Leiden alumna wins thesis prize
On 17 March Renate Dekker was awarded the Cardinal Willebrand Prize for her MPhil thesis on 'The Sahidic Encomium of Pesunthios, bishop of Keft: towards a new understanding, based on a recently discovered manuscript.'
Renate Dekker
Renate Dekker studied Egyptology in Leiden (BA and MA). She completed the two-year research master's programme in Middle Eastern Studies (the Christianity of the Middle East track) in July 2008 with distinction on her thesis entitled The Sahidic Encomium of Pesunthios. She not only presented a new vision of the survival of this 7th sentury Coptic text , but also on the literary and rhetorical aspects of this hagiographical script. Renate Dekker is now a PhD fwllow at the Leiden Institue for Area Studies (LIAS).
About the Cardinal Willebrand Prize
The Cardinal Willebrand Prize is awarded every five years for the best master's thesis in the field of oriental Christianity, submitted to a Dutch-language academic university or university of professinal education. The prize is awarded by the Institute for Oriental Christianity, that is affiliated to Radboud University. The prize was presented on 17 March by Mar Polycarpus, Bishop of tyhe Syrian Orthodox Church in the Netherlands and Professor E. Kimman SJ, Chairman of the Cardinal Willebrand Foundation. The prize also includes a financial award of € 1500.