Anders Piltz

Anders Piltz (born 1943) is a Swedish latinist and medievalist, a priest in the Roman Catholic church and member of the Dominican Order.

Born in Ödeborg in Dalsland, Piltz studied at the University of Uppsala and at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. He completed his Ph.D. at Uppsala in 1977, has taught at Lund University since 1981 and is Professor of Latin there since 2000. Piltz's university homepage describes his early career as focused on [Medieval] Latin text criticism, but with a later shift towards the history of ideas. [ [http://www3.lu.se/klass/klasspr/latinschol/anders.html Biographical data on Anders Piltz] , Department of Classics and Semitics, Lund University.]

Piltz first published work was a "Prolegomena" ["Prolegomena till en textkritisk edition av magister Mathias Homo conditus", 1974.] to a text-critical edition of the work "Homo conditus" by Magister Mathias Ouidi ("c" 1300 – "c." 1350), the confessor of Saint Bridget of Sweden whom Piltz considers the foremost theologian of the mediaeval Swedish Catholic church. He later returned to the topic in his edition "Magistri Mathiae canonici Lincopensis opus sub nomine. Homo conditus, vulgatum" (1984), and a selection of texts from "Homo conditus" in Swedish translation, at the Swedish Catholic publisher "Katolska bokförlaget" (in 1986). [For Piltz's evaluation of Magister Mathias, see his "Mathias Ouidi", in "Svenskt biografiskt lexikon", vol. 25, p. 250.] His 1977 dissertation, "Studium Upsalense", was a study and edition of few extant sources for the curriculum of the mediaeval University of Uppsala, mainly the preserved lecture notes of the late 15th century Uppsala student Olaus Johannis Gutho, later a Bridgettine monk at Vadstena.

His book "Medeltidens lärda värld" (Stockholm: Carmina, 1978) on the curriculum and tradition of learning in medieval universities and schools, was translated and published in German and English editions. [English edition: "The world of medieval learning", translated into English by David Jones. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1981.] In a review, the American historian Edward Peters summarized the English edition of the book, "The world of medieval learning", as "a distinguished book by a master that is ideally a companion to conventional histories of medieval thought and learning." [Edward Peters in "Journal of Higher Education" vol. 54, No. 1, p. 93.]

Piltz has also published several popular books on religious and historical issues, and is, as a Roman Catholic priest, often used as a spokesperson for the Catholic view in discussions on religious and philosophical matters in Swedish newspapers, radio and television. [See, for instance, Eva Ekselius, "Frågan om Intet blev en svindlande resa", in "Dagens Nyheter", 5 November, 2002.]

Anders Piltz was (along with the psychologist of religion (James W. Jones) one of the two persons awarded honorary doctorates from the Uppsala University Faculty of Theology in the fall semester 2002. ["Dagens Nyheter" 23 Oct. 2002.]

Publications

*See the list of scholarly and popular publications at the official [http://www3.lu.se/klass/klasspr/latinschol/anders.html homepage] of Anders Piltz at Lund University

Notes

References

* Lund University, Department of Classics and Semitics: [http://www3.lu.se/klass/klasspr/latinschol/anders.html Biographical data on Anders Piltz]
* Ekselius, Eva, "Frågan om Intet blev en svindlande resa", in "Dagens Nyheter", 5 November, 2002.
* Peters, Edward, review of "The world of medieval learning", in "Journal of Higher Education" vol. 54, No. 1 (1983), p. 91-93.
* Piltz, Anders, "Mathias Ouidi", "Svenskt biografiskt lexikon", vol. 25, p. 250.