A theological life - brief biographical outline

MY EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND was classics - Greek and Latin studies from school (Bergen Cathedral School) and university (degree in Latin from Bergen University, degree in Greek from Oslo University).  This is the key to my theological life, which had an early start since I always have been interested in intelligent thinking about religious matters.  Becoming a catholic in the mid sixties increased this innate tendancy and accentuated a quest that was already undertaken.  My years at school and university prepared me for a theological life to a greater extent than I myself had imagined, as shall be seen shortly.
         Most important during the early years was the instruction I received from father Alan Cyril Littlewood (curate at St. Paul‘s in Bergen).  He prepared me for being received into the Catholic Church, and was an excellent teacher, as well as a wise and gentle soul. 
         Studying classics in Norway functioned as preparation for a theological life, since it brought me into close contact with both the Scriptures and the Fathers.  And it was this combination that became the foudation for a later theological life, since I was sent to Oxford to study  divinity.  And Oxford’s theological program is precisely Bibel and Fathers, a pattern I already had become familiar with. - This is the key to it all.
         But this time I had become a novice in the Dominican Order, of the French province, and strangely enough it was another Englishman who played the role of initiator: father Aelread Squire of the English province.  It was solely thanks to him that I was sent to Oxford to study.
         Six years I lived at Blackfriars and studied theology (pre-theology and dogmatic theology) with the professors in the house while studying Greek patristics with Archimandrite (now bishop) Kallistos Ware.  Biblical studies  I did in the form of a Diploma in Theology at the university, through St. John’s College and was admitted as a student to the degree of Bachelor of Divinity for a project called A Study in the Book of Acts (this was never completed, but the admission to the degree is still valid). 
         I left Oxford for Oslo in 1977 and started teaching and writing.
         The university of Oslo called on me to be assistant professor at the Theological Faculty, and I continued this work for more than ten years.  At the same time I was asked to be translater for the Norwegian Bible Society and worked on a new translation of the Apocrypha.  During these years I also went to Jerusalem, to the Ecole Biblique, for further studies.
         In 1985 I felt it was time to move on, so I went to Rome - to the Dominican University Angelicum (Pontificia Universita San Tommaso = PUST) - and was professor there while writing my doctorial dissertation on a topic that combined classical and biblical learning: The Greek Vocabulary of the Roman Imperial Cult and the New Testament, which gave me the degree of STD (Sacrae Theologiae Doctor).  Working in Rome was more a process of learning than of teaching: learning about the Church, learning from students that came to us from all over the world.  Above all: Rome was an excellent point for further study of classical antiquity, not to mention primitive Christianity.  Actually, I was being prepared as a guide to ancient Rome - pagan and christian - without knowing this myself, an occupation that has become a part of my life in later years.
         Unfortunately I had to return to Oslo and my academic life was ruined for some time, due to the fact that I was appointed prior of our convent in Oslo at a time when we were few in numbers.  Still, I continued teaching at the Theology Faculty but never went for an academic job there. 
         After my years as prior I needed a change again.  Going back to Rome was not possible since the climate did not agree with me.  Consequently I withdrew to the monastery of the Dominican sisters in Oslo and started to write a series of books that condensed my teaching over the years.  The main projects were biblical topics (the trilogy on Paul, for example) and popular theology for a wider audience.  But at the same time I started to work on a more systematic and philosophical text: Theological Holism.  This is an attempt to make a modern catholic synthesis of a wide range of disciplines, historical and speculative.
         In 2004 I moved back to the West, to Voss, outside Bergen, and here found time to write and publish.  By now the internet has made it possible to publish in the form of a homepage, and new possibilities opened up.  A number of manuscripts are awaiting publication in this way, and new ones are being drafted or planned.
         My programmatic start and its sequel - Bible and Fathers - remain to this day the scope of my theological work and continues to unite the classical and theological inclinations of my mind.   The next biblical study is to be a book on the Fourth Gospel.