Professor Dr. Bernhard Lang
Professor Emeritus für Altes Testament im Fach Katholische Théologie an der Universität Paderborn
Professor Lang has been Professor at Padeborn since 1985, having taught at the Universities of Sorbonne, St Andrews, Aarhus (where he holds an honorary doctorate), Temple University Philadelphia, and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris. He now lives in Berlin. His Religion und Literatur (below) is a work of 724 pages of the history of religion and literature from Gilgamesh and the OT to modern novels, offering interpretations of 100 works.
Professor Dr. Lang’s Handbook of the Vulgate Bible (see below) is a comprehensive account of Vulgate research over the last two centuries (ca. 1820–2023) in the form of a thematically arranged annotated bibliography of more than 4000 titles. The work contains explanatory introductions, excerpts of relevant texts from Jerome’s work (generally in translation, but also in Latin), and chronological tables. Of particular note are the annotated alphabetical glossary of linguistic and stylistic terms (pp. 89–126), the glossary of the Latin vocabulary of the Vulgate (pp. 282–472), and the notes on individual biblical texts from Genesis to the book of Revelation and the appendices of the Vulgate (pp. 511–723). The final section is devoted to the cultural impact of the Vulgate in the church, in language, literature, and art, with particular attention to evidence from English, German, French, and Italian literatures and languages. Indexes of names and subjects as well as a detailed table of contents conclude the work.
Email: Bernhard.Lang@uni-paderborn.de
Website: https://kw.uni-paderborn.de/institut-fuer-katholische-theologie/biblische-theologie/team/ehemalige-professoren/prof-dr-dr-h-c-bernhard-lang/
Select Publications
Lang, B., The Hebrew God: Portrait of an Ancient Deity (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002)
Lang, B., Joseph in Egypt: A Cultural Icon from Grotius to Goethe (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009)
Lang, B. (translator and commentator), Philo of Alexandria: Das Leben des Politikers oder Über Josef, Eine philosophische Erzählung (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2017)
Lang, B., Religion und Literatur in drei Jahrtausenden. Hundert Bücher (Brill Schröningh: Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 2019)
Lang, B. (editor and commentator), Sprüche der Väter. Das Weisheitsbuch im Talmud (Ditzingen: Reclam Philipp Jun., 2020)
Lang, B. Handbook of the Vulgate Bible and Its Reception: Annotated Bibliography ‒ Latin Glossary ‒ Textual Notes (Vulgata in Dialogue. Second Special Issue 2023), Chur: The Vulgate Institute, 2023. 778pp. ISSN 2504-5156. See https://vulgata-dialog.ch (open access) where the pdf can be consulted and downloaded.
