Adele Berlin (born May 23, 1943 in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
) is an American
biblical scholar and
Hebraist
A Hebraist is a specialist in Jewish, Hebrew and Hebraic studies. Specifically, British and German scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries who were involved in the study of Hebrew language and literature were commonly known by this designation, a ...
. Before her retirement, she was Robert H. Smith Professor of Biblical Studies at the
University of Maryland
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
.
Berlin is best known for 1994 work ''Poetics and interpretation of biblical narrative'' (). She has also written commentaries on
Zephaniah
Zephaniah (, ) is the name of several people in the Hebrew Bible and Jewish Tanakh, the most prominent one being the prophet who prophesied in the days of Josiah, king of Judah (640–609 BCE) and is attributed a book bearing his name among the ...
,
Esther
Esther is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther. In the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Ahasuerus seeks a new wife after his queen, Vashti, is deposed for disobeying him. Hadassah, a Jewess who goes by the name of Esther, is chosen ...
, and
Lamentations
The Book of Lamentations ( he, אֵיכָה, , from its incipit meaning "how") is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In the Hebrew Bible it appears in the Ketuvim ("Writings") as one of the Five Megillo ...
. A ''
Festschrift
In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...
'' in her honor, ''"Built by Wisdom, Established by Understanding": Essays in Honor of Adele Berlin'', was published in 2013.
Berlin has been a Guggenheim Fellow, and President of the
Society of Biblical Literature. Along with
Robert Alter and
Meir Sternberg
Meir Sternberg is an Israeli literary critic and biblical scholar. He is Artzt Professor of Poetics and Comparative Literature at Tel Aviv University. Along with Robert Alter and Adele Berlin, Sternberg is one of the most prominent practitioners ...
, Berlin is one of the most prominent practitioners of a literary approach to the Bible. In 2004 the
Jewish Book Council
The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature.[Marc Zvi Brettler
Marc Brettler (Marc Zvi Brettler) is an American biblical scholar, and the Bernice and Morton Lerner Professor in Judaic Studies at Duke University. He earned his B.A., M.A., and PhD from Brandeis University, where he previously served as Dora Gold ...]
the scholarship category award for the
Jewish Publication Society and Oxford University Press book, ''The Jewish Study Bible''. A decade later the two editors offered its second edition.
Works
Multiple works published:-
Books
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Edited by
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References
External links
Articles by Adele Berlin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berlin, Adele
1943 births
American biblical scholars
American Hebraists
American women writers
Bible commentators
Female biblical scholars
Gratz College
Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni
Living people
Old Testament scholars
University of Maryland, College Park faculty
University of Pennsylvania alumni
Writers from Philadelphia
21st-century American women
Female Bible Translators
Jewish translators of the Bible
Jewish women writers