Academic Director: Rev. Dr. Petra Heldt, Hebrew University, Jerusalem

Rev. Dr. Petra Heldt was born in Berlin on December 23, 1951. Following completion of studies in theology, Egyptology, Sumeric and Hebrew studies in Berlin with the magisterial thesis on “The Reading of ‘Ani ve Ebion’ in the Writings of Qumran” (1980) she was ordained as a pastor, assigned to the Church Berlin-Brandenburg (1985). Further studies led her to Jerusalem where she has resided for over twenty years. In 2002 she received a doctorate from the Hebrew University on the doctoral thesis, “The Reading of the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians 4:21-31 in the Writings of the Early Church. A Study in Patristic Exegesis.” Dr. Heldt is fluent in English, German and Hebrew and she translates French, Greek, Latin and Syriac.

Her current teaching positions include: The Hebrew University, the Jerusalem University College, and Dormition Abbey/Hagia Maria Sion, in addition to frequent lecture invitations both in Israel and abroad.

In 1998 Dr. Heldt received the Hebrew University’s Sir Sigmund Sternberg Award for Interfaith Understanding, the Honorary Life Membership of Hadassah International and in 2000 she was made an International Companion of the Order of the Cross of Nails at Coventry Cathedral’s International Center for Reconciliation. The Federal Republic of Germany awarded her the Cross of the Order of Merit (Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande) in 2005.

Known as a scholar of patristics, Dr. Heldt has served as the General Secretary of the Ecumenical Theological Research Fraternity in Israel since 1987.

List of publications (pdf).