Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies Robert Kraft dies at 89

Berg Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies Robert Kraft died at age 89 on Sept. 15 due to cancer.  

Kraft was a pioneer in the field of religious studies. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1969, Kraft developed new techniques to use computers to digitize ancient Jewish scripture, significantly advancing research in the humanities.

Kraft was born in Wolcott, Conn., and attended Wheaton College in Illinois, where he received a bachelor's degree in philosophy. After graduating summa cum laude in 1955, he earned his master's degree in biblical literature at Wheaton. Kraft then attended Harvard University in 1961 to earn a Ph.D. in the history and philosophy of religion. 

After serving as an assistant lecturer at the University of Manchester, Kraft joined Penn’s religious studies faculty in 1963 as an assistant professor. He was promoted to professor in 1976 and served as the American Berg Professor of Religious Studies until his retirement in 2003. In addition to teaching at Penn, Kraft served as a member of Penn’s University Council.

Kraft’s primary academic focus was ancient Jewish and Christian history and literature, especially from the Greco-Roman period. According to Kraft’s website, his research interests included "second century (ce) Jewish and Christian literature," "manuscripts and written remains from antiquity," and the "Dead Sea Scrolls."

Kraft’s scholarly work involved the innovative use of technology, including the “computerization of the textual variants for the ancient Jewish scriptures in Greek” and the “digitization and description of the papyri and related documents in the Penn collections,” according to Penn’s Jewish Studies Department. 

Kraft also served as a visiting lecturer at Philadelphia’s Lutheran Theological Seminary in the 1960s and went on to lead several religious and academic societies. In 1963, he co-founded the Philadelphia Seminar on Christian Origins and chaired the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas in 1971. Kraft was also the president of the Society of Biblical Literature in 2006.