Educated at the University of London and Balliol College, Oxford where he obtained a first-class honours degree in the classics, Montefiore subsequently studied theology at the Hochschule in Berlin with a view to becoming a rabbi. However, he decided instead to undertake scholarly pursuits. He became a leading authority on education and a prominent philanthropist. A close friend of Israel Abrahams, they collaborated on Aspects of Judaism (1894) and also shared the founding of the Jewish Quarterly Review in 1888. Montefiore was a member of the London School Board, president of the Anglo-Jewish Association, president of the Jewish Historical Society and many other illustrious institutions during his career. His work The Synoptic Gospels is sympathetic to Jesus from a Jewish perspective without attaching the divine status adopted by later enthusiasts. Much of his work dealt with Christianity - unusual for a Jewish scholar at the time. His many works include Ancient Hebrews (1893), The Bible for Home Reading (1899), Some Elements in the Religious Teaching of Jesus (1910), Outlines of Liberal Judaism (1912), Judaism and St. Paul: Two Essays (1914), Liberal Judaism and Hellenism and Other Essays (1918), The Old Testament and After (1923) and Rabbinic Literature and Gospel Teaching (1930). |
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