Robert A. Kraft
Robert A. Kraft is an American Berg Professor of Religious Studies Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania. He is known for his pioneering work in the application of computing to the study of ancient literature and for his significant contributions to the study of early Judaism and early Christianity.
Life
In 1955, Kraft earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and in 1957 a Master of Arts degree, both from Wheaton College. In 1961 he completed his Ph.D. at Harvard University in the History and Philosophy of Religion. From 1961 to 1963, he was an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Manchester in England, and in 1963 Kraft came to the Department of Religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was made full professor in 1976 and Berg Chair in 1992. Kraft was also a visiting lecturer at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia in 1965-1966.Kraft is a member of the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies and the American Society of Papyrologists. He is also a member of the Society of Biblical Literature and served as its president in 2006. One of his most significant roles, however, was as co-founder and coordinator of the , which he established upon coming to Penn in 1963. He was also on the Bible Translation Commission for the Revised Standard and New Revised Standard Versions of the Bible.
Work
In his scholarship, Kraft has made contributions to study of the Apostolic Fathers, particularly the Epistle of Barnabas, as well as the history and literatures of Judaism in the Greco-Roman Period, particularly the Septuagint and Old Greek translations and their textual histories, and also Philo of Alexandria and his world. Kraft has also produced significant work in manuscript studies, on so-called "Jewish Christianity" in antiquity, on the pseudepigrapha and on the Christian transmission of ancient Jewish writings. Under Kraft's leadership and co-editorship, the Philadelphia Seminar on Christian Origins produced an English translation, with updated annotation, of Walter Bauer's classic Rechtgläubigkeit und Ketzerei im ältesten Christentum.Kraft is now semi-retired, and continues to conduct one graduate level seminar each term. He also continues to work on various scholarly projects as noted on his home page, especially the computerization of the textual variants for the ancient Jewish scriptures in Greek and the digitization and description of the papyri and related documents in the Penn collections. Also of special interest for Jewish Studies is his "New M. R. James" project, to update and expand the Lost Apocrypha of the Old Testament, or as Kraft prefers to say, "Parabiblical Literature and Traditions of Early Judaism" and similar materials from early Christianity.
Select publications
Kraft's contribution to the study of religion in antiquity is voluminous. His publications include the following:- The Apostolic Fathers: A New Translation and Commentary. Volume 3, The Didache and Barnabas
- Andrews University Seminary Studies 3 18-33
- Épitre de Barnabé: introduction, traduction et notes par Pierre Prigent, texte grec établi et ptésenté par Robert A. Kraft
- "In Search of 'Jewish Christianity' and its 'Theology': Problems of Definition and Methodology," Recherches de Sciences Religieuse 60 , 81-92
- with A. E. Purintun, Paraleipomena Jeremiou * Testament of Job
- "The Development of the Concept of 'Orthodoxy' in Early Christianity," in Current Issues in Biblical and Patristic Interpretation, ed. G. F. Hawthorne, 47-59
- "The Multiform Jewish Heritage of Early Christianity," in Christianity, Judaism and Other Greco-Roman Cults: Studies for Morton Smith at Sixty, 3.174-199
- Septuagintal lexicography
- "An Unpublished Coptic/Sahidic Psalter Codex at the University Museum in Philadelphia: A Preliminary Report," in Biblical and Armenian Studies, ed. M. E. Stone, 81-89
- "Christian Transmission of Greek Jewish Scriptures: A Methodological Probe," in Paganisme, Judaisme, Christianisme: Influences et affrontements dans le Monde Antique, ed. A. Benoit, 207-226
- with Emanuel Tov, "Computer Assisted Tools for Septuagint Studies," Bulletin of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies 14 22-40
- with G. W. E. Nickelsburg, Early Judaism and Its Modern Interpreters
- "Towards Assessing the Latin Text of '5 Ezra': The Christian Connection," in Christians among Jews and Gentiles: Essays in Honor of Krister Stendahl on his Sixty-fifth Birthday, 158-169
- "Computer Assisted Identification and Reconstruction of Fragmentary Manuscripts : Chester Beatty Greek Papyrus 5 = Rahlfs 962," in Bible et informatique: méthodes, outils, résultats. Actes du second colloque international de l'Association internationale Bible et informatique , 319-321
- "Philo and the Sabbath Crisis: Alexandrian Jewish Politics and the Dating of Philo's Works," in The Future of Early Christianity: Essays in Honor of Helmut Koester, ed. B. A. Pearson, 131-41
- "The Use of Computers in New Testament Textual Criticism," in The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research, ed. Bart D. Ehrman and Michael W. Holmes, 268-282
- "The Papyri Collection at the Center for Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania : An Overview," in Atti del XXII Congresso Internazionale di Papirologia , 2.749-752
- with Benjamin G. Wright, "Coptic/Sahidic Fragments of the Biblical Psalms in the University of Pennsylvania Museum," in The Old Greek Psalter: Studies in Honour of Albert Pietersma, ed. R. J. V. Hiebert, C. E. Cox and P. J. Gentry, 163-177
- "Some Newly Identified LXX/OG Fragments among the Amherst Papyri at the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City," in Emanuel: Studies in Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, and Dead Sea Scrolls in Honor of Emanuel Tov, edited by S. M. Paul, R. A. Kraft, L. H. Schiffman and W. W. Fields, 551-570
- SBL Forum
- "Daniel outside the Traditional Jewish Canon," in Studies in the Hebrew Bible, Qumran, and the Septuagint: Essays Presented to Eugene Ulrich on the Occasion of His Sixty-Fifth Birthday, ed. E. Tov, J. VanderKam and P. Flint, 121-133
Festschriften
- Benjamin G. Wright, A Multiform Heritage: Studies on Early Judaism and Christianity in Honor of Robert A. Kraft