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.
J.Bernhofer@lmu.de
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
2022
External collaborator in the ERC-project “MAJLIS: The Transformation of Jewish Literature in Arabic in the Islamicate World”, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
2020
Intern at Orient-Institut Beirut, Lebanon
2018 – 2019
Research Assistant in the Academies’ project “Corpus Coranicum”, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften
2013 – 2016
Research Assistant in the DFG-project “Critical Edition of the Samaritan Pentateuch”, Faculty of Theology, Martin-Luther-Universität, Halle-Wittenberg
Education
since 2021
PhD Candidate in Jewish Studies, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, working title: “Jacob’s Blessing (Gen 49) in Medieval Samaritan-Arabic Exegesis”, supervisor: Prof. Dr. Stefan Schorch
2020
MA in Semitic Studies, Freie Universität Berlin
2016
BA in Middle Eastern Studies and Philosophy, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg
Awards and distinctions
2021–2026
2020 – 2021
Mojzis-Woskin-Nahartabi-scholarship, Leucorea, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg
2017 – 2020
MA scholarship, Cusanuswerk, Bischöfliche Studienförderung
