Two precious collections of personal libraries have recently been donated to the Theological Institute

In the academic year 2012-2013 two professors from Switzerland and The Netherlands have given their personal theological libraries as a gift to the Theological Institute.


Samuel Külling (1924-2003) was professor in Old Testament at Basel, at the Staatsunabhängige Theologische Hochschule. His study and research focused mainly on biblical theology, Old Testament and Judaism. The donation to our library was mediated by Anneke Jonckers Nieboer and Tamás Juhász. More on the life and work of Samuel Külling can be found here.)

Tjitze Baarda was professor of New Testament until 1997 at the Free University of Amsterdam. The Dutch newspaper Trouw provides an overview of his research and educational activity here.) Prof. Baarda was especially fascinated by the world of the New Testament. His valuable library provides exceptional sources on the following subjects: (1) the text of the New Testament and textual criticism, (2) gnosticism and gnostic literature, (3) the New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism, (4) Paul's letter to the Galatians. With regard to this latter topic, Tjitze Baarda has collected no fewer than 60 commentaries and monographies. Among others, our library is proud to posess now the famous K. Aland a.o., Text und Textwert der griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments, the facsimile edition of the Nag Hammadi codices in the Brill edition, a complete Babilonian Talmud and its Soncino translation, as well as many other valuable material. The donation was mediated by Ferenc Postma and Zsolt Geréb.

We recommend these collections to theologians, researchers, ministers, as well as other readers interested in the above mentioned subjects. We are convinced that these new donations raise the prestige and usefulness of our institutional library far beyond its Transylvanian context.