Amos Funkenstein; Jewish History Scholar

Amos Funkenstein, 58, educator and internationally known scholar of Jewish and medieval history. Born in the territory that later became Israel, Funkenstein was educated at Ma’ale, a religious school in Jerusalem, at Hebrew University and the Free University of Berlin. In 1967, he began teaching history at UCLA and later taught at Tel Aviv University, Stanford and UC Berkeley. Funkenstein’s books included “Theology and the Scientific Imagination from the Middle Ages to the 17th Century,” published in 1986, and “Perceptions of Jewish History,” published in 1993. He wrote extensively in Hebrew and had recently completed the book “Turning Points in the Concept of Knowledge.” On Saturday in Berkeley of cancer.