Pieter van der Horst
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Pieter Willem van der Horst (born 4 July 1946) is a scholar and university professor emeritus specializing in New Testament studies,
Early Christian Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish d ...
literature, and the Jewish and
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context of Early Christianity.


Education and career

Van der Horst was born in
Driebergen Driebergen is a former village and municipality in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is first mentioned as Thriberghen in 1159. The former municipality of Driebergen existed until 1931, when it merged with Rijsenburg, to create the new municipali ...
, Netherlands. He studied classical philology and received a doctorate in theology in 1978. From 1969 to 2006, he was a research assistant, junior and senior lecturer, and full professor at the Faculty of Theology of Utrecht University. He is an editor of the series Commentaries on Early Jewish Literature, published by Walter de Gruyter. He became a member of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...
in 1994.Manfred Gerstenfeld, "Utrecht University: The Myth of Jewish Cannibalism, Censorship, and Fear of Muslim Intimidation," Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, September 2008
online.
/ref>


"Jewish cannibalism" controversy

In 2006, van der Horst became embroiled in a controversy over his retirement lecture, "The
Myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...
of Jewish Cannibalism," which traced the development of this
antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
theme from the Hellenistic period through the Middle Ages to Nazism. He planned to conclude by examining the resurgence of the
cannibalism Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, b ...
myth in contemporary
Islamic Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the mai ...
media, including
cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...
s, television programs, and sermons, particularly in Iran,
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
, and
Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
. The text of the lecture was reviewed in advance by Utrecht University administrators. According to van der Horst, he was asked by the dean of faculty to delete the passage on what he prefers to call "Islamic Jew hatred."Pieter W. van der Horst, "Tying Down Academic Freedom," ''Wall Street Journal'' 30 June 2006
online.
/ref> She found the contemporary portions of the lecture to be "
pamphlet A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a hard cover or binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' or it may consist of a ...
-like" and "unscientific." When he declined to edit, the dean referred the matter to the '' rector magnificus'' Willem Hendrik Gispen, the university's chief administrator. Van der Horst was then asked to appear before a committee composed of the rector, two deans of faculty, and
Bas de Gaay Fortman Bastiaan "Bas" de Gaay Fortman (born 6 November 1937) is a retired Dutch politician and diplomat of the Political Party of Radicals (PPR) and later the GreenLeft (GL) party and economist. Career before politics After attending public elementar ...
, who holds Utrecht's unique
chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. They may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...
of Political Economy of Human Rights. The administration, while not disputing van der Horst's reconstruction of the chain of events, has maintained that he misunderstood the content of that meeting.Koelewijn, "Rector magnificus." Van der Horst says that he was given three reasons for editing his lecture: Van der Horst said that he was given 24 hours to edit the lecture, and left the meeting "in a state of total confusion." In a guest column for '' The Wall Street Journal'', he wrote that he had decided, with no independent means to verify any potential risk to himself or others, to proceed with an expurgated version. Because of the challenge to his academic reputation, he said, he also asked several colleagues, including three professors of Islamic Studies he left unnamed, to review his work from a scholarly perspective. According to van der Horst, none found weakness in the scholarship, nor any statements offensive to
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
, Muhammad, or the Qur'an. Van der Horst delivered his "castrated" valedictory speech 16 June 2006.


Media reaction

The next day, the incident began to receive Dutch media coverage. The deleted passages were published by the daily newspaper '' Trouw'', which had been contacted by van der Horst's fellow professors. These included passages that van der Horst himself identified as " polemic" involving the connection between German fascism and "Islamic vilification of Jews" in the contemporary Middle East, with statements such as "the Islamisation of European antisemitism is one of the most frightening developments of the past decades." On 22 June ''rector magnificus'' Gispen responded to the controversy in an interview with ''
NRC Handelsblad ''NRC'', previously called ''NRC Handelsblad'' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by NRC Media. It is generally accepted as a newspaper of record in the Netherlands. History ''NRC Handelsblad'' was first published on 1 ...
'', another Dutch daily. Gispen maintained that neither " Islamophobia" nor censorship was at issue, but rather the quality of van der Horst's work. He attributed van der Horst's response to resentment over having to retire and the " marginalization" of his
academic department An academic department is a division of a university or school faculty devoted to a particular academic discipline. This article covers United States usage at the university level. In the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries, univers ...
. Van der Horst's ''Wall Street Journal'' column was published on 30 June. In it, he asserted that despite the publication of the unexpurgated version of his lecture in multiple media outlets, he "did not receive a single negative, let alone threatening, Muslim reaction," though some had criticized him for overgeneralization. The incident has been compared to Utrecht University's handling of accusations against Peter Debye, the
Nobel laureate The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make out ...
after whom the university's Institute of Physics & Chemistry had been named. Debye's name was removed following allegations that he had collaborated with the Nazis while director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin during the 1930s. Gispen himself acknowledged that his position toward van der Horst's lecture had been influenced by the Debye controversy. Dutch media covered the controversy through news stories and in
editorial An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK) is an article written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper, magazine, or any other written document, often unsigned. Australian and major United States newspapers, suc ...
s; the positions of both the rector and van der Horst received support. French media are alleged to have underreported the incident, but French commentator Paul Landau stated strongly that in his opinion it "illustrated the level of '
dhimmitude Dhimmitude is a polemical neologism characterizing the status of non-Muslims under Muslim rule, popularized by the Egyptian-born British writer Bat Ye'or in the 1980s and 1990s. It is a portmanteau word constructed from the Arabic ''dhimmi'' 'non ...
' elite universities in many European countries have come to today. … Wake up, Erasmus, they've become fools." Van der Horst went on to publish "The Myth of Jewish Cannibalism: A Chapter in the History of Antisemitism" in ''Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities (English Series)'', vol. 8 (2008). He traces the origin of the belief — that Jews murder a non-Jew each year to ritually consume the entrails and blood — to Apion, a 1st-century Alexandrian scholar who constructed the myth as a conflict between the civilizing Egyptian deity Isis and the
god of the Jews God in Judaism has been conceived in a variety of ways. Traditionally, Judaism holds that Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the national god of the Israelites, delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, and gave them the ...
.Articl
abstract


Selected works

In addition to numerous articles, van der Horst has published, edited or contributed to the following books: *''An Alexandrian Platonist against
Dualism Dualism most commonly refers to: * Mind–body dualism, a philosophical view which holds that mental phenomena are, at least in certain respects, not physical phenomena, or that the mind and the body are distinct and separable from one another ** ...
:
Alexander of Lycopolis Alexander of Lycopolis was the writer of a short treatise, in twenty-six chapters, against the Manicheans (J. P. Migne, ''Patrologia Graeca'', XVIII, 409–448). He says in the second chapter of this work that he derived his knowledge of Mani (proph ...
' Treatise 'Critique of the Doctrines of
Manichaeus Mani (in Middle Persian: 𐭌𐭀𐭍𐭉/𐭬𐭠𐭭𐭩/𐮋𐮀𐮌𐮈/𐬨𐬁𐬥𐬌/𐫖𐫀𐫗𐫏 ''Māni'', New Persian: ''Māni'', Chinese: ''Móní'', Syriac ''Mānī'', Greek , Latin '; also , Latin ', from Syriac ''Mānī ḥay ...
'.'' Translation with introduction and notes with J. Mansfeld. Brill 1974. Limited previe
online.
*''The Sentences of
Pseudo-Phocylides Pseudo-Phocylides is an apocryphal work, at one time, claiming to have been written by Phocylides, a Greek philosopher of the 6th century BC. Its authorship was deciphered by Jacob Bernays. The text is noticeably Jewish, and depends on the Septuagin ...
''. Introduction and commentary. Brill, 1978. Limited previe
online.
*''Miscellanea Biblica: Seven Months' Children in Jewish and Christian Tradition''. Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses, 1978. *'' Chaeremon,
Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
Priest and Stoic Philosopher: The Fragments Collected and Translated''. Brill, 1984. Limited previe
online.
*'' Aelius Aristides and the New Testament''. Brill Archive, 1980. Limited previe
online.
*''The Jews of Ancient Crete''. Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies, 1988. *''Jews and Christians in Aphrodisias in the Light of Their Relations in Other Cities of Asia Minor''. Theologische Faculteiten der Rijksuniversiteiten, 1989. *''Studies on the Testament of Job''. With Michael A. Knibb. Cambridge University Press, 1990. *''Studies on the Hellenistic Background of the New Testament''. With Gerard Mussies. Faculteit der Godgeleerdheid, Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht, 1990. *''Essays on the Jewish World of Early Christianity''. Universitätsverlag Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1990. *''Ancient Jewish Epitaphs: An Introductory Survey of a Millennium of Jewish Funerary
Epigraphy Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...
(300 BCE-700 CE)''. Peeters Publishers, 1991. Limited previe
online.
*"Jewish Poetical Tomb Inscriptions." In ''Studies in Early Jewish Epigraphy''. Editor with J. W. van Henten. Brill, 1994. Limited previe
online.
*''The Birkat Ha-minim in Recent Research''. T. & T. Clark, 1994. *''Aspects of Religious Contact and Conflict in the Ancient World''. Faculteit der Godgeleerdheid Universiteit Utrecht, 1995. *''
Polyhistor A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...
: Studies in the History and Historiography of Ancient Philosophy: Presented to
Jaap Mansfeld Jaap Mansfeld (born 1936) is a Dutch Emeritus Professor of philosopher and a historian of philosophy. Life Jaap Mansfeld began his studies in 1954 at the University of Utrecht, where he received his doctorate in 1964 with a thesis on Parmenides. ...
on His Sixtieth Birthday''. Editor with Keimpe A. Algra and David T. Runia. Brill, 1996. Essays from twenty-two contributors. Limited previe
online.
*''Hellenism Judaism Christianity: Essays on Their Interaction''. Peeters Press, 1998. Limited previe
online.
*'' Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible'' (DDD). Editor with Karel van der Toorn and Bob Becking. William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1999, 2nd edition. Limited previe
online.
*'' Prayers from the Ancient World:
Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman civilization (; also Greco-Roman culture; spelled Graeco-Roman in the Commonwealth), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and countries that culturally—and so historically—were di ...
, Jewish, and Christian Prayers''. With Gregory E. Sterling. University of Notre Dame Press, 2000. Sixty Greco-Roman, Jewish, and early Christian prayers spanning 700 BC to AD 500. *''
Japheth Japheth ( he, יֶפֶת ''Yép̄eṯ'', in pausa ''Yā́p̄eṯ''; el, Ἰάφεθ '; la, Iafeth, Iapheth, Iaphethus, Iapetus) is one of the three sons of Noah in the Book of Genesis, in which he plays a role in the story of Noah's drunk ...
in the Tents of Shem: Studies on Jewish Hellenism in Antiquity''. Peeters Publishers, 2002. Limited previe
online.
*"Anti- Samaritan Propaganda in Early Judaism." In ''
Persuasion Persuasion or persuasion arts is an umbrella term for Social influence, influence. Persuasion can influence a person's Belief, beliefs, Attitude (psychology), attitudes, Intention, intentions, Motivation, motivations, or Behavior, behaviours. ...
and Dissuasion in Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Hellenism''. Editor with Maarten J. J. Menken, Joop F. M. Smit, Geert Van Oyen. Peeters Publishers, 2003. Limited previe
online.
*'' Philo's
Flaccus Flaccus was a composer from the 2nd century BC, of whom little is known. He was either a freedman or a slave of one of Terence's patrons and wrote musical scores for Terence's comedies (playing or composing music was no occupation for a free cit ...
: The First Pogrom.'' Introduction, translation, and commentary. Brill, 2003. Limited previe
online.
*''Jews and Christians in Their Graeco-Roman Context.'' Mohr Siebeck, 2006. Limited previe
online.
*“Jewish Cannibalism: The History of an Antisemitic Myth”
''Telos''
144 (Fall 2008). New York: Telos Press. *''Early Jewish Prayers in Greek: A Commentary''. With Judith H Newman. Walter De Gruyter, 2008. Text, translation, and commentary for twelve Jewish prayers composed by Greek-speaking communities. Van der Horst was honored with the publication of ''Empsychoi Logoi: Religious Innovations in Antiquity. Studies in Honour of Pieter Willem van der Horst'' (Leiden: Brill, 2008), as part of the series Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity. The volume was edited by Alberdina Houtman, Albert de Jong, and Magda Misset-van de Weg.


References


Further reading

*Gerstenfeld, Manfred. "Utrecht University: The Myth of Jewish Cannibalism, Censorship, and Fear of Muslim Intimidation." Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, September 2008
online.
*Koelewijn, Jannetje. "'Ik ben niet bang en van censuur is geen sprake': Rector magnificus Gispen over zijn ingrijpen bij afscheidsrede." ''NRC Handelsblad'', 22 June 2006. English via Google Translate. * Pieter W. van der Horst, "Tying Down Academic Freedom," ''Wall Street Journal'' 30 June 200
online
an

Text of the column also reprinted by the
Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship The Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship (SAFS) is a Canadian non-profit organization founded to promote academic freedom and intellectual excellence on Canadian institutions of higher education (i.e., college and university campuses). ...
, ''SAFS Newsletter'' 44 (September 2006), pp. 7–8
downloadable


External links


Official website
* The text of the lecture "De mythe van het joodse kannibalisme" (in Dutch) in its modified form is availabl
online
* The uncut text of the lecture (in Dutch) i
downloadable only.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horst, Pieter Willem van der 1946 births Living people Blood libel Dutch critics of Islam Dutch biblical scholars Dutch historians of religion Judaic studies Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences People from Driebergen-Rijsenburg Utrecht University faculty