In memory of Professor and Founder Anders Gerdmar

Anders Gerdmar, former President and founder of the Scandinavian School of Theology, passed away in summer 2023 after several years of battling cancer. The family gathered on Friday evening to be by Anders’ side during his final days, and late in the evening, Anders Gerdmar passed away.

On March 25, 2021, at 08:39 AM – 24 hours before a serious brain tumor surgery – Anders Gerdmar sat down to express his deepest thoughts through a Facebook status update. “…if they slip a little, I might not be able to read or write again (I believe in God’s protection)…” he wrote, formulating his life’s calling while facing death: “My heart, after 25 years of research, has been anti-Semitism, the Jews, and Israel.” He realized the urgency and spent the last hours before the surgery intensively finishing a book based on two decades of research.

The book’s title is “Salvation is from the Jews”, a phrase from John 4:22. The content begins with how the famous German theologian Rudolf Bultmann, without scientific support and based on an anti-Jewish biblical interpretation, removed this central phrase from the German Bible. The year was 1939, and Bultmann’s actions legitimized the Nazi Bible, supporting Hitler’s Holocaust agenda. Just days before his death, Anders Gerdmar received the news that the manuscript of his book had been accepted by the publisher.

Anders Gerdmar’s academic success was largely channeled through international recognition and alternative Christian educational institutions in Sweden. He ended his life as an internationally recognized research authority on anti-Semitism in a Christian context. His book “Roots of Theological Antisemitism” (700 pages), written while he was a researcher at Uppsala University, sponsored by the current Swedish Research Council, has become a standard work internationally and translated into Italian.

Anders Gerdmar studied theology at Lund University, graduating in 1980. He was ordained as a priest in the Diocese of Växjö and served until 1986, when he came into contact with the charismatic movement through Colin Urquhart. He left the priesthood and sought out Life’s Word, where Ulf Ekman encouraged him to resume his university studies. Gerdmar earned his doctorate in theology from Uppsala University in 2001 and became a docent in New Testament exegesis at the same university in 2009.

From 2002 to 2014, Anders Gerdmar served as Dean and head of pastoral training at Word of Life Theological Seminary and later as Principal of the same institution. He also served as a board member at Oral Roberts University. Nine years ago, he founded the Scandinavian School of Theology (SST) and became its President. He also became a professor at Southeastern University in Florida, USA.

Anders Gerdmar described SST’s mission as safeguarding the view of the Bible as God’s Word. The University College should be a beacon and a clear voice in theological Sweden, where there is ongoing debate about how church and free church institutions have been affected by biblical criticism. He warned that a denial of the Bible’s historical credibility to conform to modern thinking easily leads people astray. He pointed to the German theologian Rudolf Bultmann’s concession to the Nazi agenda as a cautionary example. He described the historical-critical view of the Bible as subjective, with an implicit claim to truth tied to a secular worldview.

In his later years, Anders Gerdmar authored books such as “God’s Word is Enough – Evangelical Faith vs. Roman Catholicism”, “It is Written: Biblical Faith vs. Biblical Criticism”, and “LGBTQ and the Bible: The Sword Through Swedish Christianity”.

A common theme was warning against creating universal theology based on subjective human experiences. He challenged the secular, worldly worldview and the disdain for knowledge in some Christian circles.

Anders Gerdmar also mobilized through the initiative National Prayer Intercessors for Sweden. The prayer work began when someone felt the need for the fire of prayer in Sweden and thus sent Anders Gerdmar to Tanzania. The result was two national prayer conferences, prayer schools, and hundreds of meetings across Sweden, with participants from Tanzania.

Anders Gerdmar was 69 years old and left behind his wife, three children, and several grandchildren.
Ruben Agnarsson

Anders published several books during his lifetime:

  • Rethinking the Judaism-Hellenism Dichotomy: A Historiographical Case Study of Second Peter and Jude. AWI, 2001.
  • BibleKeys: The Gate to Life. Mediaserve, 2000.
  • Vägar till Nya Testamentet. Tekniker, metoder och verktyg för nytestamentlig exegetik (with Kari Syreeni, university textbook in New Testament exegesis). Studentlitteratur, 2006.
  • Roots of Theological Antisemitism: German Biblical Interpretation and the Jews, from Herder and Semler to Kittel and Bultmann. Brill, 2009, paperback 2010.
  • Bibbia e antisemitismo teologico: L’esegesi biblica tedesca e gli ebrei da Herder e Semler a Kittel e Bultmann (Italian translation).
  • Att höra Guds röst – ett liv i daglig gemenskap med den Helige Ande. Livets Ords Förlag/Victura, 2015.
  • Guds Ord räcker. Livets Ords Förlag/Victura, 2016.
  • Det står skrivet: Bibeltro kontra bibelkritik. STH Förlag, 2020.
  • HBTQ och Bibeln: Svärdet genom svensk kristenhet. STH Förlag, 2021; second extended edition 2023.
  • Salvation is from the Jews: The Image of Jews and Judaism in Biblical Interpretation, from Anti-Jewish Exegesis to Eliminationist Antisemitism. Leiden: Brill, 2023.