Peter Schäfer

Peter Schäfer (born 29 June 1943 Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany) is a prolific scholar of ancient religious studies, who has made contributions to the field of ancient Judaism and Christianity through monographs, co-edited volumes, numerous articles, and his trademark synoptic editions. He was a Professor of Religion and the Ronald O. Perelman Professor of Judaic Studies at Princeton University from 1998 to 2013. He is currently the director of the Jewish Museum of Berlin.

From 1983 to 2008 he was Professor for Jewish Studies at Freie Universität Berlin. Since 1993, he has been co-editor of Jewish Studies Quarterly. Schäfer's research interests include Jewish History in Late Antiquity, the religion and literature of Rabbinic Judaism, Jewish Mysticism, 19th and 20th century Wissenschaft des Judentums and Jewish Magic. He won the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Distinguished Achievement Award in December 2006.^[1] In 2014 he was awarded the Dr. Leopold Lucas Prize by the Protestant Faculty of the University of Tübingen. ^[2]

Career

Schäfer contends that Philo's Logos was likely derived from his understanding of the "postbiblical Wisdom literature, in particular the Wisdom of Solomon."^[3]

Major Books

Schäfer's books contribute to the understanding of classical Judaism as well as ancient Jewish and Christian relations.

• Judeophobia: Attitudes toward the Jews in the Ancient World, Harvard University Press, 1998. This has been translated into several languages.
• Mirror of His Beauty: Feminine Images of God From the Bible to the Early Kabbalah, Princeton University Press, 2002.
• Jesus in the Talmud, Princeton University Press, 2007.
• The origins of Jewish mysticism, Princeton University Press, 2009.
• The Jewish Jesus: How Judaism and Christianity shaped each other, Princeton University Press, 2012.

Landmark Synoptic Editions

Schäfer has encouraged the study of esoteric subjects in early Judaism through the publication of synoptic editions of ancient texts. These editions collate multiple manuscripts in large-format books that allow for line by line comparison of ancient Hebrew and Aramaic texts.

• Hekhalot literature: Synopse zur Hekhalot-Literatur. Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1981.
• Jerusalem Talmud: Peter Schäfer and H.-J. Becker. Synopse zum Talmud Yerushalmi. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1991.
• Sefer Ha-Razim: Peter Schäfer and B. Rebiger. Sefer ha-Razim. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009.
• Toledot Yeshu: Peter Schäfer and Michael Meerson with the collaboration of Yaacov Deutsch, David Grossberg, Avigail Manekin, and Adina Yoffie. Toledot Yeshu: the life story of Jesus. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014.

Other Works

• Peter Schäfer, Die Vorstellung vom heiligen Geist in der rabbinischen Literatur, Munich 1972
• Peter Schäfer, Rivalität zwischen Engeln und Menschen : Untersuchungen zur rabbinischen Engelvorstellung. Berlin de Gru.75.
• Peter Schäfer, Geschichte der Juden in der Antike. Die Juden Palästinas von Alexander dem Großen bis zur arabischen Eroberung, Catholic Publishers, Stuttgart, 1983 in: Journal for the Study of Judaism, Volume 14, Number 2, 1983, pp. 221–224(4)
• Peter Schäfer, Irina Wandrey: Reuchlin und seine Erben : Forscher, Denker, Ideologen und Spinner, Thorbecke 2005, ISBN 3-7995-5981-7
• Peter Schäfer and Elisabeth Müller-Luckner: Wege mystischer Gotteserfahrung: Judentum, Christentum und Islam, Oldenbourg Munich 2006, ISBN 978-3-486-58006-8
• Peter Schäfer: Jesus im Talmud, Mohr Siebeck Tübingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-16-149462-8, translated Barbara Schäfer: Jesus in the Talmud, Princeton University Press 2007, ISBN 978-0-691-12926-6
• The Bar Kokhba War Reconsidered: Archaeological, Historical, and Literary Perspectives on the Second Jewish Revolt against Rome, Tuebingen 2003, and
• Der Triumph der reinen Geistigkeit. Sigmund Freuds "Der Mann Moses und die monotheistische Religion", Berlin and Vienna 2003.

References

1. ↑ , "Judaistik-Professor Peter Schäfer mit Mellon Award 2006 geehrt"
2. ↑
3. ↑ Schäfer, Peter (24 January 2011). The Origins of Jewish Mysticism. Princeton University Press. p. 159. ISBN 0-691-14215-7. It is more than likely that Philo knew the postbiblical Wisdom literature, in particular the Wisdom of Solomon. and was influenced by it. The obvious identification of Logos and Wisdom in the Wisdom of Solomon is a case in point. Wisdom (Greek sophia) plays a prominent role in Philo as well and is yet another power among the divine powers that acts as an agent of creation. Whereas the Logos, as we have seen, is responsible for the intelligible world, Wisdom would seem to be responsible for the world perceived by the senses. 

External links

• Peter Schäfer's website (Princeton)
• "Peter Schäfer Appointed Perelman Professor of Judaic Studies" (Princeton University 2. Februar 1998)