Background
Pierson"s father was a merchant in Amsterdam, his mother an author of pietist works.
theologian university professor
Pierson"s father was a merchant in Amsterdam, his mother an author of pietist works.
Pierson studied theology at Utrecht University, where he was influenced by Opzoomer.
He was a leading proponent of radical criticism in the Netherlands. However, in 1865 he resigned because he could not reconcile being a minister with not believing in divine revelation. He also started to teach at the university there.
From 1877 to 1895 Pierson was professor in history of art, aesthetics and modern languages at the University of Amsterdam.
In 1878 Pierson published his book about the Sermon on the Mount and other passages from the synoptic gospels. He showed that sayings attributed to Jesus could be found in Jewish wisdom literature.
The work also argued that Galatians, one of the core Pauline epistles, was pseudepigraphic. This is seen as the beginning of Dutch radical school.
Hellenic Philological Society of Constantinople.