Paul Kahle's Wrong Career Choice?

Paul Kahle (1875-1964) was one of the most important 20th century Orientalists, who researched and published onawealth of topics over the course of a life of research spanning more than 50 years. Like virtually no other, he was networked with colleagues in theology and Oriental studies through extensive correspondence for exchanges on scholarly questions and was considered one of the leading personalities of the most important professional association of European Orientalists, the German Oriental Society (»Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft«). The significance of his theological studies as his main education and his parish service in Cairo for the period 1903-1908 have hardly been taken into account with respect to his later career. However, they play an essential role in Kahle's later development as an Orientalist.