Jewish Religious and Intellectual History

Jewish religious and intellectual history explores how Judaism and Jewish theology have developed, as over the centuries they have encountered and engaged different cultures. The development of the Halakhah, the interpretation of the Bible and the Talmud, Jewish philosophy and liturgy have all been shaped by the political, social, economic and cultural contexts of Jewish life.

Maimonides' (1138-1204) thought was imbedded in the Jewish and Arabic high culture of his time. The Jewish liturgy has responded and again to crucial events and the changing life worlds of Jews. The Reform movement emerged in the context of the hoped-for legal emancipation.

These examples illustrate how studying religious and intellectual history complements the other sub-disciplines of Jewish theology and connects them to historical developments external to Judaism.

Prof. Dr. Jonathan Schorsch

Campus Am Neuen Palais / building 15, room 2.01

E-Mail: jschorschuuni-potsdampde

Michael Lesley

Campus Am Neuen Palais / Haus 15, Raum 2.06

E-Mail: michael.lesleyuuni-potsdampde

Sprechzeiten: Tuesday, 1 - 2 p.m. | please register by mail

Michael Lesley is completing a doctorate at Harvard University on the origins of German philosophical antisemitism in German enlightenment theology.
He has a BA and MA in Jewish Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park, where he worked on Qumran and biblical literature.
His fields of interest include the history of biblical interpretation, the history of liberal religion, German-Jewish history and thought, political theory and religion, and the history of antisemitism.

Dr. Helga Völkening

Campus am Neuen Palais/ House 15/Room 1.05

Email: helga.voelkening.1@uni-potsdam.de

Consultation hours: on appointement

Hugo Martins, Dr.

DAAD PRIME Fellow

Campus Am Neuen Palais / Haus 15, Raum 2.06
Tel.: (+49)331/977-1758

Sprechzeiten: n.V.
 

My current research focuses on how the legal, economic, and political issues of the Portuguese Nation of Hamburg were closely linked with the resolution of commercial disputes and the mechanics of conflict resolution both in Hamburg and beyond it during the seventeenth century. By tracing the development of Sephardic proceedings in communal, state, and imperial jurisdictions, my work seeks to understand the true extent of the Portuguese Nation's involvement in early modern German courts, how this influence was cultivated, justified, and applied and, above all, its long-term social and political impact both within and beyond the Jewish world