Jan Olof Bengtsson

Welcome to Jan Olof Bengtsson: Spirituality – Arts & Humanities – Europe. On this page is found some general information about me and my work, followed by a few comments on this blog and information about my presence in social media. I write in English here and in some posts since I have friends and former colleagues in other countries who do not speak Swedish, and since others abroad may also wish to read me.

Jan Olof Bengtsson, DPhil (Oxon)

I am best known for my book The Worldview of Personalism: Origins and Early Development (2006). Its publication was followed by a lecture tour in the U.S. and panels at conferences there, including an author-meets-critics panel at the American Philosophical Association. In 2008, a special issue of the philosophical journal The Pluralist was devoted to the book.

I have contributed a limited number of articles to academic journals and other publications since the mid-1980s, and for many years taught the history of ideas at Lund University, although to an equally limited extent. I have also, with some regularity, presented papers at international philosophy conferences on idealism and personalism.

Since the early 1990s, I have also attended conferences on interfaith dialogue and the transmission of Eastern spirituality to and its reception in the West. In the 00s, I participated in seminars (including my own) at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, taught Western philosophy at Bhaktivedanta College in Belgium, and contributed to the moderated internet forum Vaishnava Advanced Studies (VAST).

In the 1980s, I taught, to a limited extent, the history of political philosophy at the so-called City University in Stockholm, published articles for one of the Swedish Christian Democrats’ publications, and lectured for the conservative party (Moderaterna) and at the think tank Timbro. In 2015-16 I was a member of the party board of the Sweden Democrats in Stockholm.

There are five other Pages listed in the header, or, in the mobile view, in the menu. On the Contents page are found clickable titles of posts with my own writing, by category and in order of publication, with the most recent ones first. Publications contains information about some of my scholarly and other print publications. On the References page are found clickable titles of posts with other content than my own writing, or with only minor comments by me; it includes, in the last sub-category, a bibliography with selected books of relevance for my posts, by category, and with links, for those who wish to go deeper. Finally, there is information about Comments and Contact.