Albertus Frederik Johannes Klijn (17 April 1923 – 30 May 2012) 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-templeJewish 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 (1994), the Epistle to the Hebrews (1975) and the Epistle to the Philippians (1974). Klijn retired from Groningen in 1986.
Select works
Thesis
Klijn, Albertus F. J. (1949). A Survey of the Researches into the Western Text of the Gospels and Acts (Ph.D.). Utrecht: Utrecht University. OCLC4278387.
Books
Klijn, Albertus F. J. (1965). Edessa, de stad van de apostel Thomas: Het oudste Christendom in Syrië. Neukirchener Studienbücher. Vol. 4. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag des Erziehung svereins. OCLC5255941.
——— (1969). A Survey of the Researches into the Western Text of the Gospels and Acts; part 2: 1949-1969. Supplements to Novum Testamentum. Vol. 21. Leiden: Brill. ISBN9789004016019. OCLC130026.
———; Reinink, G. J. (1973). Patristic Evidence for Jewish-Christian Sects. Leiden.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
——— (1973). Na het Nieuwe Testament; de christelijke literatuur uit de tweede eeuw. ISBN 9025940366. Baarn: Ten Have.
——— (1974). De wordingsgeschiedenis van het Nieuwe Testament (4th updated ed.). Utrecht.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
——— (1977). Seth in Jewish, Christian and Gnostic Literature. Leiden.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
——— (1980). An Introduction to the New Testament. Leiden.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - English translation of De wordingsgeschiedenis van het Nieuwe Testament
——— (1983). Der lateinische Text der Apokalypse des Esra. Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur. Vol. 131. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag. OCLC10538911.
———; Leemhuis, F.; van Gelder, G. J. H. (1986). The Arabic Text of the Apocalypse of Baruch: Edited and Translated with a Parallel Translation of the Syriac Text. Leiden.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
——— (1992). Die Esra-Apokalypse (IV. Esra), nach dem lateinischen Text unter Benutzung der anderen Versionen. Berlin.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
——— (1995). Het ontstaan van een nieuw testament. Baarn.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
——— (2003). The Acts of Thomas: Introduction, Text, and Commentary. Supplements to Novum Testamentum. Vol. 108 (2nd revised ed.). Leiden & Boston: Brill. ISBN9781417505975. OCLC55505373.
——— (2006). De apocriefen van het Nieuwe Testament: Buitenbijbelse evangeliën, handelingen, brieven en openbaringen. Kampen.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Articles & Chapters
——— (1959). "A Survey of the Researches into the Western Text of the Gospels and Acts (1949-1959)". Novum Testamentum. 3 (1): 1–27. doi:10.1163/156853659X00110.
——— (1959). "A Survey of the Researches into the Western Text of the Gospels and Acts (1949-1959)". Novum Testamentum. 3 (2): 161–73.
Festschriften
Tjitze Baarda (ed.), Text and Testimony: Essays on New Testament and Apocryphal Literature in Honour of A. F. J. Klijn (Kampen 1988)
