Jan N. Bremmer
Jan Bremmer | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jan Nicolaas Bremmer December 18, 1944 |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Education | Ph.D.(1979) |
| Alma mater | VU University Amsterdam |
| Occupation(s) | Professor, Author, Editor |
| Years active | 1974-2009 |
| Known for | Research onancient Greek religionandearly Christianity |
| Notable work | The Early Greek Concept of the Soul,Interpretations of Greek Mythology |
Jan N. Bremmer(born 18 December 1944) is a Dutch academic and historian. He served as a professor of Religious Studies and Theology at theUniversity of Groningen.He specializes in history of ancient religion, especiallyancient Greek religionandearly Christianity.[1]
Early life
[edit]Jan N. Bremmer was born during theWorld War IIin 1944 in Groningen, Netherlands. Though he became aliberalprotestantlater in life, he was brought up in an orthodoxCalvinistfamily.[1]His father Rolf Hendrik Bremmer was a Calvinist minister and a church historian, and his mother Lucy Lindeboom also came from a family of Calvinist ministers. His maternal great-grandfather Lucas Lindeboom (1845–1933) was a professor at theKampen Theological College.[2]
Bremmer studiedClassicsandSpanishat theVrije Universiteit Amsterdam(1962–1970) and theUniversity of Bristol(1969–1970). During 1970–1972, he did hismilitary servicewith theDutch Military Intelligence.He married Christine, a British citizen. They have one son and three daughters: Benjamin, Melissa, Rebecca and Daisy.[2]
Academic career
[edit]During 1972–74, Bremmer taught Classics at Christelijk Streeklyceum (Christian RegionalLyceum) inEde, Netherlands.[3]Subsequently he taught ancient history at theUniversity of Utrecht,as an Assistant Professor (1974–1978) and as an Associate Professor (1978–1990). In 1979, he obtained aPh.D.from the Vrije Universiteit with a dissertation onThe Early Greek Conception of the Soul(published byPrinceton University Pressin 1983).[4]
In 1990, Bremmer joined the University of Groningen as the Chair of Religious Studies, in Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies. He served as the dean of the Faculty during 1996–2005. He was the inaugural Getty Villa Professor atMalibuduring 2006–2007.[2]He served as a visiting professor at several other places, including theUniversity of Edinburgh(2007). He retired from teaching in December 2009. In his farewell lecture in January 2010, he discussed the rise of Christianity through the eyes of scholarsEdward Gibbon,Adolf von HarnackandRodney Stark.[1]
Works
[edit]Author
- 1983:The Early Greek Concept of the Soul,Princeton University Press
- 1994:Greek Religion,Oxford University Press
- 2002:The Rise and Fall of the Afterlife,Routledge
- 2008:Greek Religion & Culture, the Bible and the Ancient Near East,Brill
- 2010:The Rise of Christianity through the Eyes of Gibbon, Harnack and Rodney Stark,Barkhuis
- 2014:Initiation into the Mysteries of the Ancient World,De Gruyter
Editor
- 1987:Interpretations of Greek Mythology,Croom Helm
- 1989:From Sappho to De Sade,Routledge
- 1991:A Cultural History of Gesture,Polity (with Herman Roodenburg)
- 1992:Sacred History and Sacred Texts in Early Judaism,Kok Pharos (withF. García Martínez)
- 1995:Between Poverty and the Pyre. Moments in the History of WidowhoodRoutledge (with Lourens P. van den Bosch)
- 1996:The Apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla,Kok Pharos
- 1997:A Cultural History of Humour,Polity (with Herman Roodenburg)
- 1998:The Apocryphal Acts of Peter: Magic, Miracles and Gnosticism,Peeters
- 2000:The Apocryphal Acts of Andrew,Peeters
- 2001:The Apocryphal Acts of Thomas,Peeters
- 2003:The Metamorphosis of Magic from Antiquity to the Middle Ages,Peeters (with J. Veenstra)
- 2006:Cultures of Conversions,Peeters (withW.J. van Bekkumand A.L. Molendijk)
- 2006:Paradigms, Poetics and Politics of Conversion,Peeters (with W.J. van Bekkum and A.L. Molendijk)
- 2007:The Strange World of Human Sacrifice,Peeters
- 2007:The Visio Pauli and the Gnostic Apocalypse of Paul,Peeters (with I. Czachesz)
- 2010:The Gods of Ancient Greece,Edinburgh University Press (with Andrew Erskine)
- 2010:The Pseudo-Clementines,Peeters
- 2012:Perpetua's Passions,Oxford University Press (with Marco Formisano)
- 2015:The Materiality of Magic(Morphomata Vol. 20), Wilhelm Fink (with Dietrich Boschung)
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^abcHanneke Goudappel (30 January 2010)."Liberaal protestant zonder missiedrang zwaait af".Friesch Dagblad(in Dutch).
- ^abcRein Nauta (2010)."Van vrijgemaakt tot vrij geworden".In Justin E. A. Kroesen (ed.).Religie en cultuur in hedendaags Nederland(in Dutch). Uitgeverij Van Gorcum. pp. 44–51.ISBN978-90-232-4609-1.
- ^Klaas van der Zwaag (28 January 2010)."Van orthodox naar scepticus".Reformatorisch Dagblad.
- ^"Bio of Jan N. Bremmer"(PDF).International Conference on the Ancient Novel. 2008.Retrieved15 December2015.
External links
[edit]- Academia profile
- Profileon New York University website
