diff --git a/openjpa-lib/pom.xml b/openjpa-lib/pom.xml
index 4b9535706..3d6e85a30 100644
--- a/openjpa-lib/pom.xml
+++ b/openjpa-lib/pom.xml
@@ -56,6 +56,11 @@
             <artifactId>log4j-core</artifactId>
             <scope>provided</scope>
         </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
+            <artifactId>log4j-1.2-api</artifactId>
+            <scope>provided</scope>
+        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
             <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
diff --git a/openjpa-lib/src/main/java/org/apache/openjpa/lib/conf/ConfigurationImpl.java b/openjpa-lib/src/main/java/org/apache/openjpa/lib/conf/ConfigurationImpl.java
index d7d54c345..56b978b33 100644
--- a/openjpa-lib/src/main/java/org/apache/openjpa/lib/conf/ConfigurationImpl.java
+++ b/openjpa-lib/src/main/java/org/apache/openjpa/lib/conf/ConfigurationImpl.java
@@ -157,6 +157,7 @@ public class ConfigurationImpl
             "openjpa", LogFactoryImpl.class.getName(),
             "commons", "org.apache.openjpa.lib.log.CommonsLogFactory",
             "log4j", "org.apache.openjpa.lib.log.Log4JLogFactory",
+            "log4j2", "org.apache.openjpa.lib.log.Log4J2LogFactory",
             "slf4j", "org.apache.openjpa.lib.log.SLF4JLogFactory",
             "jul", "org.apache.openjpa.lib.log.JULLogFactory",
             "none", NoneLogFactory.class.getName(),
diff --git a/openjpa-lib/src/main/java/org/apache/openjpa/lib/log/Log4J2LogFactory.java b/openjpa-lib/src/main/java/org/apache/openjpa/lib/log/Log4J2LogFactory.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..72aa0698d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openjpa-lib/src/main/java/org/apache/openjpa/lib/log/Log4J2LogFactory.java
@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.openjpa.lib.log;
+
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
+
+/**
+ * {@link LogFactory} implementation that delegates to the Log4J-2.x framework.
+ * It's configuration key is {@code openjpa.Log=log4j2}.
+ *
+ */
+public class Log4J2LogFactory extends LogFactoryAdapter {
+
+    @Override
+    protected Log newLogAdapter(String channel) {
+        return new LogAdapter(LogManager.getLogger(channel));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Adapts a Log4J2 logger to the {@link Log}
+     * interface.
+     */
+    public static class LogAdapter implements Log {
+
+        private Logger _log;
+
+        private LogAdapter(Logger wrapee) {
+            _log = wrapee;
+        }
+
+        public Logger getDelegate() {
+            return _log;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public boolean isTraceEnabled() {
+            return _log.isTraceEnabled();
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public boolean isInfoEnabled() {
+            return _log.isInfoEnabled();
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public boolean isWarnEnabled() {
+            return _log.isWarnEnabled();
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public boolean isErrorEnabled() {
+            return _log.isErrorEnabled();
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public boolean isFatalEnabled() {
+            return _log.isFatalEnabled();
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void trace(Object o) {
+            _log.debug(o);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void trace(Object o, Throwable t) {
+            _log.debug(o, t);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void info(Object o) {
+            _log.info(o);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void info(Object o, Throwable t) {
+            _log.info(o, t);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void warn(Object o) {
+            _log.warn(o);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void warn(Object o, Throwable t) {
+            _log.warn(o, t);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void error(Object o) {
+            _log.error(o);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void error(Object o, Throwable t) {
+            _log.error(o, t);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void fatal(Object o) {
+            _log.fatal(o);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void fatal(Object o, Throwable t) {
+            _log.fatal(o, t);
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/openjpa-lib/src/main/java/org/apache/openjpa/lib/log/Log4JLogFactory.java b/openjpa-lib/src/main/java/org/apache/openjpa/lib/log/Log4JLogFactory.java
index dd2651c72..4bf377c44 100644
--- a/openjpa-lib/src/main/java/org/apache/openjpa/lib/log/Log4JLogFactory.java
+++ b/openjpa-lib/src/main/java/org/apache/openjpa/lib/log/Log4JLogFactory.java
@@ -18,11 +18,12 @@
  */
 package org.apache.openjpa.lib.log;
 
-import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
-import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
+import org.apache.log4j.Level;
+import org.apache.log4j.LogManager;
+import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
 
 /**
- * {@link LogFactory} implementation that delegates to the Log4J framework.
+ * {@link LogFactory} implementation that delegates to the Log4J 1.x framework.
  *
  * @author Patrick Linskey
  */
@@ -30,7 +31,7 @@ public class Log4JLogFactory extends LogFactoryAdapter {
 
     @Override
     protected Log newLogAdapter(String channel) {
-        return new LogAdapter(LogManager.getLogger(channel));
+        return new LogAdapter((Logger) LogManager.getLogger(channel));
     }
 
     /**
@@ -51,27 +52,27 @@ public class Log4JLogFactory extends LogFactoryAdapter {
 
         @Override
         public boolean isTraceEnabled() {
-            return _log.isTraceEnabled();
+            return _log.isEnabledFor(Level.DEBUG);
         }
 
         @Override
         public boolean isInfoEnabled() {
-            return _log.isInfoEnabled();
+            return _log.isEnabledFor(Level.INFO);
         }
 
         @Override
         public boolean isWarnEnabled() {
-            return _log.isWarnEnabled();
+            return _log.isEnabledFor(Level.WARN);
         }
 
         @Override
         public boolean isErrorEnabled() {
-            return _log.isErrorEnabled();
+            return _log.isEnabledFor(Level.ERROR);
         }
 
         @Override
         public boolean isFatalEnabled() {
-            return _log.isFatalEnabled();
+            return _log.isEnabledFor(Level.FATAL);
         }
 
         @Override
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index cf6c2234a..a03c6590f 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -96,6 +96,8 @@
 
         <xbean.version>4.18</xbean.version>
         <bval.version>1.1.2</bval.version>
+        <log4j2.version>2.14.0</log4j2.version>
+
         <jmock.version>2.9.0</jmock.version>
         <automatic-module-name>-SUBMODULES-NEED-TO-OVERRIDE-THIS-</automatic-module-name>
     </properties>
@@ -1782,8 +1784,15 @@
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
                 <artifactId>log4j-core</artifactId>
-                <version>2.11.1</version>
+                <version>${log4j2.version}</version>
             </dependency>
+            <dependency>
+                <!-- for compiling against log4j-1.2.x we use the compat layer from log4j2 -->
+                <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
+                <artifactId>log4j-1.2-api</artifactId>
+                <version>${log4j2.version}</version>
+            </dependency>
+
             <dependency>
               <groupId>io.fabric8</groupId>
               <artifactId>kubernetes-client</artifactId>