Celebrating

Today, March 9., it is 25 years since I had my public defense of my Norwegian PhD dissertation. Umbelievable how the years fly away..

The ‘disputatio’ was held at the University of Trondheim, now called Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). My mentor was prof. Peder Borgen, and the two other members of the evaluation committee were prof Niels Hyldahl, University of Copenhagen, and Prof. Ernst Baasland, Norwegian School of Theology, Oslo.

The dissertation was slightly reworked, and then published by Brill in 1995.The volume is still available. Looking back I am particularly pleased that it was well received by both Jews and Christians, as it dealt with a somewhat sensitive issue in the relations between Jews and Christians in the first century CA.

Below is a picture of me, and my mentor. We both were young at that time……….:)

At that time I was an associate professor at Volda Regional College, an institution I served until I moved to Stavanger and the School of Mission and Theology in 2005.I retired in 2014.

 

New article on Philo in RAC

The latest issue of the well-known Lexicon, Reallexicon fur Antike und Christentum, has now been published, including a new article on Philo of Alexandria:

1. D.T. Runia, Philon von Alexandria. RAC Bd 27 (Lfg. 210/217): 605-627 (columns)

The publisher of this famous Lexicon states its goals thus (German):

Das RAC dient als Hilfsmittel zur Erforschung der ausgehenden Antike und des beginnenden Frühmittelalters bzw. der frühbyzantinischen Zeit. Konkret soll die Frage beantwortet werden: Wie wurde aus der vielschichtigen, keineswegs einheitlichen antiken Kultur, die sich seit hellenistischer Zeit in der Mittelmeerwelt entwickelte, die spätantik-christliche der folgenden Jahrhunderte? Die Bedeutung dieser Fragestellung ergibt sich aus der Tatsache, dass diese spätantik-christliche Kultur eine Vorstufe der mittelalterlichen und damit zum Teil der heutigen bildet. Verkürzt wird diese Aufgabenstellung mit der von F. J. Dölger geprägten, im Untertitel des RAC programmatisch verwendeten Formel “Auseinandersetzung des Christentums mit der antiken Welt” umschrieben.

The lexicon article, written by David T. Runia, fulfills these goals in an excellent manner. The article has the following structure:

1. Leben und Werk (Life and Work): Here is Philo’s works presented and their context of origin (Entstehungskontext).
2. Nicht-Christlich (Non-Christian): Focus here is on Philo and his Jewish people and his knowledge of non-Jewish authors.
3. Christlich (Christian): Here Runia deals with how Philo was received and used by the early Christian writers from the New Testament and up to and including Augustin. In many ways, it is a brief summary of his own book on Philo in Early Christian Literature. A Survey (CRINT III,Vol 3: Assen; van Gorcum, 1993).

 

Runia is also the author of another enzyclopedic article, written in French:

Runia. David T. 2011. “Philon d’Alexandrie.” In Dictionnaire des Philosophes Antiques V. de Paccius à Rutilius Rufus  VA. de paccius à Plotin, edited by Richard Goulet, 362–90. Paris: C.N.R.S. Éditions.