Peter Schäfer (born 29 June 1943,
Mülheim
Mülheim, officially Mülheim an der Ruhr (, ; ; ) and also described as ''"City on the River"'', is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany. It is located in the Ruhr Area between Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen and Ratingen. It is ho ...
an der Ruhr,
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...
) is a prolific German
scholar
A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...
of ancient
religious studies
Religious studies, also known as religiology or the study of religion, is the study of religion from a historical or scientific perspective. There is no consensus on what qualifies as ''religion'' and definition of religion, its definition is h ...
, who has made contributions to the field of ancient
Judaism
Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...
and
early Christianity
Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the History of Christianity, historical era of the Christianity, Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Spread of Christianity, Christian ...
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
Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
from 1998 to 2013.
He was the director of the
Jewish Museum of Berlin until June 2019 when he resigned amid criticism after a museum spokesperson issued a tweet critical of a Bundestag resolution that said the
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a nonviolent Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. Its objective is to pressure Israel to meet what the BDS movement describes as Israel's ...
movement had an anti-semitic character.
Subsequently, he received letters of support from 95 museum directors and curators, 445 Jewish studies scholars and 45 Talmudists.
From 1983 to 2008 he was Professor for Jewish Studies at
Freie Universität Berlin
The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...
. Since 1993, he has been co-editor of ''Jewish Studies Quarterly''. Schäfer's research interests include
Jewish history
Jewish history is the history of the Jews, their Jewish peoplehood, nation, Judaism, religion, and Jewish culture, culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions and cultures.
Jews originated from the Israelites and H ...
in
late antiquity
Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...
, the religion and literature of
Rabbinic Judaism
Rabbinic Judaism (), also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, Rabbanite Judaism, or Talmudic Judaism, is rooted in the many forms of Judaism that coexisted and together formed Second Temple Judaism in the land of Israel, giving birth to classical rabb ...
,
Jewish mysticism
Academic study of Jewish mysticism, especially since Gershom Scholem's ''Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism'' (1941), draws distinctions between different forms of mysticism which were practiced in different eras of Jewish history. Of these, Kabbal ...
, 19th- and 20th-century
Wissenschaft des Judentums and Jewish magic. He is a member of both the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
and the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
. He won the
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Distinguished Achievement Award in December 2006.
In 2014 he was awarded the Dr. Leopold Lucas Prize by the Protestant Faculty of the
University of Tübingen
The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...
,
and in 2021 the
Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts.
Schäfer is Catholic.
Career
Schäfer contends that
Philo
Philo of Alexandria (; ; ; ), also called , was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt.
The only event in Philo's life that can be decisively dated is his representation of the Alexandrian J ...
's ''
logos
''Logos'' (, ; ) is a term used in Western philosophy, psychology and rhetoric, as well as religion (notably Logos (Christianity), Christianity); among its connotations is that of a rationality, rational form of discourse that relies on inducti ...
'' was likely derived from his understanding of the "postbiblical Wisdom literature, in particular the Wisdom of Solomon."
In 2018 Schäfer was criticized for inviting a Palestinian scholar to give a lecture at the museum and giving a personal tour to the cultural director of the Iranian embassy. Iran is regularly criticized for antisemitic statements
Schäfer became a target for anti-
BDS activists when Berlin's Jewish Museum presented an exhibition "Welcome to Jerusalem", which included a Muslim narrative as part of its depiction of Jerusalem. The criticism reached a peak when the museum's spokesperson issued a tweet critical of a May 2019 Bundestag resolution that said the BDS movement had an anti-semitic character. Schäfer resigned as director of the museum in June 2019 to protect it from further attacks. Regarding the criticism, he said: "The accusation of antisemitism is a club that allows one to deal a very rapid death blow, and political elements who have an interest in this used and are using it, without a doubt".
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.
* ''The History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman World'', Routledge, 2003.
* ''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.
* ''Two Gods in Heaven: Jewish Concepts of God in Antiquity.'' Princeton University Press, 2020
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
The Jerusalem Talmud (, often for short) or Palestinian Talmud, also known as the Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century Jewish oral tradition known as the Mishnah. Naming this version of the Talm ...
: 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,
* Peter Schäfer and Elisabeth Müller-Luckner: ''Wege mystischer Gotteserfahrung: Judentum, Christentum und Islam'', Oldenbourg Munich 2006,
* Peter Schäfer: ''Jesus im Talmud'', Mohr Siebeck Tübingen 2007, , translated Barbara Schäfer: ''Jesus in the Talmud'', Princeton University Press 2007,
* ''The Bar Kokhba War Reconsidered: Archaeological, Historical, and Literary Perspectives on the Second Jewish Revolt against Rome'', Tuebingen 2003
* ''Der Triumph der reinen Geistigkeit. Sigmund Freuds "Der Mann Moses und die monotheistische Religion"'', Berlin and Vienna 2003.
References
External links
Peter Schäfer's website (Princeton)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schafer, Peter
1943 births
Living people
Princeton University faculty
Academic staff of the Free University of Berlin
People from Mülheim
German male writers
Corresponding fellows of the British Academy
International members of the American Philosophical Society