Dr. Frans van Liere
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.
Education
- M.Th., University of Groningen
- M.A. in Medieval Studies, University of Groningen
- Ph.D. in Medieval Studies, University of Groningen
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
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
