Eivind Berggrav

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Eivind Josef Berggrav (born October 25, 1884 in Stavanger, dead 1959) was a Norwegian Lutheran bishop, primarily known today for his status as Praeces of the Church of Norway and its resistance during the World War II.

As his father, Otto Jensen, he studied theology and became a priest and subsequently bishop, first in the diocese of Hålogaland in the North of Norway (1928-1937) and secondly in Oslo (1937-1951)

Berggrav is celebrated for his leadership in the Norwegian Christian resistance to the Nazi occupation during [world war II]. Berggrav did not initially publicly oppose the occupation, appealing to Norwegian Christians to "refrain from any interference" and to refuse to "mix themselves up in the war by sabotage or in any other way." However, as it became increasingly clear that the occupying powers would not honor their promise to allow Norwegians freedom of religion and the preservation of their structures of government, Berggrav joined in forming the Christian Council for Joint Deliberation, and when the church was ordered to alter its liturgical practices, Bishop Berggrav refused to comply. On April 9, 1942, Berggrav was arrested. He (along with four other members of the Christian Council) was initially imprisoned in the Grini concentration camp, but was later moved to an isolated location where he was placed in solitary confinement, allowed to see no one but his Nazi guards.

In December 1944 Berggrav was featured on the cover of TIME magazine, becoming one of the relatively few protestant religious figures to have been thus honored (others featured before 1960 include Harry Emerson Fosdick (1925), Henry Sloan Coffin (1926), Martin Niemöller (1940), Reinhold Niebuhr (1948), Henry Knox Sherrill (1951), Otto Dibelius (1953), Henry P. Van Dusen (1954), Billy Graham (1954), Franklin Clark Fry (1958), and Paul Tillich (1959)).

Berggrav was also an important figure in 20th-century ecumenical movements, including the Universal Church movement and the World Alliance for International Friendship through the Churches. He is the author of The Norwegian Church in Its International Setting, Man and State, and With God in the Darkness, and Other Papers Illustrating the Norwegian Church Conflict.

Berggrav's life and memory are commemorated by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on January 13.

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