Josep Montserrat i Torrents facts for kids

Template:Infobox vcard Josep Montserrat i Torrents (born in 1932), also known as José Montserrat Torrents in Spanish-speaking countries, is a Spanish writer, thinker, historian, and expert in Coptic studies. Coptic studies is the study of the Coptic language and culture, which comes from ancient Egypt.

About His Life

Josep Montserrat was born in 1932 in Barcelona, Spain. He studied in many different places, including Barcelona, Rome, Munster, Paris, and Benares.

During the 1960s, he wrote articles in Catalan newspapers about the Second Vatican Council. This was an important meeting of Catholic Church leaders. Because of his writings, he was not allowed to publish in newspapers from 1966 to 1977.

He started teaching in 1954. However, the government at the time, led by General Franco, did not approve of his political views. He was against Franco's government, so he couldn't continue teaching in that profession for a while.

Josep Montserrat earned two PhD degrees. A PhD is a very high university degree. He got one in Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 1968. He got another in Philosophy from the University of Barcelona in 1977.

Since 1976, he has been a philosophy professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He became a full professor in 1996 and a professor emeritus in 2002. A professor emeritus is a retired professor who keeps their title because of their important work.

He also helped write the "Manifest of Bellaterra" in 1975. This was an important document about university life. He was also the secretary for the Third Catalan University Congress in 1978. He has taught as a guest professor in other countries, like Chile and Italy. He also worked as a study director in Paris, France.

His Work

Josep Montserrat has written many books and articles. His work often focuses on philosophy, history, and ancient religious texts.

Books He Wrote

He has written many books, exploring different topics. Some of his books include:

• Matrimonio, divorcio, separación: nuevas perspectivas (Marriage, Divorce, Separation: New Perspectives) from 1970.
• Los gnósticos (The Gnostics) from 1983, which talks about Gnosticism, an ancient religious movement.
• La sinagoga cristiana. El gran conflicto religioso del siglo I (The Christian Synagogue. The Great Religious Conflict of the 1st Century) from 1989.
• Platón. De la perplejidad al sistema (Plato. From Perplexity to System) from 1995, about the famous Greek philosopher Plato.
• El evangelio de Judas (The Gospel of Judas) from 2006, which discusses an ancient text.
• Jesús, el galileo armado. Historia laica de Jesús (Jesus, the Armed Galilean. A Secular History of Jesus) from 2007.

Translations and Edited Texts

Josep Montserrat has also translated and edited many important philosophical and religious texts. This means he helped make these old writings available to more people. He worked on translations of works by:

• Philo of Alexandria, an ancient Jewish philosopher.
• Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, who were important Stoic philosophers.
• Plato, another very famous Greek philosopher.
• He also helped edit many Gnostic texts, which are ancient religious writings, as part of the "Nag Hammadi Library" series.

Working with Media

Besides his academic work, Josep Montserrat also worked with newspapers and radio. He shared his ideas and knowledge with a wider audience through:

• Radio Nacional de España (Spanish National Radio) from 1955 to 1963.
• TVE Miramar (Spanish Television) from 1958 to 1962.
• He wrote for newspapers like La Vanguardia, La Croix (a French newspaper), and Diari de Barcelona.

See also

In Spanish: José Montserrat Torrents para niños