Michael van Opstall, mathematics professor and priest

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleМихаил ван Општалл, профессор математики и священник
3. Language term Russian
4. lemma author Asliturk, Miriam
5. lemma category Scientific theories and disciplines > Mathematics - Education, Science and Orthodoxy
6. Publication date 31-01-2017
7. lemma work Рожнёва, Ольга [Author]. Михаил ван Општалл, профессор математики и священник
8. lemma manifestations Православие.Ru
9. Keywords religion and mathematics
10. Url Click Here
11. Citations
    1. <p>Рожнёва, Ольга (2015). Михаил ван Општалл, профессор математики и священник. <em>Православие.Ru</em>. Retrieved from: <a href="http://www.pravoslavie.ru/77200.html">http://www.pravoslavie.ru/77200.html</a> </p>
12. Lemma body

    1. Michael van Opstall is an American who became an Orthodox Christian and later a priest, while at the same time working as a professor of Mathematics at the University of Utah. In this interview Rev. Michael tells that it was in response to the Catholic and Protestant professors around him that he chose to become a Russian Orthodox. He was also influenced by courses on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church, especially on John Chrysostom (349-407 AD) and by reading Dostoyevsky (1821-1881). Rev. Michael talks about his admiration for Orthodox rituals: when he came to a Russian Church for the first time he felt as though he was Prince Vladimir the Great (958-1015 AD) when he entered the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.

       Rev. Michael explains that all this occurred while he was doing his PhD in Mathematics at the University of Washington. Rev. Michael studied Orthodox Christianity as well as mathematics, and learned Russian to be able to serve in the Russian Church in Seattle. After he found a position at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City he organized a parish in the city and finally opened the first Russian Orthodox Church there.