birgittae Societas Sanctæ Birgittæ (SSB) is a High Church Lutheran religious society with character of third order for priests and laity, men and women in the Church of Sweden. Societas Sanctæ Birgittæ was founded in 1920 as a refuge for those who in a ...

from 1972-, Pro Ecclesia from 1990-1997, Laurentiistiftelsen from 1997- and Markusstiftelsen from 1998-2009.

Bibliography

* ''The Temple and the Community in Qumran and the New Testament'' * ''The Areopagus Speech and Natural Revelation'' * ''John 6 and the Jewish Passover'' * ''The Theology of the Gospel According to Thomas'' * ''Iscariot'' * ''Das Amt, der Mann und die Frau im Neuen Testament'' (Didaskolos: The Office, Man and Woman in the New Testament)

References

External links

The Experience of the Church of Sweden
by Bertil E. Gärtner and Carl Strandberg from ''Man, Woman, and Priesthood'', pp. 123–133, edited by Peter Moore, SPCK London, 1978
''Bertil bloggar''
Bishop Gärtner's personal weblog {{DEFAULTSORT:Gartner, Bertil 1924 births 2009 deaths Princeton Theological Seminary faculty Bishops of Gothenburg Swedish Lutherans Swedish theologians Swedish people of German descent 20th-century Lutheran theologians Swedish expatriates in the United States