Robert Eisler

Robert Eisler (Vienna 1882—Oxted, Surrey 1949) was an Austrian Jewish art historian and Biblical scholar. He was a follower of the psychology of Carl Jung. His writings cover a great range of topics, from cosmic kingship and astrology to werewolves.

He advanced controversial theses on Jesus. These have for the most part been rejected by other scholars, though some have agreed with or developed them. One is about the concept of a political, rebellious and eschatological Jew as Jesus, in relation to the Zealot movement. [ [http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/theories.html] : "In the tradition of S. G. F. Brandon and Robert Eisler, Robert Eisenman has argued that the original Jamesian Christianity consisted of Torah-observant and nationalistic Jews of insurrectionist bent."] [ [http://inside.bard.edu/religion/facultyproj/temple/temple_jesus/prevappr.htm] :"the notion that Jesus is to be seen chiefly in political terms, a notion which [S. G. F.] Brandon, together with H. S. Reimarus and Robert Eisler, championed within the world of academic discourse."] [ [http://www.moshereiss.org/christianity/02_tradition/02_tradition.htm] : "Several major scholars in controversial books, Robert Eisler, S. G. F. Brandon and Paul Winters, claim he was a Zealot."] In this he is the company of Joel Carmichael ["The Death of Jesus"] , H. Rodrigues and Maurice Fluegel, and Hugh Schonfield. [ [http://www.biblestudy.org/basicart/early-christianity2.html] : "Along with S. G. F. Brandon and Robert Eisler, Schonfield clearly demonstrated that the early Church was a sect within Judaism, not a new religion".] In arguing for this position he used the work of Flavius Josephus [ Also Celsus and Sossianus Hierocles.] in Slavonic manuscripts (the authenticity of which has been questioned). [For example by Charles Guignebert, John P. Meier [http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/testimonium.html] .] On the Messiah he discussed the "afikoman" in 1925, with ideas taken up much later. [By David Daube, see [http://www.hebrew-streams.org/works/judaism/afikoman.html] .] He made much of the Hebrew background of John the Baptist. [http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/gno/gjb/gjb-1.htm]

He was described mockingly by Gershom Scholem as 'an astonishing figure in the world of scholarship'. ["Walter Benjamin: The Story of a Friendship" (English translation, 1982), p.131. Scholem goes on to say "For all unsolved problems he had in readiness brilliantly false solutions of the most surprising kind. He was a man of unbridled ambition, ceaseless diligence, but rather unstable character." Indeed, Eisler held the dubious honor of holding a post at Scholem and Walter Benjmain's fictional University of Muri. ] Another critic was Erwin Ramsdell Goodenough. [See citation [http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gtosiris/page9i.html here] from his "Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman World", implying Eisler lacked in self-critical acumen.]

He had a position at the Austrian Historical Institute at the Vienna University. From 1925-31 he served as Assistant Director of the League of Nations Universities Interrelation Office in Paris. At that time he wrote on economics. He survived concentration camps (Buchenwald and Dachau) before the outbreak of World War II, moving to the United Kingdom, where he died.

Works

*"Studien zur Werttheorie" (1902) The Theory Of Values
*"Die Legende vom heiligen Karantanerherzog Domitianus", Mitteilungen des Instituts für österreichische Geschichtsforschung 28, Innsbruck 1907
*"Die illuminierten Handschriften in Kärnten" (1907)
*"Weltenmantel und Himmelszelt", two volumes(1910)
*"Die Kenitischen Weihinschriften Der Hyksoszeit" (1919)
*"Orpheus the Fisher: Comparative Studies in Orphic and Christian Cult Symbolism" (1921)
*"Das Geld" (1924)
*"Orphisch-Dionysische Mysteriengedanken in der christlichen Antike" (1925)
*"Iesous Basileus ou Basileusas", two volumes (1929/30)
*"The Messiah Jesus and John the Baptist" (1931) [http://members.aol.com/fljosephus/eisler.htm translated extract]
*"This Money Maze (1931)
*"Stable Money" (1932)
*"Monetary Theory And Monetary Policy" (1934)
*"Zur Kritik der Psychologistischen Konjunktur-Theorie" (1935)
*"Das Rätzel des Vierten Evangeliums" (1936) as "The Enigma of the Fourth Gospel" (1938)
*"Flavius Josephus Studien" (1938)
*"The Royal Art of Astrology" (London 1946)
*"" (1948)
*"Una Tavoletta di Biccherna Nuovamente Scoperta" (1950)
*"Comparative Studies In Ancient Cosmology" (never published)

Notes