Bernt Theodor Anker (7 March 1867 – 21 August 1943) was a Norwegian linguist, priest and author. Anker was one of the first priests to use

Nynorsk Nynorsk (; ) is one of the two official written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language (''Landsmål''), parallel to the Da ...

from the pulpit, and was a strong proponent of Nynorsk in the church and in society. He was born in

Vestre Aker Vestre Aker (Western Aker) is a List of boroughs of Oslo, borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. It has a population of 50,157 as of 2020. The previous Aker Municipality was merged into the city of Oslo in 1948. The borough of Vestre Aker was org ...

and grew up in

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

and in Risor, where his father was the customs inspector from 1877. He attended the Latin school in

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such ...

during 1884. Anker finished his

Cand.theol. Candidate ( or ) is the name of various academic degrees, which are today mainly awarded in Scandinavia. The degree title was phased out in much of Europe through the 1999 Bologna Process, which has re-formatted academic degrees in Europe. The de ...

at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

in 1890, where he had studied

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

, comparative studies, and politics. Anker worked as a priest and teacher throughout his professional life. He first served as a sexton in

Arendal Arendal () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county in southeastern Norway. Arendal belongs to the Districts of Norway, region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the munici ...

from 1890-93 followed be assignments as

parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

Søndeled Søndeled is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in the old Aust-Agder Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964 when it was merged into the municipality o ...

Kviteseid Kviteseid is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional districts of Vest-Telemark and Upper Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kviteseidbyen. Other villages in Kviteseid ...

and

Lårdal Lårdal is a village in Tokke Municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The village is located on the north shore of the lake Bandak and about south of the village of Høydalsmo and the European route E134 highway. The village is the site of ...

. He finished his career as

provost Provost may refer to: Officials Ecclesiastic * Provost (religion), a high-ranking church official * Prince-provost, a high-ranking church official Government * Provost (civil), an officer of local government, including the equivalent ...

Hardanger og Voss prosti Hardanger is a traditional district in the western part of Norway, dominated by the Hardangerfjord and its inner branches of the Sørfjorden and the Eid Fjord. It consists of the municipalities of Ullensvang, Eidfjord, Ulvik and Kvam, and is l ...

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Munici ...

. Theologically, he was strongly influenced by the writing of

N. F. S. Grundtvig Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig (; 8 September 1783 – 2 September 1872), most often referred to as N. F. S. Grundtvig, was a Danish pastor, author, poet, philosopher, historian, teacher and politician. He was one of the most influential p ...

and became involved in Grundtvigianism. He was also active in

youth work Youth work is a community support activity aimed at older children and adolescents. Depending upon the culture and the community, different services and institutions may exist for this purpose. In general, it provides an environment where young pe ...

throughout his life. He translated four historical books and four prophetical books of the

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

for the first

translation Translation is the communication of the semantics, meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The English la ...

of the

Holy Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

into

in 1921. One of his hymns appears in '' Norsk Salmebok'', the

hymnal A hymnal or hymnary is a collection of hymns, usually in the form of a book, called a hymnbook (or hymn book). They are used in congregational singing. A hymnal may contain only hymn texts (normal for most hymnals for most centuries of Christia ...

of the

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

.''Anker, Bernt Theodor (1867-1943), theologian, Norway'' (runeberg.org)
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Selected works

* ''Elskhug og giftarmaal. Ungdomsforedrag'', Voss 1907 * ''Aandsmagti i Blix-salmarne. Ungdoms-foredrag'', 1909 * ''Den rike ungguten. Ungdomspreika'', Kongsberg 1911 * ''Kristendomskunnskapen i det tjugande aarhundradet. Eit foredrag for lærarar'', 1911 * ''Ljos og varme i kristendomen. Sju preikor for norsk ungdom'', 1913 * ''Kva krev vaar tid av ungdomen? Foredrag'', Risør 1913 * ''Martin Luther'', Norske Folkeskrifter nr. 66, 1917 * ''Bibelen for barn. Barnepreiker'', 3 bind., 1938–40 * ''Frå kristenliv i Risør i 70- og 80-åri'', Risør 1938 * ''Nokre ungdoms-minne frå 80- og 90-åri'', 1939 * ''Ungdomsprest og ungdomslærar. Minne frå flytt og flakk i tjuge år 1893–1914'', 1942 * ''Morosame småstubbar med ålvor iblandt, frå eldre og nyare tider'', Lofthus 1943 * ''Prest og prost i Hardanger. Minne frå tri og tjuge år 1914–1937'', 1945

References

External links

''The Grundtvig Study Centre'' (Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies)
University of Oslo alumni 20th-century Norwegian Lutheran clergy Norwegian male writers Norwegian hymnwriters 1867 births 1943 deaths Norwegian Lutheran hymnwriters 19th-century Norwegian Lutheran clergy {{Norway-reli-bio-stub