Dr Vilius Bartninkas, an Associate Professor at Vilnius University’s Faculty of Philology, has been honoured with the prestigious 2025 Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise for his monograph titled “Traditional and Cosmic Gods in Later Plato and the Early Academy.”
The Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award was decided upon by an international jury and marks a significant achievement in the field of theology. An obviously delighted Vilius said of the award:
“I can hardly express my excitement. This is my first international award, and it’s in theology! It’s remarkable for the jury from the University of Heidelberg, which typically recognises biblical and contemporary theologians, to choose a winner from the realm of pagan theology.
“I am incredibly grateful to my supervisors, Gábor Betegh and Vytautas Ališauskas, for their invaluable support,” Dr. Bartninkas shared on Facebook.
In 2023, Dr. Bartninkas published a 300-page monograph with Cambridge University Press. His book is the second personal monograph by a scholar based in Lithuania to be published by Cambridge University Press, following Zenonas Rudzikas, a physicist at Vilnius University.
“This book reflects my childhood dreams surrounding Greek myths and gods, and it delves into the broader dream world we all share — exploring the universe and our desire to learn more about celestial bodies like Mercury and Venus. These two realms came into sharp focus in Plato’s thought when he recognised celestial bodies as gods.
“For example, Mercury is simply the Greek translation of Hermes, and it was through the works of Plato and his disciples that these celestial bodies began to be referred to by their Greek names as gods. This brings up the question: how did this transition affect other traditional gods, such as Athena? The answers can be found in my book.”
The Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise annually honours ten young scholars from around the world for outstanding dissertations or first post-doctoral works within the thematic complex of “God and Spirituality.”
This selection process involved 20 reviewers from 15 countries, and the laureates were celebrated at a festive ceremony held at Heidelberg University in Germany.
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