Schafer, Peter

Peter Schäfer (born 1943) is a German scholar of Jewish Studies and one of the foremost authorities on Jewish mysticism and Talmudic literature. He served as Professor of Jewish Studies at Freie Universität Berlin (1983-1998) and Princeton University (1998-2013), where he was the Ronald O. Perelman Professor of Jewish Studies and directed the Program in Judaic Studies. His groundbreaking work "The Hidden and Manifest God" (1992) revolutionized understanding of early Jewish mysticism (Merkabah and Hekhalot literature) by demonstrating how these texts present complex theological frameworks for approaching divine transcendence and immanence. Schäfer challenged prevailing scholarly assumptions about Jewish mysticism's development, showing how early Jewish mystics developed sophisticated techniques for experiencing the divine presence while maintaining God's ultimate hiddenness. His contributions have been essential for understanding how Jewish theological thought navigated the tension between divine accessibility and transcendence in late antiquity.