Albertus Frederik Johannes Klijn

Who is Albertus Frederik Johannes Klijn?

Albertus Frederik Johannes Klijn was a Dutch scholar of the New Testament and early Judaism and Christianity at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. He was best known for his introductory work on the New Testament, and then later for his publications on early Christian apocryphal literature.

Klijn studied theology at Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht, and submitted his doctoral dissertation in 1949 on the "Western" Text of the Gospels and Acts. In 1951 he became a Reformed pastor in Heinkenszand, Zeeland. Four years later he began teaching, returning to the University of Utrecht as a lecturer. In 1967 Klijn was appointed professor of early Christian literature and interpretation of the New Testament at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. It was at Groningen that he began to specialize in second-temple Jewish pseudepigrapha and in early Christian literature. Klijn was the editor of the series "De prediking van het Nieuwe Testament: Een theologische commentaar", to which he himself contributed volumes on the Pastoral Epistles, the Epistle to the Hebrews and the Epistle to the Philippians. Klijn retired from Groningen in 1986.