Education
Klijn studied theology at Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht, and submitted his doctoral dissertation in 1949 on the "Western" Text of the Gospels and Acts.
theologian university professor
Klijn studied theology at Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht, and submitted his doctoral dissertation in 1949 on the "Western" Text of the Gospels and Acts.
He was best known for his introductory work on the New Testament, and then later for his publications on early Christian apocryphal literature. 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.
lieutenant was at Groningen that he began to specialize in second-temple Jewish 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. J. J. Tjitze Baarda (ed), Text and Testimony: Essays on New Testament and Apocryphal Literature in Honour of A. F. J. Klijn (Kampen 1988).