Bernhofer, Jasper

I am currently a PhD candidate in Jewish Studies at Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg and I am working as a research assistant in the ERC-project “MAJLIS” at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. I studied Middle Eastern Studies, Philosophy, and Semitic Studies in Halle, Berlin, Paris, and Tel Aviv. My research interests include biblical exegesis in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the reception of Greek philosophy in Arabic and Syriac, as well as Hebrew and Arabic codicology and paleography. I am especially interested in processes of intercultural transfer of knowledge between ‎different communities and the resulting development of shared and distinct communal identities. I am also interested in the developments in the field of digital humanities and the various tools for creating digital editions.

In my doctoral dissertation I am examining medieval commentaries on Genesis 49 (“Jacob’s Blessing”) focusing on the question how this text from the Hebrew Bible served as a reference point for the formation of religious identity and interreligious polemics in the medieval Islamicate world. The first part of the thesis includes a critical edition of the anonymous and hitherto unedited Samaritan-Arabic exegetical treatise Šarḥ al-barakatayn (“the Explanation of the two Blessings”), which comprises a commentary on Genesis 49 and Deuteronomy 33 (“Moses’ Blessing”) from a Samaritan perspective. The second part contextualizes the commentary in its broader literary framework comparing it to other exegetical traditions in the medieval Islamicate world. This comparative approach seeks to trace the development of shared motifs and interreligious polemics among the different communities, working under the assumption that the development of Arabic as a shared language enabled scholarly exchange and discourse in the Islamicate realm on an unprecedented scale.

Areas of Interest

biblical exegesis, codicology, critical editions, digital humanities, Islamicate world, Late Antiquity, manuscript cultures, Middle Ages, Middle Arabic, philosophy

Historical Periods of Interest

Late Antiquity and Middle Ages

Positions

Education

Awards and distinctions