Barrie Wilson

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Barrie A. Wilson is Professor Emeritus and Senior Scholar, Humanities and Religious Studies, York University, Toronto, where he has taught since 1974. An historian of religion, he specializes in movements in early Christianity. Throughout the 1990s he was Chair, Religious Studies, Atkinson College, York University. From 1969 to 1974 he taught Ancient Philosophy and Logic at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Contents

Background

Wilson was born in Montreal on November 19, 1940 and attended Bishop's University, Lennoxville, Quebec, majoring in Philosophy and Psychology, graduating with a B.A. magna cum laude. He completed an M.A. in Philosophy at Columbia University, New York City, and took courses at Union Theological Seminary and the Episcopal Church's General Theological Seminary, both in New York City. He earned a degree in Biblical Studies (S.T.B.) from the Anglican Church's Trinity College, University of Toronto, studying with Dr. Frank Beare, a noted biblical scholar; Dr. Eugene Fairweather, an Anglican historian of early Christianity as well as Dr. Norman Pittenger, a well-regarded Episcopalian process theologian.

Wilson completed his Ph.D. in Philosophy of Religion and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Toronto in 1975. His dissertation was on biblical hermeneutics, the logic of textual interpretation, and evidence for making sense of texts.

As a historian Wilson is interested in evidence-based reasoning about biblical texts. As he writes on his website, "My passion has been the new historical puzzles and 'disconnects' created by recent explorations into the foundations of early Christianity."

Books

Articles: available through researchgate.net (Barrie Wilson).

Film studies

Wilson is a contributing member of the Toronto Psychoanalysis and Film Study Group which explores the psychological interpretation of films. Copies of his papers on films can be found at researchgate.net.

Documentaries: on-camera expert

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