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“To Become a German and Nothing but a German …”: The Role of Paul de Lagarde in the Conversion of Egyptologist Georg Steindorff

2015; Oxford University Press; Volume: 60; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/leobaeck/ybv001

1758-437X

Thomas L. Gertzen,

African history and culture analysis

Paul de Lagarde (1827–1897) is surely one of the most controversial figures in the history of German-speaking biblical scholarship and oriental studies. Teaching at the University of Göttingen from 1869 until his death twenty-eight years later and considering himself a theologian, Lagarde is primarily remembered today for initiating the project to prepare a critical edition of the Septuagint; furthermore, he is notorious for his pronounced antisemitism.1 Georg Steindorff (1861–1951), during a three-decade career at the University of Leipzig, exercised a lasting influence on the development of Egyptology in Germany. He was the first student of Adolf Erman (1854–1937), and one of the most prominent representatives of the so-called Berlin School.2 Steindorff’s Jewish ancestry led to his forced exile to the United States in 1939, notwithstanding the fact that at the beginning of his academic career, in 1886, he had converted to Christianity. His doctoral supervisor Lagarde not only encouraged him to take this step but also helped him to bring it about.