Peter Schäfer joined the faculty in 1998, appointed as the Ronald O. Perelman Professor of Judaic Studies and Professor of Religion. His teaching and research interests have focused on Jewish History in Late Antiquity, the religion and literature of Rabbinic Judaism, Jewish Mysticism, Judaism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, and Jewish Magic. In 1994 he was awarded the German Leibniz Prize, in 2006 the Mellon Distinguished Achievement Award, in 2013 the Howard T. Behrman Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Humanities, in 2014 the Leopold Lucas Prize, and in 2015 the Reuchlin Prize. He is a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy, a Member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Academy for Jewish Research, a Foreign Member of the American Philosophical Society, and a Honorary Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He holds Honorary Doctorates of the Universities of Utrecht and Tel Aviv. He retired in June 2013 and served as the Director of the Jewish Museum Berlin from 2014 until 2019. In 2021 he was elected a Member of the Order Pour le mérite, and in 2023 he received the Grand Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Recent Publications:

Kurze Geschichte des Antisemitismus, Munich 2020, ²2020 (Dutch, Czech and Italian translations).

Die Schlange war klug. Antike Schöpfungsmythen und die Grundlagen des westlichen Denkens, Munich 2022, ²2024.

Das aschkenasische Judentum. Herkunft, Blüte, Weg nach Osten, Munich 2024: English edition forthcoming at Princeton University Press.

Paul Celans Golem. Eine Interpretation des Gedichts Einem, der vor der Tür stand, Frankfurt a.M 2025.

Judaistik im Geist der Philologie. Erinnerungen, Göttingen 2025.