Fredrik Kristian Nielsen

1846-1907. Danish bishop and theologian. In his youth he was for some time affected by neo- rationalism, but later he found his permanent position in the conservative and ecumenically minded tradition of N.F.S. Grundtvig.* In his views of church order and in his practical ecclesiastical work and policy, he was strongly influenced by the Anglican Church. In 1877 he became professor of church history at Copenhagen University and there was characterized more by a staggering amount of knowledge and great narrative skill than by a sense of historical and doctrinal coherence and development. He became bishop of Aalborg in 1900 and was transferred to the see of Aarhus in 1905. His writings include a history of the Roman Church in the nineteenth century (ET 1906), and he edited a Scandinavian dictionary of the church.