Samuel N. C. Lieu (; b. 4 March 1950) is a historian of

Manichaeism Manichaeism (; in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian Empire, Parthian ...

and

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

in Central Asia and China.

Biography

Born in Hong Kong and educated at St. Paul's College, Lieu received a BA in Ancient and Medieval History from

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mon ...

in 1969. He later moved to the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

where he completed a DPhil in Ancient History in 1981, writing a comparative study on Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire and Medieval China, and worked as a Junior Research Fellow in

Wolfson College, Oxford Wolfson College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Located in north Oxford along the River Cherwell, Wolfson is an all-graduate college with around sixty governing body fellows, in addition to both research and ...

(1974-1976). He became a Lecturer in Ancient History at

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...

and was eventually promoted to full professor (1976-1996). In 1996, he became Professor of Ancient History at

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of S ...

, becoming a Distinguished Professor in 2010 and retiring in 2016 and becoming Emeritus Professor in 2017. He has been elected a

Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society Fellows of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland are individuals who have been elected by the Council of the Royal Asiatic Society to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science lite ...

(1981), Fellow of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...

(1983), Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (1989), Fellow of the

Australian Academy of the Humanities The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia. It operates as an independent not-for-profit organisation partly funded by the Australia ...

(1999), and

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # C ...

(2021). A festschrift has been prepared in his honour, entitled ''Byzantium to China: Religion, History and Culture on the Silk Roads: Studies in Honour of Samuel N.C. Lieu'' (2022). He married Judith Lieu, a British theologian and historian of early Christianity, in 1976.

Works

Monographs

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Edited volumes

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lieu, Samuel N. C. 1950 births Academics of the University of Oxford Alumni of the University of Cambridge Alumni of the University of Oxford Fellows of the British Academy Living people