Evangelical Theological Society Presentation (Denver)

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Abstract: In his Dynamics of the Spiritual Life, Richard Lovelace has proposed the need for a “live orthodoxy” where orthopraxy and orthodoxy find symbiosis. One author who offers a uniquely pietistic dogmatic is Norwegian theologian Gisle Christian Johnson (1822-1894). Professor of Theology at the University of Kristiana, he constructed his theological system from Kierkegaard’s mode of subjectivism and the three stages of faith, placing faith and renewal in central focus in his Grundrids af den Systematiske Theologi from the perspective of Lutheran confessionalism and with an eye toward practical application in his namesake movement, the Johnsonian Revivals. This paper argues that Gisle Johnson’s theology uniquely provides for Lovelace’s “live orthodoxy,” a pietistic dogmatic that unites head and heart through his doctrine of faith, regeneration, and renewal.