C. Jouco Bleeker

Claas Jouco Bleeker (1898–1983) was a Dutch scholar of religion. Born in Beneden Knijpe, Netherlands, Bleeker received his doctorate from the University of Leiden in 1929 and was Professor of the History of Religions and the Phenomenology of Religion at the University of Amsterdam from 1946 until his retirement in 1969.

Bleeker specialised in the history of Ancient Egyptian religion and was also a leading figure in phenomenology of religion. His approach to religious studies was non-reductive, comparative and historical. Influenced by the approach of Gerard van der Leeuw, Bleeker introduced the concept of entelechy to phenomenology of religion, arguing that the essence of religion is realised as it unfolds through history.