Terje Simonsen (born April 23, 1963) is a Norwegian

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and

nonfiction Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to present topics objectively ...

author. He was among the first to predict the arrival of an androgynous pronoun in Norway.

Early life and education

Simonsen was born in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

on April 23, 1963, in the municipality of

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...

and raised in the town of

Mandal A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative c ...

. He graduated from the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

in 1993. In 2001, his

thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

on the Janus journal and

Alf Larsen Alf Larsen (22 July 1885 – 12 December 1967) was a Norwegian poet, essayist and magazine editor. He founded and edited the anthrophosophic magazine from 1933 to 1941. His literary awards include the Gyldendal's Endowment (1959) and ...

was published by Solum Forlag as a book ''JANUS—A Journal and an Era''.

Career

In 2003, he wrote an introductory

essay An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

to a Norwegian edition of ''

I and Thou ''Ich und Du'', usually translated as ''I and Thou'', is a book by Martin Buber, published in 1923. It was first translated from German to English in 1937, with a later translation by Walter Kaufmann (philosopher), Walter Kaufmann being published ...

'' by

Martin Buber Martin Buber (; , ; ; 8 February 1878 – 13 June 1965) was an Austrian-Israeli philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism centered on the distinction between the I and Thou, I–Thou relationship and the I� ...

, published by Bokklubben. In the article “En språklig mutant i anmarsj” (“A Linguistic Mutant Approaching”), published in ''

Morgenbladet is Norway's oldest daily newspaper, covering politics, culture and science, now a weekly news magazine primarily directed at well-educated readers. The magazine is notable for its opinion section featuring contributions exclusively from Norweg ...

'', in 2006, Simonsen suggested that gender related changes in culture and society would result in an androgynous pronoun appearing through an evolutionary process resembling natural

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

. Simonsen's main interest has been esoteric traditions—

hermeticism Hermeticism, or Hermetism, is a philosophical and religious tradition rooted in the teachings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, a syncretism, syncretic figure combining elements of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. This system e ...

kabbalah Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...

sufism Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

etc.—and he has also edited and authored writings within this field. Among other things, he instigated the first Norwegian translation and edition of the antique esoteric text ''

Book of Enoch The Book of Enoch (also 1 Enoch; Hebrew language, Hebrew: סֵפֶר חֲנוֹךְ, ''Sēfer Ḥănōḵ''; , ) is an Second Temple Judaism, ancient Jewish Apocalyptic literature, apocalyptic religious text, ascribed by tradition to the Patriar ...

'' in the series Verdens Hellige Skrifter ("The World’s Holy Scriptures"), where he also wrote an introductory essay. In 2013, Simonsen authored a book on

parapsychology Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, teleportation, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry (paranormal), psychometry) and other paranormal cla ...

, where he explored various paranormal phenomena in a historical context as well as the evolution of the intellectual foundations of

. In 2018, an expanded and updated English edition was published by an Italian company Pari Publishing. In November 2019, it received the

Parapsychological Association The Parapsychological Association (PA) was formed in 1957 as a professional society for parapsychologists following an initiative by Joseph Banks Rhine, Joseph B. Rhine. Its purpose has been "to advance parapsychology as a science, to disseminate k ...

Book Award. A new edition was released in the United Kingdom and United States in 2020 by

Watkins Publishing Watkins Books is London's oldest esoteric bookshop. It specialises in esotericism, mysticism, occultism, oriental religion and contemporary spirituality. The bookshop was saved by entrepreneur Etan Ilfeld who bought it out of bankruptcy in Ma ...

(2020). , In 2013, Simonsen authored a book on parapsychology in Norwegian, where he explored various paranormal phenomena in a historical context as well as the evolution of the intellectual foundations of parapsychology. It was published in English as ''Our Secret Powers—A Short History of (Nearly) Everything Paranormal'' (Pari Publishing, 2018) and Czech (Nakladatelství Prah, 2021). In November 2019, the book received the

Book Award. The following year an upgraded English edition was released under the title ''A Short History of (Nearly) Everything Paranormal - Our Secret powers: Telepathy, Clairvoyance and Precognition'' (Watkins Publishing, 2020).

Publications

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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Simonsen, Terje 1963 births Living people 20th-century Norwegian non-fiction writers 21st-century Norwegian male writers 20th-century Norwegian historians 21st-century Norwegian non-fiction writers Norwegian science writers People from Kristiansand University of Oslo alumni 21st-century Norwegian historians Norwegian male non-fiction writers