Department of Religious Studies
Department of Religious Studies
Asher Biemann headshot

Asher D. Biemann

Edgar M. Bronfman Professor of Modern Judaic Studies; Professor of Religious Studies; Courtesy Professor of History
Email: ab5j@virginia.edu
434-924-3643

Education

  • PhD, Karl-Franzens University of Graz
  • Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Research Interests

Asher Biemann’s research focuses on modern Jewish thought and intellectual and cultural history. Rooted in Jewish and Continental philosophical traditions, his work concentrates on dialogical philosophy, German Jewish thought and culture from the Enlightenment to the early 20th century, Jewish-Christian cultural encounters, Jewish Neo-Orthodoxy, Jewish humanism and nationalism, and post-war Jewish literature. He also works at the intersection of religion, art and aesthetics. Figures frequently discussed in his work include Hermann Cohen, Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, Isaac Breuer, Ernst Cassirer, Margarete Susman, Ernst Bloch, Hermann Broch, Leo Baeck, Gustav Landauer, Karl Löwith, Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, as well as Günther Anders, the Frankfurt School, and the “early” Hannah Arendt. In addition to the Martin Buber Werkausgabe, he is also involved in the ongoing edition of the works of Isaac Breuer and in collaborative projects on modern Jewish politics, Jewish-Christian dialogue, and the Forum on Jewish-Muslim Thought & Theology. 

Teaching

  • Introduction to Modern Jewish Thought
  • Idolatry
  • Enduring Questions in Modern Judaism
  • The History of Jewish History
  • Modern Jewish Theo-Politics: Spinoza to the Present
  • Philosophies of Zionism
  • American Judaism

Selected Publications

  • Cultures of Continuity: Jewish-Muslim Conversations on a Contested Ideal, edited by Ufuk Topkara and Asher D. Biemann. De Gruyter, 2026.
  • Die verlorene Einheit des Menschengeschlechts: Zu einer Figur (deutsch) jüdischen Denkens um 1945. Clio, 2025.
  • Spiritual Homelands: The Cultural Experience of Exile, Place and Displacement Among Jews and Others, edited by Asher D. Biemann, Richard I. Cohen, and Sarah E. Wobick-Segev. De Gruyter, 2029.
  • Michelangelo und die jüdische Moderne. Vienna University Press, 2016.
  • Dreaming of Michelangelo: Jewish Variations on a Modern Theme. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2012.
  • Inventing New Beginnings: On the Idea of Renaissance in Modern Judaism. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009.
  • Martin Buber: Sprachphilosophische Schriften. Werkausgabe 6. Munich: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2003.
  • The Martin Buber Reader: Essential Writings. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2002.