Dr P.J.E. Chatelion Counet (1954) has been named Professor by Special Appointment in the Chair ‘The Bible and Dutch Culture' in the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Amsterdam (UvA). This chair has been created by the Biblical Museum in Amsterdam (Stichting Bijbels Museum).

Patrick Chatelion Counet obtained his PhD as a New Testament exegete, with research focusing on postmodernism and deconstruction as exegetical methods in relation to the Gospel of St John and the Epistles of St Paul in particular. As Professor of ‘The Bible in Dutch Culture', Chatelion Counet will focus on the place and meaning of the Bible in the culture and history of the Netherlands. He will devote special attention to how the Bible has been defined and interpreted in art and literature, societal debates and philosophical and scientific discourse. Culture is the ideological foundation of a temporary social and economic equilibrium. Any disruption of this equilibrium results in a disruption of the foundation itself. According to a number of cultural philosophers, modern-day society is bearing witness to a post-secular trend. As such, the Bible, which has figured in more than thirteen hundred years of Dutch history, will both shape and be reshaped by contemporary societal developments.

Chatelion Counet studied Law and Theology at what is now Radboud University Nijmegen (formerly the Catholic University of Nijmegen), where he received his doctorate in Theology in 1995. In 2007 he was appointed Trainee Judge in the ecclesiastical court of the Archdiocese of Utrecht. From 1995 until 2006 he worked as a researcher and University Lecturer in the New Testament Exegesis section at Radboud University Nijmegen and from 1981 and 1987 as a member of the research staff in the Faculty of Law at this same university. In addition, Chatelion Counet has served as Lecturer in Catechesis at the Canisius College Mater Dei and the Canisius School of junior general secondary education (MAVO) in Nijmegen, and as a lawyer at the Guest Worker Point (Stichting Gastarbeidwinkel) in Nijmegen.