Louis Feldman

Louis Harry Feldman (born 29 October 1926 in Hartford, Connecticut) is an American professor of classics and literature. He is Abraham Wouk Family Professor of Classics and Literature at Yeshiva University, the institution at which he has taught since 1956. Feldman is a scholar of Hellenistic civilization, specifically the works of Josephus Flavius.

Biography

Feldman received his undergraduate degree from Trinity College, Hartford, CT in 1946 and his master’s degree the following year. In 1951, he received his doctoral degree in philology from Harvard University for his dissertation Cicero’s Concept of Historiography. He returned to Trinity College as a teaching fellow and eventually served as classics instructor before leaving for Hobart and William Smith Colleges in 1953. Feldman began teaching at Yeshiva University as an assistant professor in 1956, before becoming an associate professor in 1961 and, in 1966, a professor of classics. In 1993, he was appointed Abraham Wouk Family Professor of Classics and Literature at Yeshiva University.

A fellow of the American Academy for Jewish Research, he has received numerous other fellowships and awards. These include a Ford Foundation Fellowship (1951-1952), a Guggenheim Fellowship (1963), a grant from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture (1969), and a grant from the American Philosophical Association (1972). He was named a senior fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies in 1971, a Littauer Foundation fellow in 1973, and Institute for Advanced Study fellow in 1994. In 1981, he received the American Philological Association award for “Excellence in Teaching the Classics.” Additionally, Feldman has been selected to conduct seminars for college teachers by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Thought and writings

As a historian, Feldman has dealt primarily with the writings of Josephus and their role within the larger framework of Jewish civilization during the Second Temple Period. His works on Josephus have ranged from discussions of historical accuracy to analysis of Josephus’ biblical interpretations. Overall, Feldman views Josephus’ work as key to understanding Jewish life and interactions with Hellenistic culture during the Greco-Roman era. In addition to his work on Josephus, Feldman has published numerous works on the writings of Philo as well as works dealing directly with the nature of Jewish life during antiquity.

Feldman’s works include Scholarship on Philo and Josephus, 1937-1962 (1963), Josephus and Modern Scholarship, 1937-1980 (1984), Jew and Gentile in the Ancient World: Attitudes and Interactions from Alexander to Justinian (1993), Studies in Hellenistic Judaism (1998), and Josephus’ Interpretation of the Bible (1998). Feldman also translated several volumes of the critical edition of Jewish Antiquities. Feldman has contributed extensively to journals in his field, having published approximately 150 scholarly articles. He also served as departmental editor of Hellenistic literature for the first edition of Encyclopedia Judaica and as a contributor to the Encyclopædia Britannica.

References

Encyclopedia Judaica Second Edition, Volume 6

Curriculum Vitae [1]

List of Scholarly Articles