Professional Appointments
Senior Fellow, Center for the Study of World Religions, 2019-present
Lecturer, 2018-2019, 2020; 2021
Boston University Department of Religion
Instructor, 2023-2025
Dartmouth College, Jewish Studies Program
Instructor, 2024
Scripps College, 2009-2019
Mary W. and J. Stanley Johnson Professor of Humanities, 2015-2019
Professor, 2012-2019
Associate Professor, 2009-2012
University of California, Riverside, 2001-2009
Associate Professor: 2005-2009
Graduate Advisor: 2005-2008
Assistant Professor: 2001-2005
Undergraduate faculty advisor: 2002-2005
Education
Duke University, 1995-2001
PhD: Graduate Program in Religion (2001)
Dissertation: "Imperial Constructions of the Jew in the Early Christian Holy Land"
Advisor: Elizabeth Clark
MA: Graduate Program in Religion, 1998
Brown University, 1991-1995
AB: Ancient Studies (with honors), Comparative Literature (Latin and French)
Awards and Honors
Philip Schaff Best Book Prize from the American Society of Church History (2017)
Mary W. Johnson Faculty Award: Teaching (2010); Research (2012); Research (2016)
UCR University Scholar, 2005-2008
Junior Faculty Teaching Award, College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, UCR, 2005
Center for Ideas and Society (UC Riverside) Residential Fellow, Spring 2003: Religion, Magic, and Science: The Negotiation of Modern Boundaries in Ancient Societies
Charlotte W. Newcombe Dissertation Fellowship, 2000-2001
Katherine Sterns Dissertation Fellowship (Duke University), 2000-2001 (declined)
Joseph Callaway Student Essay Prize (ASOR), 2000
Society of Biblical Literature Regional Scholar, 1999
Kenneth Willis Clarke Student Essay Prize (SBL), 1998
James B. Duke Fellowship, 1995-1999
Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fellowship, 1995-1998
Mellon Fellowship in Humanistic Studies (honorary), 1995-1996
Jacob K. Javits Fellowship (alternate), 1995-1996
Teaching
Boston University
Theoretical
Approaches to the Study of Religion
Varieties
of Early Christianity
Dartmouth College
The Jewish Jesus
Harvard Divinity School
Introduction to the New Testament
Advanced Greek: Heresies
Advanced Greek: Jewish-Christian Dialogues
Advanced Greek: Apocrypha
Scripps College
Varieties of Early Christianity
New Testament and Christian Origins
Early Christianity and/as Theory
Core I: Histories of the Present: Violence; Community
Core II: Travel, Encounter, and the History of Religion
Feminist Interpretation of the Bible
Feminist Histories of Early Christianity
Women and Religion in Greco-Roman Antiquity
University of California, Riverside
Introduction to Western Religions
Pilgrimage in Religious Traditions
Christian Hagiography (graduate seminar)
Religion and Representations: Travel Texts (graduate seminar)
Asceticism (graduate seminar)
Duke University Department of Religion
Introduction to Christianity
Introduction to Judaism
Publications
Books (monographs)
Gospel
Thrillers: Conspiracy, Fiction, and the Vulnerable Bible
(Cambridge University Press, 2023)
companion website
here
Epiphanius of Cyprus: A Cultural Biography of Late Antiquity (University of California Press, 2016)
Christ Circumcised: A Study in Early Christian History and Difference (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012)
Remains of the Jews: The Holy Land and Christian Empire in Late Antiquity (Stanford University Press, 2004)
Books (edited)
Christianity in Late Antiquity, 300-450 CE: A Reader, edited with Bart D. Ehrman (Oxford University Press, 2003)
The Garb of Being: Embodiment and the Pursuit of Holiness in Late Ancient Christianity, edited with Georgia Frank and Susan R. Holman (Fordham University Press, 2019)
Books (translations)
The
Life of Thecla: Apocryphal Expansion in Late Antiquity,
Early Christian Apocrypha (Cascade Books, 2024); more info and
preview here
The Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas in Late Antiquity, edited by L. Stephanie Cobb with translations by L. Stephanie Cobb and Andrew S. Jacobs (Oakland: University of California Press, 2021)
In progress:
Ex-Jews: Religion and Conversion in Late Antiquity
Special Journal Issues
Guest Editor, "Symposium: Reflections
on Maia Kotrosits's The Lives of Objects," Religious
Studies Review 47.3 (2021): 299-314
Articles, Essays, and Invited Chapters
"'Jewish Studies, Christianity, and Even Paganism': Disciplining the Ways that Never Parted." Studies in Late Antiquity (forthcoming)
"NAPS 2024 Presidential Address:
Ex-Jews, Christians, and Conversion in Late Antiquity." Journal
of Early Christian Studies (forthcoming, 2025)
"Introduction: Shedding our Skin
(Symposium: Reflections on Maia Kotrosits's The Lives of
Objects)." Religious Studies Review 47.3 (2021):
299-300
"Christians, Jews, and Judaism in the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East, c. 150-400 CE" and "Christianizing the Roman Empire: Jews and the Law from Constantine to Justinian, 300-600 CE" in The Cambridge Companion to Antisemitism, Cambridge Companions to Religion, ed. Steven Katz. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022, pp. 83-99 and pp. 100-117.
"'Coloured by the Nature of Christianity': Nock's Invention of Religion and Ex-Jews in Late Antiquity" in Celebrating Arthur Darby Nock: Choice, Change, and Conversion, ed. Robert Matthew Calhoun, James A. Kelhoffer, and Clare R. Rothschild. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2021, pp. 257-76.
"Interpreting Conversion in Antiquity (and Beyond)." Religion-Compass 2021;e12399
"Gender, Conversion, and the End of Empire in the Teaching of Jacob, Newly Baptized." Journal of Early Christian Studies 29 (2021): 93-120.
"Epiphanius's Library," in From Roman to Early Christian Cyprus, ed. AnneMarie Luijendijk, Laura Nasrallah, and Charalambos Bakirtzis, Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2020, pp. 133-52 (available by email request).
"'I Want To Be Alone': Ascetic Celebrity and the Splendid Isolation of Simeon Stylites," in Garb of Being: Embodiment and the Pursuit of Holiness in Late Ancient Christianity, ed. Georgia Frank, Susan R. Holman, and Andrew S. Jacobs, New York: Fordham University Press, 2019, pp. 145-68.
"The Lost Generation," in MELANIA: Early Christianity Through the Life of One Family, ed. Catherine M. Chin and Caroline T. Schroeder, University of California Press, 2016, pp. 207-21.
"Sordid Bodies: Christ's Circumcision and Sacrifice in Origen's Fourteenth Homily on Luke." In Asceticism and Exegesis in Early Christianity, ed. Hans-Ulrich Weidemann, Novum Testamentum et Antiquus. Gottingen: Vandenhoecht & Ruprecht, 2013, pp. 219-34.
"Adversus Iudaeos" and "Relics." In Encyclopedia of Ancient History. Ed. Roger Bagnall et al. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013, pp. 111-13 and 5766-77.
"Epiphanius of Salamis and the Antiquarian's Bible." Journal of Early Christian Studies 21 (2013): 437-64.
"Matters (Un-)Becoming: Conversions in Epiphanius of Salamis." Church History 81 (2012): 27-47.
"'What Has Rome to do with Bethlehem?' Cultural Capital(s) and Religious Imperialism in Late Ancient Christianity." Classical Receptions Journal 2 (2011): 29-45.
Introduction and annotations to "Jude, Epistle of." In The Jewish Annotated New Testament. Ed. Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Z. Brettler. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 460-62.
"Passing: Jesus' Circumcision and Strategic Self-Sacrifice." In Ancient Mediterranean Sacrifice. Ed. Jennifer Wright Knust and Zsuzsanna Várhelyi. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 251-64.
"Church Fathers, Attitudes to Jews and Judaism." In The Cambridge Dictionary of Jewish History, Religion, and Culture. Ed. Judith Baskin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011, 105-6.
"The Kindest Cut: Christ's Circumcision and the Signs of Early Christian Identity." Jewish Studies Quarterly 16 (2009): 97-117.
"Blood Will Out: Jesus Circumcision and Early Christian Interpretation of Exodus 4:24-26." Henoch 30 (2008): 311-32.
"Jews and Christians." In The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies. Ed. Susan Ashbrook Harvey and David G. Hunter (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), pp. 169-85.
"Dialogic Differences: (De-)Judaizing Jesus' Circumcision." Journal of Early Christian Studies 15 (2007): 291-335.
"'Papinian Commands One Thing, Our Paul Another': Roman Christians and Jewish Law in the Collatio Legum Mosaicarum et Romanarum." In Religion and Law in Classical and Christian Rome, ed. Clifford Ando and Jörg Rüpke (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2006), pp. 85-99.
"'Her Own Proper Kinship': Marriage, Class, and Women in the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles." In A Feminist Companion to the New Testament Apocrypha. Ed. Amy-Jill Levine with Maria Mayo Robbins (London: T. & T. Clark, 2006), pp. 18-46.
"A Jew's Jew: Paul and the Early Christian Problem of Jewish Origins." Journal of Religion 86 (2006): 258-86.
"Gospel Thrillers." Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts and Contemporary Worlds 1 (2005): 125-42.
"'Let him guard pietas: Early Christian Exegesis and the Ascetic Family." Journal of Early Christian Studies 11 (2003): 265-81.
"Fathers Know Best? Christian Families in the Age of Asceticism" (with Rebecca Krawiec). Journal of Early Christian Studies 11 (2003): 257-63.
"The Lion and the Lamb: Reconsidering 'Jewish-Christian Relations' in Antiquity." In The Ways that Never Parted: Jews and Christians in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Ed. Adam H. Becker and Annette Yoshiko Reed. Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 95. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 2003, pp. 95-118; repr. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007.
"The Remains of the Jew: Imperial Christian Identity in the Late Ancient Holy Land." Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 33 (2003): 23-45.
"'The Most Beautiful Jewesses in the Land': Imperial Travel in The Early Christian Holy Land." Religion 32 (2002): 205-25.
"The Place of the Biblical Jew in the Early Christian Holy Land." Studia Patristica 38 (2001): 417-24.
"Writing Demetrias: Ascetic Logic in Ancient Christianity." Church History 69 (2000): 719-48.
"The Disorder of Books: Priscillian's Canonical Defense of Apocrypha." Harvard Theological Review 93 (2000):135-59.
"Visible Ghosts and Invisible Demons: The Place of Jews in Early Christian Terra Sancta." In Galilee Through the Centuries: Confluence of Cultures (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1999), ed. Eric M. Meyers, pp. 359-76.
"A Family Affair: Marriage, Class, and Ethics in the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles." Journal of Early Christian Studies 7 (1999): 105-38.
"'Solomon's Salacious Song': Foucault's Author Function and the Early Christian Interpretation of the Canticum Canticorum." Medieval Encounters 4 (1998): 1-23.
Online essays
"Imagining the Vulnerable Bible," Fifteen Eighty Four (Cambridge Press Blog)
"The
Vulnerable Bible in Fact and Fiction," Center for the
Study of World Religions, February 27, 2024
"Why
Late Antiquity (and All History) Needs Twits," UC
Press Blog, May 25, 2017
"Out of the Shadows: An introduction to Young Richard Kim's Epiphanius of Cyprus: Imagining an Orthodox World," Ancient Jew Review, February 8, 2017
"On the Eighth Day of Christmas" Ancient Jew Review, January 1, 2016
"Unexpected Influences," Ancient Jew Review, April 15, 2015
"Early
Jewish Christian Relations: A 25 Year Retrospective,"
Ancient Jew Review, December 8, 2014
Book reviews in: Archaeology Odyssey, Church History, Bryn Mawr Classical Reviews (on-line), Journal of Early Christian Studies, Journal of Biblical Literature, Review of Biblical Literature (on-line); Journal of Religious History; Journal of Roman Studies; Journal of the American Academy of Religion; Catholic Bible Quarterly; Catholic Historical Review; Religious Studies Review; Religion & Culture Web Forum (on-line); AJS Review; Journal of Religion
Conference Papers
"The Children's Hour: Conversion and Play in 'The History of the Slave of Christ'" (Eighth North American Syriac Studies Symposium, 2019)
"When Saul Became Paul: The Apostle as 'Convert' in Late Antiquity" (Association of Jewish Studies, 2018)
"Ad religionis lucem de tenebris superstitionis: Jewish Converts Under Christian Law" (North American Patristics Society, 2018)
"Dialogue and Conversion: Producing Otherness in an Ancient Genre and Its Modern Interpretations" (North American Patristics Society, 2016)
"Epiphanius's Library." From Roman to Early Christian Cyprus: A Conference on Religion and Archaeology, Harvard Divinity School, October 2-3, 2015.
"Epiphanius's Library" (Seventeenth International Conference on Patristic Studies, 2015)
"Improvisational Discipline: Epiphanius of Cyprus and the Style of Early Christian Authority" (North American Patristics Society, 2014)
"What Do You Say About the Body? Reconsidering Fourth-Century Theology with Epiphanius of Cyprus" (North American Patristics Society, 2013)
"The Lost Generation: Aristocracy, Migration, and Empire in the Age of the Melanias" (Late Antiquity Made New: A Symposium Celebrating the Work of Elizabeth A. Clark, Duke University, April 11-13, 2013)
"Fatuus Senex, Pater Episcoporum: Epiphanius of Cyprus and Episcopal Fame" (North American Patristics Society, 2012)
"Epiphanius of Salamis and the Antiquarian's Bible" (Sixteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies, 2011)
"Matters (Un-)Becoming: Conversion in Epiphanius of Salamis" (North American Patristics Society, 2010)
"Patristic Jews: Biographical Otherness from Antiquity to the Present" (North American Patristics Society, 2009)
"Passing: Jesus' Circumcision and Strategic Self-Sacrifice" ("What the Gods Demand: Blood Sacrifice in Mediterranean Antiquity," Boston University, 2008)
"Passing: Jesus' Human Charade" (Society of Biblical Literature, 2008)
"Between the Lines: Jesus' Circumcision and Early Christian Commentary" (North American Patristics Society, 2008)
"Ps.-Amphilochius's In circumcisionem (BHG 261): Early Evidence for the Feast of the Circumcision?" (Fifteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies, 2007)
"'What Has Rome to do with Bethlehem?' Cultural Capital(s) and Religious Imperialism in the Origenist Controversy." Jerome of Stridon: Religion, Culture, Society, and Literature in Late Antiquity International Conference (Cardiff University, July 13-16, 2006)
"Let us be Circumcised! Commemorating Christ's Circumcision in Late Antiquity" (North American Patristics Society, 2006)
"Gospel Thrillers" (North American Patristics Society, 2005)
"'The Poverty of the Law': Christ's Circumcision, Jewish-Christianity, and the Hybridization of Ancient Religious Identities" (Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature, 2004)
"Respondent: Jewish-Christian Relations/Interactions in the History of Christianity" (Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature, 2004)
"The Kindest Cut of All: Christ's Circumcision and the Boundaries of Early Christian Identity" (North American Patristics Society Annual Meeting, 2004)
"'It shall be a sign': The Fathers on Jesus' Circumcision" (Fourteenth International Oxford Conference on Patristic Studies, 2003)
"A Jew’s Jew: A Pauline Epithet and the Early Christian Problem of Jewish Origins†(Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature, 2002)
"Respondent: The Christianization of Marriage and Family in the Late Roman Aristocracy†(Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature, 2002)
"Priscillian and Apocrypha." Panel Presentation on Parabiblical Literature (Philadelphia Seminar on Christian Origins at the Society of Biblical Literature, 2002)
"The Invention of the Jew in the Early Christian Holy Land." Promised Lands: The Bible, Christian Missions, and Colonial Histories in Latin Christendom from the Late Roman Empire to the European Settlement of North America. 32nd Annual Medieval Workshop, University of British Columbia (Thursday 24 – Saturday 26 October 2002).
"Beautiful Jewesses in the Synagogues of Satan: Desire and Ambivalence in the Ancient Christian Holy Land." Drew Colloquium in Transdisciplinary Theological Studies 2002: Com/Promised Lands: The Colonial, the Postcolonial, and the Theological (September 28-29, 2002).
"The Lion and the Lamb: Reconsidering 'Jewish-Christian Relations' in Antiquity" (Annual Meeting of the AAR/SBL, 2001)
"The Lion and the Lamb: Rethinking Rhetoric, Reality, and 'Jewish-Christian Relations'" (North American Patristics Society Annual Meeting, 2001)
"The Remains of the Jew: Imperial Christian Identity in Late Ancient Jerusalem" (Annual Meeting of the AAR/SBL, 2000)
"Fathers Know Best? Late Ancient Christianity and Family Studies" (with Rebecca Krawiec of SUNY-Buffalo; Annual Meeting of the AAR/SBL, 2000)
"Jewish Knowledge and the Making of a Christian Empire" (North American Patristics Society Annual Meeting, 2000)
"Hagiopolis Basilike: Jews, Christians, and Imperial Power in the Early Byzantine Holy Land" (Southeastern Regional Meeting of the AAR/SBL/ASOR, 2000)
"'When in doubt ask the Jews': The Judaeus Biblicus and Biblical Interpretation in the Early Christian Holy Land" (Annual Meeting of the AAR/SBL,1999)
"The Place of the Biblical Jew in the Early Christian Holy Land" (Thirteenth International Oxford Conference in Patristic Studies, 1999)
"The Disorder of Books: Priscillian's Canonical Defense of Apocrypha" (Southeastern Regional Meeting of the AAR/SBL/ASOR,1999)
"'The Most Beautiful Jewesses in the Country': Imperial Visions of the Christian Holy Land" (Annual Meeting of the AAR/SBL, 1998)
"Jerome, Tully, and Barabbas: Translation and the Intellectual History of the Origenist Controversy" (North American Patristics Society Annual Meeting, 1998)
"'A Family Affair': Marriage, Class, and Ethics in the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles" (Southeastern Regional Meeting of the AAR/SBL, 1998)
"'Solomon's Salacious Song': Foucault's Author Function and the Early Christian Interpretation of the Canticum Canticorum" (North American Patristics Society Annual Meeting, 1997)
Invited Lectures and Presentations
Claremont Graduate University, Duke University, Brown University, McMaster University, Indiana University, University of Oregon, The Ohio State University, Cornell University, Michigan State University, Bowdoin College, Williams College, Norwegian Academy of Science & Letters
Other Professional Responsibilities
Immediate Past President, North
American Patristics Society, 2024-2025
President, North American Patristics Society, 2022-2024
Vice-President and Program Chair, North American Patristics Society, 2021-2022
Editor, Elements: Religion in Late Antiquity, Cambridge University Press, 2019-2024
Coordinator, Patristica Bostoniensia (Boston Area Patristics Group), 2019-present
Coordinator, Models of Piety in Late Antiquity Seminar Group, 2008-present
Advisory Board Member, Ancient Jew Review, 2015-present
Council Member, American Society of Church History, 2010-2013
Associate Editor, Journal of Early Christian Studies, 2011-2017
Board Member (Early Christianity), Religion-Compass, 2006-2012
Member, Steering Committee, Social History of Formative Judaism and Christianity, SBL, 2006-2012
Chair, Steering Committee, Early Jewish-Christian Relations, SBL, 2004-2007 (member: 2008-2016, 2019-2023)
Member, Nominating Committee, North American Patristics Society, 2004-2008 (chair, 2007-2008)
Program Committee Member, American Society of Church History, 2003-2004
Advisory Board, Journal of Early Christian Studies, 2006-2011; 2018-present
Acting North American co-Editor, Religion, 2002-2003
Editorial Board Member, Religion, 2001-2005
Editorial Assistant, Journal of Early Christian Studies,1998-2001
Research Assistant for Elizabeth Clark, 1999
Author of entries for the Watts Children's Dictionary of Religion (New York: Franklin Watts/Grolier Books, 2001)
Association Memberships
American Society of Church History, 2001- .
Theta Alpha Kappa (Religious Studies Honor Society), 2001- .
Multi-Campus Research Group in Late Antiquity, 2001-2008.
Models of Piety in Late Antiquity Group, 2000- .
North American Patristics Society, 1998- .
Society of Biblical Literature, 1995- .
American Academy of Religion, 1995-2007; 2016- .
Languages
Modern: French (speaking and writing), German (reading)
Ancient: Greek, Latin, Coptic, Syriac, Hebrew (biblical and rabbinic), Aramaic (Palestinian)
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