Robert A. Kraft is Berg Professor of Religious Studies

Religious studies

Religious studies is the academic field of multi-disciplinary, secular study of religious beliefs, behaviors, and institutions. It describes, compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing systematic, historically based, and cross-cultural perspectives.While theology attempts to...

 Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

. He is notable for his pioneering work in digitizing and coding ancient texts; for his significant contribution to discussions of ancient Judaism and Christianity; and for the English translation of Walter Bauer

Walter Bauer

Walter Bauer was a German theologian and scholar of the development of the early Christian churches.-Life:...

's Orthodoxy and Heresy in Early Christianity.

Academic positions

Kraft has taught at the University of Pennsylvania since 1963, following two years as Assistant Lecturer at the University of Manchester

University of Manchester

The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...

 in England. He is a graduate of Wheaton College

Wheaton College (Illinois)

Wheaton College is a private, evangelical Protestant liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb west of Chicago in the United States...

 and holds a PhD in "Christian Origins" from Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 (1961), and was the designated President of the Society of Biblical Literature

Society of Biblical Literature

The Society of Biblical Literature, founded 1880, is a constituent society of the American Council of Learned Societies , with the stated mission to "Foster Biblical Scholarship"...

 in 2006.

Scholarly contributions

His contribution to modern religious studies is voluminous. He has written some eighty theses, books, and articles; thirteen major book reviews; and has translated five books and articles from German to English. Additionally, he has supervised or been significantly involved with over forty Ph.D. dissertations. He prefers to publish his works electronically, and many of his writings may be found on his home page http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/kraft.html.

Current activities

Robert 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 (as part of the CATSS project) and the digitization and description of the papyri and related documents in the Penn collections (as part of the APIS project). Also of special interest for Jewish Studies

Jewish studies

Jewish studies is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history , religious studies, archeology, sociology, languages , political science, area studies, women's studies, and ethnic studies...

 is his "New M. R. James

M. R. James

Montague Rhodes James, OM, MA, , who used the publication name M. R. James, was an English mediaeval scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge and of Eton College . He is best remembered for his ghost stories, which are regarded as among the best in the genre...

" project, to update and expand the "Lost Apocrypha of the Old Testament" (published in 1920), or as Kraft prefers to say, "Parabiblical Literature and Traditions of Early Judaism" and similar materials from early Christianity.