Jan N. Bremmer studied Classics and Spanish at the Free University, Amsterdam (1962-1969), and, after he met his British wife Christine in Finland, at the University of Bristol (1969-1970). From 1970-1972 he did his military service in the Dutch Military Intelligence. In 1990 he was appointed to the Chair of Religious Studies at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies of the University of Groningen, where he was for nearly 10 years dean of the Faculty (1996-2005). During his deanship, international assessment committees rated his Faculty the best of all theological faculties in the Netherlands both in research and teaching. He has been a Member of the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton (2000), Inaugural Getty Villa Professor at the Getty Research Institute (Los Angeles: 2006-2007), and Visiting Leventis Professor in Edinburgh (2007). In the spring of 2006 the Queen appointed him Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau.