author
R. Travers (Robert Travers) Herford
1860–1950
A pioneering interpreter of rabbinic Judaism, this British Unitarian minister wrote with unusual sympathy and care about the Pharisees, the Talmud, and the Jewish background of early Christianity. His books helped many English-language readers approach Jewish tradition with more fairness and curiosity.
1 Audiobook
Pharisaism, Its Aim and Its Method
by R. Travers (Robert Travers) Herford
About the author
Born in 1860, Robert Travers Herford was a British Unitarian minister who became widely known as a scholar of rabbinical literature. Reliable reference sources describe him as a careful student of Judaism and early Christianity, and his work stood out for trying to explain Jewish tradition on its own terms rather than through inherited religious prejudice.
Herford is especially remembered for studies of the Pharisees, the Talmud, and the Jewish setting of Christian origins. Later reference works note that he presented Pharisaic Judaism in a notably balanced way, which helped make his writing important to readers interested in Jewish studies, theology, and the history of religion.
He died in 1950. A blue plaque in London commemorates him, reflecting the lasting regard for a scholar whose books opened a more respectful conversation between Christian and Jewish learning.