François Bovon (13 March 1938 – 1 November 2013) was a Swiss biblical scholar and historian of early Christianity. He was the Frothingham Professor Emeritus of the History of Religion at

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...

. Bovon was a graduate of the

University of Lausanne The University of Lausanne (UNIL; french: links=no, Université de Lausanne) in Lausanne, Switzerland was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second oldest in Switzer ...

and held a doctorate in theology from the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis'', German: ''Universität Basel'') is a university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universit ...

(supervised by

Oscar Cullmann Oscar Cullmann (25 February 1902, Strasbourg – 16 January 1999, Chamonix) was a French Lutheran theologian. He is best known for his work in the ecumenical movement and was partly responsible for the establishment of dialogue between the Luther ...

). From 1967 to 1993, he taught in the Faculty of Theology at the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centur ...

. Bovon was an honorary professor at the

and in 1993 he received an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

from the Faculty of Theology at

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. The university rose to significance during ...

, Sweden. He was president of the Swiss Society of Theology from 1973 to 1977 and president of the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas in 2000. Bovon was the author of numerous books on early Christianity, and co-edited the first volume of ''Écrits apocryphes chrétiens'' in the series La Pléiade (published by Gallimard).Catalogue of La Pléiade.
/ref> He also wrote several books on Luke the Evangelist and the Gospel of Luke, including a major critical commentary (in the series EKK).

Select publications

* * * - (trans pub by Neuchâtel: Delachaux et Niestlé in 1978) * * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bovon, Francois 1938 births People from Lausanne Swiss Protestant theologians Swiss historians of religion Swiss biblical scholars New Testament scholars University of Lausanne alumni University of Basel alumni University of Geneva faculty Harvard Divinity School faculty 2013 deaths