Johan Leemans

Johan Leemans
Charles Deberiotstraat 26 - box 3101
3000 Leuven
Belgium
room: 03.18

tel: +32 16 32 37 97
mobile: +32 468 242 928
contact

Johan Leemans (Duffel, 1965; PhD 2001) is since 2008 Professor for Christianity in Late Antiquity (special focus: Greek Patristics). He is a member of the Research Unit History of Church and Theology at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven, and he was Vice-Dean for Research for ten years (2012-2022).  

In his research Johan Leemans focuses mainly on the history of Christianity in the fourth and fifth centuries. The gradual development of Christian doctrine, transmission of the Christian faith and the construction of Christian identities in a religiously plural world are key terms in his research. Sermons, the phenomenon of martyrdom and biblical interpretation in Late Antiquity are among his major research topics. He directs doctoral research on a variety of topics in matters Late Antiquity. He published about Athanasius of Alexandria, the Cappadocian Fathers, Isidorus of Pelusium and Asterius of Amaseia.

Johan Leemans is General Editor of the journal Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses (ETL) and the series Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium (BETL). He also serves on the Editorial Boards of Sacris Erudiri, the Revue d'Histoire Ecclésiastique and Vigiliae Christianae.

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  • editedbook
    2024. New Jerusalem: Envisioning Revelation’s Holy City in Late Antiquity. Publisher: Mohr Siebeck; Tübingen
    LIRIAS3917141
    description


    Accepted
  • chapter
    Leemans, Johan;De Backer, Olympe; 2023. A Thousand Pains and a Thousand Crowns. Perfection in the Homiletic Tradition. Longing for Perfection in Late Antiquity Studies on Journeys between Ideal and Reality in Pagan and Christian Literature; 2023; Vol. 11; pp. 389 - 415 Publisher: Brill; Leiden
    LIRIAS4131987
    description


    Published
  • thesis-dissertation
    Segers, Josien; 2023. God planted Paradise in Eden and there He placed man He had shaped. A Critical Study of the Sermons De Creatione Hominis (CPG3215-3216) and De Paradiso (CPG 3217.
    LIRIAS4119019
    description
    Translation, critical source analysis and exegesis of three little studied/neglected Greek treatises, handed down in Gregory of Nyssa's name, being two sermons de creatione hominis and one sermo de paradiso. First of all, these texts will be translated into English for the very first time using Hörner's main text (1972) as a base and they will be provided with explanatory notes. After that, a critical interpretation of the text will be given with attention to its different facets. (1) Philologically, we will discuss the question of the author of the texts in the first place. Subsequently, the various text reviews that appeared in the critical edition of Hörner, will be subjected to a thorough investigation to determine whether the text Horner choses as her main text really is the most correct text. (2) A second major part of the research focuses on the different sources and influences which can be found in the text, in particular how the early Christian basis of the text also shows influences of pagan philosophers and doctors. (3) A third facet is again a philological one. The text will be submitted to a thorough literary analysis, which will focus on the text's genre, in particular the Kreuzung der Gattungen that can clearly be found in the text. (4) Finally, based on information previously found, the intended purpose and audience of the text will be examined to conclude the study of our text.

    Published
  • editedbook
    2023. Longing for Perfection in Late Antiquity. Studies on Journeys between Ideal and Reality in Pagan and Christian Literature. Publisher: Brill; Leiden-Boston
    LIRIAS4126817
    description


    Published
  • chapter
    Leemans, Johan;Roskam, Geert;Van Deun, Peter; 2023. Introduction. Longing for Perfection in Late Antiquity Studies on Journeys between Ideal and Reality in Pagan and Christian Literature; 2023; Vol. 11; pp. 1 - 16 Publisher: Brill; Leiden
    LIRIAS4127823
    description


    Published
  • chapter
    Leemans, Johan; 2023. Homilies as ‘Modes of Knowing’: An Exploration on the Basis of Greek Patristic Festal Sermons (c. 350–c. 450 CE). The Intellectual World of Late Antique Christianity: Reshaping Classical Traditions; 2023; pp. 282 - 302 Publisher: Cambridge University Press; Cambridge
    LIRIAS4119456
    description


    Published
  • bookreview
    Leemans, Johan; 2023. Grégoire de Nysse, Trois oraisons funèbres (Mélèce, Flacilla, Pulchérie). Texte grec d’Andreas Spira (GNO IX) et Sur les enfants morts prématurément. Texte grec de Hadwiga Hörner (GNO III,2). Introduction, traduction et notes Pierre Maraval (Sources Chrétiennes 606), Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf 2019, 211 pp., ISBN 978-2-204-13356-2, € 29 (pb).. Vigiliae Christianae; 2023; Vol. 77; iss. 3; pp. 342 - 344 Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
    LIRIAS4088978
    description


    Published
  • chapter
    Betz, Nathan;Dupont, Anthony;Leemans, Johan; 2023. The New Jerusalem – More Than the World to Come. Revelation’s New Jerusalem in Late Antiquity; 2023; pp. 1 - 6 Publisher: Mohr Siebeck; Tübingen
    LIRIAS4129176
    description


    Published
  • bookreview
    Mariotti, Laura;Leemans, Johan; 2022. Review of Kyriakos Savvidis and Dietmar Wyrwa (eds), Epistula ad Marcellinum (Athanasius Werke. I. Die Dogmatischen Schriften, 6), Berlin, De Gruyter, 2021.. Review of Biblical Literature; 2022 Publisher: Society of Biblical Literature
    LIRIAS3940645
    description


    Published online
  • journal-article
    Leemans, Johan;Segers, Josien;Roskam, Geert; 2022. A Cappadocian Paradise? Exploring the Sermo De Paradiso (CPG 3127). Adamantius; 2022; Vol. 21; iss. 2021; pp. 350 - 369
    LIRIAS3954632
    description

    Publisher: Editrice Morcelliana
    Published
  • thesis-dissertation
    Puchkova, Sofia; 2022. Biblical Exegesis in Theodore Of Mopsuestia’s Catechetical Homilies: Integration, Characteristic Features and Sources..
    LIRIAS3765302
    description
    In spite of the fact that Theodore of Mopsuestia's Catechetical Homilies is a well-studied text, the research on the biblical exegesis in these homilies still has to be done. In my dissertation, I will address the influence of Theodore's theology on his exegesis in the Catechetical Homilies and the difference of this exegesis and that of the same passages in his biblical commentaries. Additionally, I will tackle the questions to what extent Theodore's exegesis is traditional or not; we will also look for the origin of some interpretations. The study of Theodore's exegesis in the Catechetical Homilies is important as it creates a more complete picture of his biblical interpretation and exegetical methodology and demonstrates the influence of his theology and the pastoral context on the exegesis. This study will also contribute to the research on Theodore's influence on the East Syrians, answering the question to which extent Theodore is tributary to this tradition or rather changed it.

    Published
  • chapter
    Janssens, Bart;Lamberigts, Mathijs;Leemans, Johan; 2022. Building the Corpus Christianorum. A Short History of the First 75 Years. Theological Libraries and Library Associations in Europe: A Festschrift at the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of BETH; 2022; pp. 429 - 459 Publisher: Brill
    LIRIAS3684649
    description
    In 1947 a bright young monk of the Benedictine St. Peter’s Abbey in Steenbrugge (Bruges), Jan-Eligius Dekkers, first announced his plans to collect the complete works of the Latin and Greek Church Fathers in a single, uniform series of critical text editions. Over the course of 75 years the collection, called Corpus Christianorum, expanded chronologically, methodologically and logistically. To serve Dekkers’ purpose, the monastic library at Steenbrugge developed into a scholarly centre that despite many evolutions and transformations still operates today as the Corpus Christianorum headquarters in Turnhout, Belgium. Although the physical volumes in its flagship series continue to be produced in print, the digital turn, too, has come full circle: in 2019 Clavis Clavium was launched, an online collaborative platform building on the foundations of Dom Dekkers’ Clavis Patrum Latinorum.

    Published
  • thesis-dissertation
    Betz, Nathan; 2022. City of Gods: The New Jerusalem of John’s Revelation in Early Christianity (through ca. 313).
    LIRIAS3732602
    description
    The New Jerusalem (NJ) is an image that emerged within the Hebrew Scriptures, developed in the intertestamental period, and was expanded upon to dramatic effect in the Apocalypse and elsewhere in the New Testament. In the time since, it has become a persistent and powerful religious, political, literary, and artistic topos within the Western cultural heritage. At its heart, the image of the NJ and its cognates (e.g. the heavenly Jerusalem) has represented, often with eschatological overtones, a union of the human and the divine and the peaceful co-existence of all creation in a state of perfection. As powerful as the image has become, its development in the centuries immediately following the New Testament era has received scant scholarly attention. To date, no complete, in-depth analysis of the NJ as represented in late antique Christian literature exists. As a consequence, the formative history of this potent metaphor as it was absorbed into the Christian tradition remains obscure and misunderstood. My research will fill this lacuna by offering an original, synthetic study of the reception and development of an influential biblical image in the roughly 500 years following the writing of the New Testament. I will do this by presenting the major interpretations and uses of the NJ, highlighting contrasting accents within the church as to its meaning, and articulating the broad consensus that emerged in the Latin and Greek Apocalypse commentaries of the sixth and early seventh centuries.

    Published
  • chapter
    Leemans, Johan;Verheyden, Joseph;Heirman, Ann;Roskam, Geert; 2022. Introduction. Reaching for Perfection. Studies on the Means and Goals of Ascetical Practices in an Interreligious Perspective; 2022; Vol. 329; pp. 1 - 9 Publisher: Peeters Publishers; Leuven
    LIRIAS4080392
    description


    Published
  • chapter
    Leemans, Johan;Tamas, Hajnalka; 2022. Retrieving Information on Liturgical Readings from Sermons: Examples from Asia Minor. Liturgische Bibelrezeption: Dimensionen und Perspektiven interdisziplinärer Forschung/Liturgical Reception of the Bible: Dimensions and Perspectives of Interdisciplinary Research; 2022; Vol. 108; pp. 69 - 85 Publisher: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; Göttingen
    LIRIAS3774838
    description


    Published
  • editedbook
    2022. Reaching for Perfection: Studies on the Means and Goals of Ascetical Practices in an Interreligious Perspective. Publisher: Peeters Publishers; Leuven
    LIRIAS3969163
    description


    Published
  • media
    Leemans, Johan; 2021. Crocodile Tears: an Invention from Late Antiquity. Theology Research News; 2021 Publisher: KU Leuven
    LIRIAS3635474
    description


    Published online
  • thesis-dissertation
    Jacobs, Bert; 2021. Syriac Testimonies against the Muslims: The Qurʾānic and Extra-Qurʾānic Quotations in Dionysius bar Ṣalībī’s Disputation against the Arabs.
    LIRIAS3611826
    description
    The Syriac Orthodox bishop and polymath Dionysius bar Ṣalībī (d. 1171) is a figure of great interest to the history of Christian-Muslim relations in the period of literary and cultural revival known as the 'Syriac Renaissance' (ca. 1026-1318). Living in a time of tribulation marked by the trauma of the fall of Edessa to the Seljuq Turks, Bar Ṣalībī composed the lenghtiest, most comprehensive, and latest treatise ever to be written in Syriac in a genre of religious disputation with Islam. But what has made his Disputation against the Arabs most famous and unique, apart from its length and scope, are its abundant quotations from the Qurʾān in Syriac rendering, which are found especially - but not exclusively - in the final part of this treatise. In these final six chapters, Bar Ṣalībī divides the pages into two synoptic columns, with one column containing translated excerpts from the Qurʾān, and the other an apologetic and polemic commentary. Starting with the first modern study of the treatise, several scholars have suggested that Bar Ṣalībī was quoting from a lost early Syriac translation of the Qurʾān. Other, lesser known scholarly responses, however, have contested this view and advanced different explanations, which also seek to account for the unwarranted interspersion of several extra-qurʾānic traditions among the excerpts that are genuinely qurʾānic. This includes, most notably, the views that Bar Ṣalībī preserved a Syriac collection of qurʾānic and extra-qurʾānic passages, or was personally involved as Syriac translator. This dissertation offers the first comprehensive source-critical study of all of Bar Ṣalībī's qurʾānic quotations, not just those in the final part of his treatise. By systematically comparing recurrent quotations of passages in his Against the Arabs and his Commentary on the Gospels, this study contends that Bar Ṣalībī's principal access to the text of the Qurʾān was not mediated by an alleged Syriac translation of the Qurʾān, nor by any Arabic source. Rather, he had access to a pre-existing, otherwise unattested topically-organized Syriac collection of qurʾānic and extra-qurʾānic testimonies against the Muslims. Moreover, the fact that extensive materials from this collection reflect the narrative structure of the popular Muslim genre of qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ ('stories of the prophets') and may even be directly based on a post-classical qiṣaṣ work, is best explained by assuming that the Syriac testimony collection utilized by Bar Ṣalībī did not emerge prior to the eleventh century and thus most likely was a product of the early Syriac Renaissance. This collection Bar Ṣalībī preserved most fully and faithfully in the final part of his treatise Against the Arabs as a kind of appendix, but it was also substantially used in the two earlier parts of his treatise, where selected proof-texts were borrowed and synthesized with materials taken from other sources, most notably earlier Syriac and Arabic Christian apologies in response to Islam. In addition to this source-critical study, this dissertation offers a study of the manuscript tradition and a new critical edition and annotated English translation of the Syriac testimony collection as preserved by Bar Ṣalībī.

    Published
  • thesis-dissertation
    Toca, Madalina; 2021. Letters from Pelusium. Studies in the Reception, Formation and Historicity of the Isidorian Epistolary Corpus.
    LIRIAS3452869
    description
    My PhD thesis proposes an investigation of three aspects of a remarkable yet understudied late-antique epistolary corpus—the 2000 letters preserved under the name of Isidore of Pelusium (360-449/450?): the dynamics of the formation of the corpus (a), the difficulties in establishing its historical relevance (b), and the relevance of its threefold reception in Greek, Latin, and Syriac (c). a. This chapter offers a full reexamination of the current theories regarding the formation of the corpus, a critique of what seems to be—somewhat too confidently given the scarcity of the evidence—the consensus, and propose a new model for understanding the dynamics that led to the corpus as we reconstruct it today, in the light of recent studies on ancient epistolary papyri. b. The second part is an investigation of Isidore's network outside Pelusium, as a test case for the historiographical limits of the Isidorian corpus. It thus questions to what extent the historical landmarks which have been considered in past research as established can withstand a critical scrutiny. As such, I am addressing the historical limitations of the corpus by analysing the correspondence of Isidore to some distinguished correspondents of the ecclesiastical and imperial milieu outside Pelusium—emperor Theodosius II, Cyril of Alexandria, bishops Gregory (probably of Nazianzus), Sarapion, Synesius (probably of Cyrene), and Evoptius (of Ptolemais), to priest Didymus (possibly Didymus the Blind), and to deacon Evagrius (of Pontus?). This chapter ultimately proposes a more nuanced perspective on what we can draw historically from the corpus. c. The third line of investigation considers the various aspects of the reception of the corpus. Its Greek transmission, reflected in the large number of extant manuscripts testifies to their widespread and diverse circulation. There are also two interesting Latin manuscripts with a selection of 49 letters, and a number of still unedited Syriac manuscripts. This chapter gathers and analyses the available data and discusses further possible venues of research, in an integrated attempt to address the relevance of the threefold reception of the corpus.

    Published
  • thesis-dissertation
    Gherga, Marcel George; 2021. A Church of Martyrs, An Army of Trophy-Bearers: A Historical and Literary Analysis of the Greek Biographical Literature in Late Antiquity on the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste.
    LIRIAS3344170
    description
    This project aims to analyze and assess the importance of the earliest accounts on the martyrdom of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste in the beginning of the 4th century AD. The documents (the Passio, the Testamentum, the panegyrics by Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa and the homily by"Ephraem Garecus") have both a historical and a literary value and are representative for the development and spread of the Christian martyr cult in Late Antiquity. Their analysis will follow a multifaceted methodology resulting from a combination of the historicalcritical method (esp. Redaktionsgeschichte), literary analysis, preacher-audience analysis andreception history) will reveal the place and influence they exercised in the Christian Church of the late fourth century AD. The dissertation will shed light on the late antique cult of the saints and the hagiobiographical literature generated in this liturgical context in the "Greek East" of the Roman Empire.

    Published

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Last update: May 24, 2024

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