Bernhard Maier

Bernhard Maier (born 1963 in Oberkirch, Baden) is a German professor of religious studies, who publishes mainly on Celtic culture and religion. Maier studied comparative religion, comparative linguistics, Celtic and Semitic studies at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, University of Aberystwyth, the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn and University of London. He earned his PhD with a doctorate thesis on the Celtic concept of kingship and its Oriental parallels: "König und Göttin. Die keltische Auffassung des Königtums und ihre orientalischen Parallelen". In 1998 he qualified as a professor at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Bonn with a habilitation thesis on the religion of the Celts: "Die Religion der Kelten: Götter, Mythen, Weltbild". He was rewarded with the Heisenberg Fellowship of the German Research Foundation (DFG) from 1999 to 2004. From 2004 to 2006 he was Reader and Professor of Celtic at the University of Aberdeen. Since 2006 he is Professor of religious studies and European history of religion at the University of Tübingen. Kuno Meyer and Wales: letters to John Glyn Davies, 1892-1919, Würzburg, 2017. (Bibliotheca Academica - Geschichte Bd. 8) Original in English. The Celts: a history from earliest times to the present, Edinburgh, 2018. (Translation of "Die Kelten: Ihre Geschichte von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart") Semitic Studies in Victorian Britain. A portrait of William Wright and his world through his letters. Würzburg 2011. Original in English. William Robertson Smith. His Life, his Work and his Times. Tübingen 2009. Original in English. The Celts. Edinburgh 2003. Translated from the German. Dictionary of Celtic religion and culture. Woodbridge 1997. Translated from the German. Die Ordnung des Himmels: eine Geschichte der Religionen von der Steinzeit bis heute, München, 2018. Stonehenge: Archäologie, Geschichte, Mythos, 2nd updated and expanded edition, München, 2018. Die Kelten: Ihre Geschichte von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart, 3rd completely revised and expanded edition, München, 2016.