University of Hamburg, Germany
Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Veltri
Chair for Jewish Philosophy and Religion
Head of Institute and Director of the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies
Institute for Jewish Studies
Official University Profile: University of Hamburg – Giuseppe Veltri
Expertise: Jewish Philosophy; Jewish Intellectual History; Medieval Judaism; Jewish Thought; Religion of Ancient Judaism; Medieval Philosophy; Renaissance and Early Modern Jewish Thought; Wissenschaft des Judentums; Jewish Scepticism; Jewish Studies.
Member of Editorial Board of European Hebrew Journal
CURRICULUM VITAE
Academic Profile
Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Veltri is Chair for Jewish Philosophy and Religion at the University of Hamburg, Head of the Institute for Jewish Studies, and Director of the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies.
He studied in Berlin under Peter Schäfer, a major scholar of Jewish Studies and Comparative Religion, and Carsten Colpe, a scholar of religious history and theology. In Rome, his mentor was the Targum scholar Roger Le Déaut.
From 1990 to 1996, he worked on the projects “Magic from the Cairo Geniza” and “Greek-Roman Religion in Palestine,” financed by the German Research Foundation and headed by Peter Schäfer. He completed his habilitation in Jewish Studies at the Free University of Berlin in 1996.
He was appointed Professor for Judaica / Jewish Studies at the University of Halle-Wittenberg. In 1998, he founded the Leopold Zunz Center at the Leucorea Foundation in Wittenberg, where he organized numerous conferences, symposia, and academic events.
Prof. Veltri also contributed to the development of the European Association for Jewish Studies Newsletter into the peer-reviewed European Journal of Jewish Studies, published by Brill. In 2001, he founded the scholarly book series Studies in Jewish Culture and History, also published by Brill.
He has been guest professor in Antwerp, London, Paris, Rome, and Bologna. In 2010, he was granted an honorary professorship for Comparative Religions at the University of Leipzig.
ACADEMIC POSITIONS AND APPOINTMENTS
Professor for Judaica / Jewish Studies, University of Halle-Wittenberg.
Founder of the Leopold Zunz Center at the Leucorea Foundation, Wittenberg.
Chair for Jewish Philosophy and Religion, University of Hamburg.
Head of the Institute for Jewish Studies, University of Hamburg.
Director of the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies, University of Hamburg.
Professor h.c. for Comparative Religions, University of Leipzig.
Guest Professor in Antwerp, London, Paris, Rome, and Bologna.
RESEARCH
Prof. Veltri’s research activity is characterized by five main fields:
Religion of Ancient Judaism
Medieval Philosophy
Culture and Philosophy of the Renaissance and Early Modern Period
Wissenschaft des Judentums / Science of Judaism
Jewish Scepticism
His work on ancient Judaism began with his doctoral dissertation on Jewish-Hellenistic and rabbinical conceptions of translation, and continued with his habilitation thesis on magic, Jewish law, and science.
In medieval philosophy, he has worked on Jewish philosophical terminology, Hebrew philosophical and scientific language, and the broader intellectual history of Jewish thought.
His research on Renaissance and Early Modern Jewish thought includes work on Jewish intellectual life in Italy and the philosophy of the Renaissance.
His work on Wissenschaft des Judentums is connected with Leopold Zunz, the founder of the Science of Judaism, and with the documentation and study of European Jewish intellectual history.
His research on Jewish scepticism is connected with the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies and examines scepticism as an important dimension of Jewish philosophy, religion, literature, and society.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Jewish Philosophy
Jewish Intellectual History
Medieval Judaism
Jewish Thought
Religion of Ancient Judaism
Medieval Philosophy
Renaissance Jewish Thought
Early Modern Jewish Thought
Wissenschaft des Judentums
Jewish Scepticism
Jewish Studies
Rabbinic Literature
Hebrew Philosophical and Scientific Terminology
Jewish Magic and Halakhah
Jewish-Christian Intellectual Relations
HONORS AND TITLES
2014
Ordinary Member of the Academy of Sciences and Literature of Mainz, Germany.
2013
External Member of the Accademia Pontaniana, Naples, Italy.
2010
Professor h.c. for Comparative Religions at the University of Leipzig.
2010
Emil Fackenheim Prize for Tolerance and Understanding of the Jewish Community Halle.
PROJECTS AND ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES
Cluster of Excellence “Understanding Written Artefacts” (2019–2025).
Principal Investigator, “Wandering Artefacts: The Materialistic History of German-Jewish Archives” (2020–2023).
Working Group Facing New Technologie (2019–2024).
Principal Investigator, “Relevance and Status of Jewish Magical Manuscripts in the Age of Printing” (2020–2023).
SFB 950 “Manuscript Cultures in Asia, Africa and Europe” (2011–2020).
Principal Investigator, “Magia Figurata: The Visual Effect of Jewish Magical Manuscripts of the Early Modern Era” (2015–2020).
PUBLICATIONS
Prof. Veltri’s official University of Hamburg profile refers readers to his full list of publications.
Selected Publications
Il Rinascimento nel pensiero ebraico. Torino: Claudiana / Paideia, 2020.
Discourse on the State of the Jews and in particular those dwelling in the illustrious city of Venice. Bilingual edition. Edited, translated, and commented by Giuseppe Veltri and Anna Lissa. Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, 2019.
Alienated Wisdom: Enquiry into Jewish Philosophy and Scepticism. Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, 2018.
A Mirror of Rabbinic Hermeneutics: Studies in Religion, Magic, and Language Theory in Ancient Judaism. Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, 2015.
Renaissance Philosophy in Jewish Garb: Foundations and Challenges in Judaism on the Eve of Modernity. Leiden / Boston: Brill, 2009.
Libraries, Translations, and “Canonic” Texts: The Septuagint, Aquila, and Ben Sira in Jewish and Christian Tradition. Leiden / Boston: Brill, 2006.
Gegenwart der Tradition: Studien zur jüdischen Literatur und Kulturgeschichte. Leiden / Boston / Köln: Brill, 2002.
Magie und Halakha: Ansätze zu einem empirischen Wissenschaftsbegriff im spätantiken und frühmittelalterlichen Judentum. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1997.
Eine Tora für den König Talmai: Untersuchungen zum Übersetzungsverständnis in der jüdisch-hellenistischen und rabbinischen Literatur. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1994.