ABSTRACT
Regin Prenter (1907–90) was born in Frederikssund and grew up in a church milieu that was influenced by Grundtvigianism. His basic Grundtvigian position was marked early on by dialectical theology, ecumenical interests, and Anglican religiosity. After completing his studies, he undertook study trips, in the course of which he met Karl Barth and Michael Ramsey, who played a particularly important role in his early years as a theologian. During his time as pastor in Hvilsager-Lime and Aarhus, he was a member of Arne Sørensen’s Grundtvigian-national party “Dansk Samling.” He was active in the resistance, and was uncompromising in his defense of the Jews. A Lutheran shift took place in his theology as a result of his dissertation Spiritus Creator (1944) and his appointment as professor of dogmatics at Aarhus University in 1945. From this time onward, his colleague K.E. Løgstrup became one of his most important theological dialogue partners. Prenter was active early on in the East Asia Mission and in the ecumenical movement, and held a number of posts in the Lutheran World Federation and the World Council of Churches. From 1961 to 1963, he was a guest professor at the Protestant faculty in Strasbourg, and from this time there occurs what we could call a Grundtvigian shift in his theology, motivated in part by contemporary hermeneutical philosophy and ecumenically oriented Catholic theology. Prenter retired from his professorship in 1972, in a wrathful reaction against the Marxist currents at the universities, which he regarded as incompatible with a Lutheran-Grundtvigian fundamental theology. He was appointed to a parish in Brandrerup, where he continued to work on his Grundtvigian theology with its new orientation. Prenter held many guest lectures at theological faculties in Europe, the USA, Japan, and Africa. He was awarded honorary doctorates at Strasbourg (1960), Reykjavik (1961), Lund (1962) and Helsinki (1980).
