Welcome. I’m Alexander von Schmid, author of historical thrillers that blend deep research, early religious history, and modern-day intrigue. My debut novel, What Joseph Knew, takes readers on a journey that connects the ancient world to the present, unravelling a mystery that could rewrite biblical history.
My hobbies are fitness, swimming, football, sauna, cycling, writing and playing the piano. My great hero and love is Johann Sebastian Bach, for whom I have boundless admiration.
I am originally from Breda (The Netherlands) and live in Rotterdam.
I studied mathematics and philosophy at Leiden University, where I graduated in 1996 on my favourite philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. After teaching mathematics at secondary schools for a few years, I started working for the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences in 1998 as a teacher of mathematics, statistics and ethics. In 2012 I became a senior lecturer. I focused on research skills, ethics and internationalisation. I published two ethics books with publisher Boom (Practical Ethics and Critical Thinking about Good and Bad), a prize-winning English-language case study on the ethics of self-driving cars and many opinion articles in the daily newspaper Trouw (see my publications).
During my philosophy studies I had a great interest in religion, mythology and nature religions. I am particularly interested in the historical core of religious stories, and the way in which it is sometimes twisted to support the religious message. “What is historical and what is religion?” In addition, I find the tension between science (facts) and religion (meaning) intriguing.
In August 2024 I have received a Ph.D. in creative writing on Blue Marble University (https://bluemarbleuniversity.com).
The university writes in her clarification: “We follow in part the tradition and practice of many European universities that award doctoral degrees based on a body of work. We find in this case the applicant’s substantial body of work (My two books on ethics published by Boom Amsterdam, a price winning case about self driving cars, 50 philosophical essays about social and political issues in national newspapers (Trouw en Volkskrant), and other publications) culminating with the most recent novel (The Last of the Christians, published by Phoenix Books) to meet our guidelines and requirements for the issuance of a Ph.D. degree.”
The English Version of my novel has the title What Joseph Knew. It is best decribed as: a dual timeline historical thriller novel that uncovers a biblical mystery hidden since early Christianity. You can find What Joseph Knew on Amazon and Google if you use keywords like: historical thriller novel; early Christianity thriller; dual timeline thriller; biblical mystery novel; manuscript mystery thriller.
