Frans van Liere


Frans van Liere

Education

  • M.Th., University of Groningen
  • M.A. in Medieval Studies, University of Groningen
  • Ph.D. in Medieval Studies, University of Groningen

Biography

Professor Frans van Liere is married to “the other Professor van Liere,” and they have two sons. Frans plays the flute (both modern and baroque flute), sings in the Bach Chorale of Grand Rapids, and brews his own mead. He is also an occasional marathon runner.

Academic interests

Frans van Liere's interests include Medieval Europe, Medieval biblical exegesis, Jewish-Christian relations, schools and universities, and the Avignon papacy. His publications include An Introduction to the Medieval Bible. His current scholarship focuses on the history of medieval Christian Hebraism. In addition to his scholarship, Professor van Liere has been actively engaged in interfaith dialogue for over thirty years, including establishing interfaith dialogue programs and organizing conferences on Jewish-Christian and interfaith relations.

He is director of the Classical and Medieval Studies program.

Research and scholarship

In 2023, Frans van Liere finished the English translation of Andrew of Saint Victor's commentary on Isaiah, a Latin Bible commentary that makes ample use of Jewish sources, written around 1150. Van Liere published its Latin critical edition with Brepols in 2021, following his critical editions of Andrew of Saint Victor’s commentaries on Samuel and Kings, and the Twelve Minor Prophets (with Mark Zier). Van Liere is currently working on the edition of Andrew of Saint Victor’s Jeremiah commentary.

In 2022-23, Frans van Liere served as the Corcoran Visiting Chair in Christian-Jewish Relations at the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College. During his tenure as the Corcoran Chair, Professor Van Liere started a monograph on the Christian concept of Hebraica Veritas, a concept which underpinned the medieval Christian interest in the Hebrew Bible and defined the attitude and relationship of medieval Christians toward their Jewish contemporaries. While in Boston, he also organized a conference on the topic of "The Jewish-Christian encounter over Scripture," the proceedings of which will be published in Brill’s Commentaria series.

Together with co-editors Franklin Harkins, Juliet Mousseau, Grover Zinn, and Dale Coulter, Frans van Liere edited several volumes of the Victorine Texts in Translation series, a collection of translated texts from the twelfth-century abbey of Saint Victor in Paris. Van Liere was the co-editor of volumes on Scriptural interpretation, daily life, and spiritual formation and mystical symbolism.

Publications

Select articles in peer-reviewed journals and chapters in books
  • “Andrew of Saint Victor and the Theology of the Literal Sense.” In: Maria Ingegno, ed., Exegesis of Holy Scripture from Origen to Lorenzo Valla. Brepols: Turnhout (forthcoming).
  • “Philo in the Latin West from 500 to 1500 CE” (with David T. Runia). In: David Lincicum, David Runia, and Courtney Friesen ed. The Reception of Philo of Alexandria. Oxford: OUP (forthcoming, 2020).
  • “Two Newly Discovered Fragments of the Renaut de Montauban.” Manuscripta 63.2 (2019), 269-301.
  • “Szkoła przy opactwie św. Wiktora w perspektywie (Paryż, XII w.).” Pro Fide Rege et Lege 2019 (81), 316-28. (Translation of “The School of St. Victor in Perspective,” Medieval Perspectives 11 (1996): 209-22.)
  • “Following in the Footsteps of Hugh: Exegesis at Saint Victor, 1142-1242.” In: A Companion to the Abbey of Saint Victor in Paris. Edited by Huh Feiss and Juliet Mousseau (Leiden: Brill, 2018), 223-243.
  • “The Old English Hexateuch Cotton Claudius B.IV and its Readers.” In: Teaching and Learning in Medieval Europe. Essays in Honour of Gernot R. Wielnd. Edited by Greti Dinkova-Bruun and Tristan Major. Publications of the Journal of Medieval Latin, 11 (Turnhout: Brepols 2017), 111-122.
  • “Josephus at Saint Victor. A First Edition of Andrew of Saint Victor’s Principatum Israelitice Gentis.” In: Journal of Medieval Latin, 26 (2016): 1-29.
  • “Omnia disce: Hugh of Saint Victor on History, the Arts, and Exegesis.” In: Florilegium, 30 (2013): 191-210.
  • “Hugh of Saint Victor: On Meditation. Introduction and translation.” In: Writings on the Spiritual Life.Edited by Christopher P. Evans. Victorine Texts in Translation 4 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013), 381-394.
  • “Richard of Saint Victor: Exposition of the Lord’s Prayer. Introduction and translation.” In: Writings on the Spiritual Life. Edited by Christopher P. Evans. Victorine Texts in Translation 4 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013), 395-411.
  • “Richard of Saint Victor: Sermon ‘Ave Maris Stella.’ Introduction and translation.” In: Writings on the Spiritual Life. Edited by Christopher P. Evans. Victorine Texts in Translation 4 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013), 471-482.
  • “Christ or Antichrist? The Jewish Messiah in Twelfth-Century Christian Eschatology.” In: From Knowledge to Beatitude. St. Victor, Twelfth-Century Scholars, and Beyond: Essays in Honor of Grover A. Zinn, Jr.Edited by E. Ann Matter and Lesley Smith (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2013), 342-357.
  • “The Text of the Latin Bible, 900-1400.” In New Cambridge History of the Bible. Edited by E. Ann Matter and Richard Marsden. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
  • “Biblical exegesis through the twelfth century." In The Practice of the Bible in the Western Middle Ages. Edited by Susan Boynton and Dianne Reilly, 157-178. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011.
  • “Andrew of Saint Victor and his Franciscan Critics.” In The Multiple Senses of Scripture. Edited by Ineke Van’t Spijker, 291-309. Commentaria: Interpretations of Sacred Texts in Medieval Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, 2. Leiden: Brill, 2009.
  • “Was the Medieval Church Corrupt?” In Misconceptions about the Middle Ages. Edited by Stephen Harris and Bryon L. Grigsby, 31-39. Routledge Studies in Medieval Religion and Culture. London: Routledge, 2007.
Encyclopaedias and works of reference
  • “Kings – Christianity.” In The Encyclopaedia of the Bible and Its Reception, ed. Christine Helmer, Steven L. McKenzie, Thomas Römer, Jens Schröter, Barry Dov Walfish, Eric J. Ziolkowski (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2017), vol. 15, 312-313.
  • “Hebraica Veritas,” in The Encyclopaedia of The Bible and Its Reception, ed. Dale. C. Allison, Volker Leppin, and others. (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2015), vol. 11, 608-610.
  • “Biblical Exegesis”, and “Glosses.” In Handbook of Medieval Studies: Concepts, Methods, Historical Developments, and Current Trends in Medieval Studies. Edited by Albrecht Classen, 137-145 and 1785-1790. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2010.
  • "Ark of the Covenant. IV: Medieval Christianity." In The Encyclopaedia of The Bible and Its Reception. Edited by B. McGinn and W. Klauck, 758-760. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2009, vol. 2, 758-760.
  • “Marchesino di Reggio Lepidi.” In Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, vol. 66. Edited by Alberto M. Ghisalberti. Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 2006.
  • “Andreas de Sancto Victore.” In C.A.L.M.A.: Compendium auctorum Latinorum Medii Aevi: 500-1500. Edited by Michael Lapidge, Gian Carlo Garfagnini, and Claudio Leonardi, vol. I.3, 255-256. Tavarnuzze: SISMEL, Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2003.
  • “Agricola, Rudolph,” “Aureoli, Peter,” “Benedict XII, Pope,” “Durand of Saint-Pourçain,” “Groote, Gerard,” and “John XXII, Pope.” In The Late Medieval Age of Crisis and Renewal, 1300-1500, A Biographical Dictionary. Edited by Clayton J. Drees, 5-7, 23-4, 41-2, 131-2, 200-202, 255-7. Westport: Greenwood, 2000.
Select publications for a wider audience
Select book reviews
  • The Honey of Souls: Cassiodorus and the Interpretation of Psalms in the Early Medieval West. By Derek A. Olsen. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press. 2017. In: Catholic Historical Review 105:3 (2019), 562-563.
  • Imagining Religious Leadership in the Middle Ages: Richard of Saint-Vanne and the Politics of Reform. By Steven Vanderputten. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2015. In: The Historian 80 (2017), 175-76.
  • The Making of the Historia Scholastica, 1150-1200. By Mark J. Clark. Studies and Texts 198, Medieval Law and Theology 7. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2015. In: Church History 86 (2017), 494-95.
  • Avignon and its papacy, 1309-1417. Popes, institutions and society. By Joëlle Rollo-Koster. Lanham, Boulder, etc.: Rowan and Littlefield, 2015. In: Journal of Ecclesiastical History 68 (2017), 609-11.
  • La typologie biblique comme forme de pensée dans l'historiographie médiévale. Edited by Kretschmer, Marek Thue Kretschmer. Fédération Internationale des Instituts d'Études Médiévales, Textes et Études du Moyen Âge 75. Turnhout: Brepols, 2014. In: Speculum 92:2 (2017), 545-47.
  • Reading the Bible in the Middle Ages. Edited by Jinty Nelson and Damien Kempf. Studies in Early Medieval History. London, New Delhi, New York, Sydney: Bloomsbury, 2015. In: History: Review of New Books 45 (2017), 15-16.
  • Vita Latina Adae et Evae. Edited by Jean-Pierre Pettorelli and Jean-Daniel Kaestli; Synopsis Vitae Adae et Evae, Latine Graece, Armeniace et Iberice. Edited by Albert Frey, Jean-Daniel Kaestli, Bernard Outtier, and Jean-Pierre Pettorelli. Corpus Christianorum, series apocryphorum 18-19. Turnhout: Brepols 2012. In: The Journal of Medieval Latin, 25 (2015), 279-281.
  • Anselmus Laudunensis. Glosae super Iohannem. Edited by Alexander Andrée. Corpus Christianorum, continuatio mediaeualis 267. Turnhout: Brepols, 2014. In: Speculum 90:3 (2015), 766-67.
  • Nicolaus Maniacoria. Suffraganeus Bibliothece. Edited by Cornelia Linde. Corpus Christianorum, continuatio mediaeualis 262. Turnhout: Brepols, 2013. In: Journal of Medieval Latin (2015), 270-272.
  • Marks of Distinction. Christian Perceptions of Jews in the High Middle Ages. By Irven M. Resnick. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2012. In The Medieval Review, 14.10.22.
  • How to Correct the Sacra Scriptura? Textual Criticism of the Latin Bible between the Twelfth and the Fifteenth Century, by Cornelia Linde. In: Speculum. A Journal of Medieval Studies 88 (2013), 1123-25.
  • Holy Scripture and the Quest for Authority at the End of the Middle Ages, by Ian Christopher Levy. In:Marginalia. A Review of books in history, theology and religion, 22 May 2013.
  • Eamon Duffy, Ten Popes Who Shook the World (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2011), in The Historian (2012), 904-905.
  • Vocabularius Thetonicus. Überlieferungsgeschichtliche Edition des mittelniederdeutsch-lateinischen Schulwörterbuchs. Edited by Robert Damme. Niederdeutsche Studien, 54,1-3. Köln, Weimar, Wien: Böhlau Verlag, 2011, in Mediaevistik 25 (2012), 564-565.
  • Mary Dove. The Earliest Advocates of the English Bible: The Texts of the Medieval Debate. (Exeter: Exeter
    University Press, 2010) in Textual cultures: texts, context, interpretation 6.2 (2011), 160-61.
  • Guillelmi de Luxi Postilla super Baruch, Postilla super Ionam. Edited by Andrew T. Sulavik. Corpus Christianorum, contunuatio mediaeualis 219 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2006), in Vivarium 46 (2008): 120-121.
  • Brian Murdoch, The Medieval Popular Bible. Expansions of Genesis in the Middle Ages (Cambridge: Brewer, 2003), in Studi Medievali 47 (2006): 978-979.

Read Frans van Liere's posts on Historical Horizons, the history department blog.

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