Maren Niehoff
Maren R. Niehoff is Max Cooper Professor of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University and Member of the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Trained at the Hebrew University, the Free University in Berlin, Oxford University and Harvard University, she specializes in interdisciplinary research on Hellenistic and rabbinic Judaism as well as early Christianity and Greco-Roman culture. She was awarded the Leopold-Lucas Prize 2022 and the Polonsky Prize 2011, 2018. During 2022 she is a visiting fellow at the Scuola Superiore Normale, Pisa, and in 2023 she will be a Beaufort Visiting Scholar at Cambridge University. During the winter semester of 2019-20 she served as the first Martin Hengel Fellow at Tübingen University. During the academic year of 2017-8, she was the co-head of a research group at the Israel Institute of Advanced Studies.
Current Research Projects:
Philo of Alexandria
Niehoff works on a commentary on Philo’s treatise “Every Good Man is Free” for the Philo of Alexandria Commentary Series at Brill. A forthcoming essay shows that this treatise was written in the context of Philo's embassy to Rome and presents Greek philosophy and Judaism in a Roman key. Niehoff argues that the Probus is not only one of Philo's most important works, but also a key-text of the first century CE, illuminating notions of freedom and slavery in the NT, early Christianity and the Second Sophistic. Niehoff's work on the Probus will be discussed at a special session at the SBL Meeting in Nov. 2022 (respondents: John Attridge, Jonathan Klawans, Gregory Sterling, Joan Taylor and Colten Yam).
Hellenistic Judaism in Late Antiquity (especially in Caesarea)
Supported by a grant from the Israel Science Foundation (2021-4), Niehoff has embarked on a project of reconstructing Hellenistic Judaism in Late Antique Palaestina, which flourished next to rabbinic literature, but is not attested in independent texts. This project involves juxtaposing diverse fragmentary sources, both literary and material, which derive from different religious backgrounds.
Remapping Elites in Late Antiquity: Between West and East.
Supported by a grant from Scholion, HU, Niehoff initiated a research group, which aims at reconstructing elites, which did not become canonical. The project highlights marginal and fragmentary evidence, comparing Late Antique Palaestina to the Sassanian Empire.
Greek and Roman Texts from Late Antique Palaestina in Hebrew Translation.
Supported by the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities, this project starts with three volumes of texts, with annotations and introductions. One volume will focus on Pagan texts, another on Christian texts in Greek and another on Christian texts in Latin.
Current Research Projects:
Philo of Alexandria
Niehoff works on a commentary on Philo’s treatise “Every Good Man is Free” for the Philo of Alexandria Commentary Series at Brill. A forthcoming essay shows that this treatise was written in the context of Philo's embassy to Rome and presents Greek philosophy and Judaism in a Roman key. Niehoff argues that the Probus is not only one of Philo's most important works, but also a key-text of the first century CE, illuminating notions of freedom and slavery in the NT, early Christianity and the Second Sophistic. Niehoff's work on the Probus will be discussed at a special session at the SBL Meeting in Nov. 2022 (respondents: John Attridge, Jonathan Klawans, Gregory Sterling, Joan Taylor and Colten Yam).
Hellenistic Judaism in Late Antiquity (especially in Caesarea)
Supported by a grant from the Israel Science Foundation (2021-4), Niehoff has embarked on a project of reconstructing Hellenistic Judaism in Late Antique Palaestina, which flourished next to rabbinic literature, but is not attested in independent texts. This project involves juxtaposing diverse fragmentary sources, both literary and material, which derive from different religious backgrounds.
Remapping Elites in Late Antiquity: Between West and East.
Supported by a grant from Scholion, HU, Niehoff initiated a research group, which aims at reconstructing elites, which did not become canonical. The project highlights marginal and fragmentary evidence, comparing Late Antique Palaestina to the Sassanian Empire.
Greek and Roman Texts from Late Antique Palaestina in Hebrew Translation.
Supported by the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities, this project starts with three volumes of texts, with annotations and introductions. One volume will focus on Pagan texts, another on Christian texts in Greek and another on Christian texts in Latin.
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Papers by Maren Niehoff
Via the images of the Biblical women Origen negotiates Christian identity in 3rd century Palaestina. The Biblical women serve as transitional figures, who mark boundaries: Eve and Sarah entice the audience to leave behind un-Christian ways; Aseneth shows how foreign vices are constantly lurking, while Judith exemplifies the ideal of prayer. The women's roles differs from that of the Biblical patriarchs, who provide direct access to the divine and represent a stable kernel of Christian identity.
Via the images of the Biblical women Origen negotiates Christian identity in 3rd century Palaestina. The Biblical women serve as transitional figures, who mark boundaries: Eve and Sarah entice the audience to leave behind un-Christian ways; Aseneth shows how foreign vices are constantly lurking, while Judith exemplifies the ideal of prayer. The women's roles differs from that of the Biblical patriarchs, who provide direct access to the divine and represent a stable kernel of Christian identity.