Pieter van der Horst

Professor Emeritus, Utrecht University

Pieter van der Horst is a scholar specialising in New Testament studies, Early Christian literature and the Jewish and Hellenistic context of Early Christianity. He is professor emeritus in the faculty of theology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Since 1994 he is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He is the author of many books, including Studies in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity (2014). His website is www.pietervanderhorst.com

Website

Written by Pieter van der Horst

Black-and-white photo of elderly men with hats and beards in a shul studying books around a wooden table in a dimly lit room.

essayThinkers and theories

The Bible’s first critic

Centuries before Spinoza, there was Ḥiwi al-Balkhi, a Jewish freethinker for whom the Bible was too irrational for faith

Pieter van der Horst

Marble relief depicting a seated woman with two children, flanked by two other figures with animals below. Classical art style.

essayHistory

How the poor became blessed

Greco-Roman gods had no interest in the poor nor was organised charity a religious duty. How was Christianity different?

Pieter van der Horst

Medieval illuminated manuscript with three illustrations of a haloed figure holding a sphere, surrounded by text and floral decorations.

essayStories and literature

Pagans against Genesis

Confused, inferior and philosophically unsound: the Greco-Roman critique of the Old Testament could have been written today

Pieter van der Horst