Jörgen Magnusson

Background

2004 Member of The International association for Coptic Studies.
2007 Doctor of theology in the area of the history of religions at Uppsala university.
Member of the research council at Svenska Istanbulinstitutet.
2008 Member of The International Association for Manichaean Studies.
2009 Member of The Society for Biblical Literature and of Nathan Söderblomsällskapet.
2011 Invited as ”professor over seas” at Yale divinity school.
2012 Associate professor in the history of religions at Uppsala university.

Area of interest

Primarily religions in late Antiquity at the Mediterranean Sea. Ancient Gnosticism has been the most central for me, but other forms of Judaism, Christianity and Manichaeism have been important as well. It goes without saying that my interests require mastering of Ancient languages and I sometimes try to contribute to the fundamental research in the Coptic language. Generally, I am interested in the way that religious myths function in different social contexts.

Current research

Director of a project of translating Ancient Gnostic texts to Swedish. The results will be published at Bokförlaget Atlantis. Presently I am working on a number of analyses of The Gospel of Truth from Nag Hammadi and on an article about food and Manichaeism. Furthermore, I am co-editor of a conference volume about Old Norse and Sami religions with the provisional title Den heliga platsen i forngermansk och samisk kontext. For the Swedish audience, my teaching-grammar in Coptic with special attention to the dialects in the Nag Hammadi collection is about to be completed.

Teaching and tutoring

1999-2008 sometimes employed as teacher at The Department of theology at Uppsala university. 2008-2010 lecturer in religious studies at Dalarna university. 2010 lecturer at Mid Sweden university where I from 2012 am employed as associate professor in religious studies.

Publications

Articles in journals Articles, book reviews Chapters in books Collections (editor) Conference papers

Articles in journals

Magnusson, J. (2012). Några reflektioner kring kunskapsbegreppet i Sanningens Evangelium från Nag Hammadi. TEOLOGINEN AIKAKAUSKIRJA, : 2, pp. 202-206.

Magnusson, J. (2012). Jesus fru ger ny syn på kyrkans kvinnor. Svenska dagbladet, : 120927, pp. Kultur Sid 4

Articles, book reviews

Magnusson, J. (2011). Tite, Philip, Valentinian ethics and paraenetic discourse: determining the social function of moral exhortation in Valentinian  Christianity. Numen, : 58, pp. 758-761.

Chapters in books

Magnusson, J. (2014). Inledning. In Den heliga platsen : Handlingar från symposiet Den heliga platsen. Härnösand 15–18 september 2011. Härnösand : Mittuniversitetet (Skrifter i Humaniora vid Mittuniversitetet). pp. 7-10.

Magnusson, J. (2012). Bortom vägs ände, eller klarsyntheten som förblindade : En analys av en så kallad akosmisk etik i Sanningens evangelium från Nag Hammadi. In Svensk exegetisk årsbok 77. Uppsala : Uppsala exegetiska sällskap (Svensk exegetisk årsbok). pp. 225-254.

Magnusson, J. (2010). Översättning. In Människor och makten 2.0 : En introduktion till religionsvetenskap. Halmstad : Högskolan i Halmstad (Forskning i Halmstad). pp. 150-154.

Magnusson, J. (). Beyond righteousness and transgression: Reading the Gospel of Truth and the Gospel of Judas from an acosmic perspective. In Philosophy and the end of sacrifice. Equinox Publishing (The study of religion in a global context).

Collections (editor)

Nyman, E. (ed.) , Magnusson, J. (ed.) & Strzelecka, E. (ed.) (2014). Den heliga platsen : Handlingar från symposiet Den heliga platsen. Härnösand 15–18 september 2011. Härnösand : Mittuniversitetet (Skrifter i Humaniora vid Mittuniversitetet 1)

Conference papers

Magnusson, J. (2014). In search for Sophia in the Gospel of Truth. .

Magnusson, J. (2014). New light on the historical Jesus in view of environmental consciousness.. .

Magnusson, J. (2014). The Knowledge of God in the Gospel of Truth : The Embodiment of the Spiritual Law in Its Religio-Historical Context. .

Magnusson, J. (2011). Beyond righteousness and transgression. In Philosophy and the end of Sacrifice : Comparative and Phenomenological Approaches. Stockholm : (Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion)