Stephen J. Shoemaker

Associate Professor

Department of Religious Studies

1294 University of Oregon

Eugene OR  97403-1294

813 Prince Lucien Campbell Hall 
541-346-4998; FAX: 541-346-4118 
http://www.uoregon.edu/~sshoemak

sshoemak (at) uoregon (dot) edu

 

Education

Ph.D., Duke University, Religion, 12/30/97

Dissertation: "Mary and the Discourse of Orthodoxy: Early Christian Identity and the Ancient Dormition Legends," Professor Elizabeth A. Clark, Director
M.A., Duke University, Religion, 12/30/94

B.A., Emory University, Highest Honors in Classical Studies and Religion, 5/13/91

Thesis: "Origen and Treatise on Resurrection (NHC I,4)," Professor Vernon K. Robbins, Director

 

Major Research Fellowships  

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow, 2006-07 (deferred to 07-08)

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Fellow, 2006-07, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; Host: Prof. Stephen Gerö

American Council of Learned Societies Fellow, 2006-07

Fellow in Byzantine Studies, Dumbarton Oaks, Harvard University Center for Byzantine Studies, 2006-07 (declined)

National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Research Award, Summer 2004

Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Hellenic Studies, Princeton University, Program in Hellenic Studies 2000-01 (declined)

National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow, 1999-2000

Junior Fellow in Byzantine Studies, Dumbarton Oaks, Harvard University Center for Byzantine Studies, 1996-97

Other Awards and Honors

 

University of Oregon Fund for Faculty Excellence in Teaching and Scholarship Award, 2007-12

 

Oregon Humanities Center Fellowship, University of Oregon, Fall 2009

 

Summer Fellowship in Byzantine Studies, Dumbarton Oaks, Harvard University Center for Byzantine Studies, 2009

 

Summer Research Award, University of Oregon, 2006

 

Oregon Humanities Center Fellowship, University of Oregon, Fall 2002

Summer Research Award, University of Oregon, 2002

Course Development Award, Ira Gaston Bequest, 2002

First Year Assistant Professor Fellowship, University of Oregon, 2001

Junior Professorship Development Grant, University of Oregon, 2001-02, 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-5, 2005-6

Society for Biblical Literature Technology Grant, 1999 (with Melissa M. Aubin, FSU)

Norman Scholarship, Duke University, Department of Religion, 1995-96

James B. Duke Fellow, Duke University, 1991-94

DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Summer Language Grant, 1992

Harvey Warren Cox Scholar, Emory Scholars Program, Emory University, 1987-91

National Merit Scholar, Emory University, 1987-91

William A. Beardslee Prize in Religious Literature, Emory University, 1991

Phi Beta Kappa, 11/15/89

Teaching Positions

University of Oregon, Department of Religious Studies

Associate Professor, 9/2006-

Assistant Professor, 9/2000-2006

Florida State University, Department of Religion, Visiting Assistant Professor, 1998-99

University of Florida, Department of Religion, Visiting Lecturer, 1997-98

Duke University, Divinity School, Teaching Assistant, 1994-96

Emory University, Department of Chemistry, Lab Instructor, 1988-91

Publications

Books

The Death of a Prophet: The End of Muhammad’s Life and the Beginnings of Islam.  Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.

Maximus the Confessor, The Life of the Virgin: Translation of the Earliest Life of the Virgin from the Old Georgian with Corrections to the Edition.  New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011.

The Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002; repr. 2005; pbk. 2006.  460 pp.

Monographic Articles (Peer-Reviewed)

“In Search of ʿUrwa’s Sīra: Some Methodological Issues in the Quest for ‘Authenticity’ in the Life of Muḥammad.”  Der Islam 85.2 (2009-11): 257-344.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

“Mary at the Cross, East and West: Maternal Compassion and Affective Piety in the Earliest Life of the Virgin and the High Middle Ages.”  Journal of Theological Studies 62 (2011): forthcoming.

“From Mother of Mysteries to Mother of the Church: The Institutionalization of the Dormition Apocrypha.”  Apocrypha 22 (2011): forthcoming.

“New Syriac Dormition Fragments from Palimpsests in the Schøyen Collection and the British Library.”  Le Muséon 124 (2011): forthcoming.

“Asceticism in the Early Dormition Narratives.”  Studia Patristica 44 (2010): 509-13.

“The Cult of Fashion: The Earliest Life of the Virgin and Constantinople ’s Marian Relics.”  Dumbarton Oaks Papers 62 (2008): 53-74.

“Epiphanius of Salamis, the Kollyridians, and the Early Dormition Narratives: The Cult of the Virgin in the Later Fourth Century.”  Journal of Early Christian Studies 16 (2008): 369-99.

“A Peculiar Version of the Inventio crucis in the Early Syriac Dormition Traditions.”  Studia Patristica 41 (2006): 75-81.

“Death and the Maiden: The Early History of the Dormition and Assumption Apocrypha.”  Saint Vladimir's Theological Quarterly 50 (2006): 59-97.

“The Virgin Mary in the Ministry of Jesus and the Early Church according to the Earliest Life of the Virgin.”  Harvard Theological Review 98 (2005): 441-67.

 “Jesus’ Gnostic Mom: Mary of Nazareth and the Gnostic Mary Traditions.”  In Deirdre Good , ed., Mariam, the Magdalen, and the Mother (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005), 153-82.

"Christmas in the Qur’an: The Qur’anic Account of Jesus’ Nativity and Palestinian Local Tradition."  Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 28 (2003): 11-39.

"Rethinking the ‘Gnostic Mary’: Mary of Nazareth and Mary of Magdala in Early Christian Tradition."  Journal of Early Christian Studies 9 (2001): 555-595.

"Gender at the Virgin's Funeral: Men and Women as Witnesses to the Dormition."  Studia Patristica 34 (2001): 552-58.

"The (Re?)Discovery of the Kathisma Church and the Cult of the Virgin in Late Ancient Palestine."  Maria: A Journal of Marian Studies 2 (2001): 21-72.

"‘Let Us Go and Burn Her Body’: The Image of the Jews in the Early Dormition Traditions." Church History 68.4 (1999): 775-823.

"The Sahidic Coptic Homily on the Dormition of the Virgin Attributed to Evodius of Rome: An Edition of Morgan MSS 596 & 598 with Translation." Analecta Bollandiana 117.3-4 (1999): 241-83.

"Gnosis and Paideia: Education and Heresy in Late Ancient Egypt." Studia Patristica 31 (1997): 535-39. 

Invited Articles

“Muḥammad and the Qurʾān.”  In The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity, edited by Scott F. Johnson. Oxford University Press, 2012, forthcoming.

“The Virgin Mary’s Hidden Past: From Ancient Marian Apocrypha to the Medieval vitae Virginis.” Marian Studies 60 (2009): forthcoming.

  Bibel, Byzanz und Christlicher Orient. Festschrift für Stephen Gerö zum 65. Geburtstag, edited by D. Bumazhnov, E. Grypeou, T. B. Sailors, & A. Toepel, 203-29. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 187. Louvain: Peeters 2011.

“A Mother’s Passion: Mary’s Role in the Crucifixion and Resurrection in the Earliest Life of the Virgin and its Influence on George of Nicomedia’s Passion Homilies.” In The Cult of the Mother of God in Byzantium, edited by Leslie Brubaker and Mary Cunningham, 53-67. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2011.

“Apocrypha and Liturgy in the Fourth Century: The Case of the “Six Books” Dormition Apocryphon.” In Jewish and Christian Scriptures: The Function of 'Canonical' and 'Non-canonical' Religious Texts, edited by James H. Charlesworth and Lee Martin McDonald, 153-63. London: T & T Clark, 2010.

“Between Scripture and Tradition: The Marian Apocrypha of Early Christianity.” In The Reception and Interpretation of the Bible in Late Antiquity. Proceedings of the Montréal Colloquium in Honour of Charles Kannengiesser, 11-13 October 2006, edited by L. DiTommaso and L. Turcescu, 491-510. The Bible in Ancient Christianity 6 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2008).

“Early Christian Apocryphal Literature.” In Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies, edited by David Hunter and Susan Ashbrook Harvey, 521-48 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).

“The Cult of the Virgin in the Fourth Century: A Fresh Look at Some Old and New Sources.”  In The Origins of the Cult of the Virgin Mary, edited by Chris Maunder, 71-87. London: Continuum, 2008.

“Marian Liturgies and Devotion in Early Christianity.”  In Mary: The Complete Resource, edited by Sarah Jane Boss, 130-45. London: Continuum Press, 2007.

“The Georgian Life of the Virgin attributed to Maximus the Confessor: Its Authenticity(?) and Importance.”  In Mémorial R.P. Michel van Esbroeck, S.J., edited by Alexey Muraviev and Basil Lourié, 307-28. Scrinium 2. St. Petersburg: Byzantinorussica, 2006).

"A Case of Mistaken Identity?: Naming the ‘Gnostic Mary.’"  In Which Mary? Marys in Early Christian Tradition.  SBL Symposium Series 20 (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2002), 5-30.

Book Reviews/ Dictionary Articles

“Review of Enrico Norelli, Marie des apocryphes. Enquête sur la mère de Jésus dans le christianisme antique.” Zeitschrift für antikes Christentum, forthcoming.

“Review of Miri Rubin, Mother of God: A History of the Virgin Mary.” The American Historical Review, forthcoming (featured review).

“Dormition and Assumption of Mary.” in Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, forthcoming.

“Review of Thomas Sizgorich, Violence and Belief in Late Antiquity: Militant Devotion in Christianity and Islam.” Journal of Religion, forthcoming.

“Review of Abraham Terian, The Armenian Gospel of the Infancy with three early versions of the Protevangelium of James.” Zeitschrift für antikes Christentum, forthcoming.

“Review of Hans Förster, Transitus Mariae: Beiträge zur koptischen Überlieferung mit einer Edition von P. Vindob. K 7589, Cambridge Add 1876 8 und Paris BN Copte 12917 ff. 28 und 29.”  Theologische Literaturzeitung, forthcoming.

“Annunciation” in Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, forthcoming.

“Cyril of Jerusalem, Twentieth Discourse of”; “James, Ascents of”; “James, First Apocalypse of”; “James, Second Apocalypse of”; “James, the Great, Acts of”; “John the Evangelist, Book of”; “John, Acts of, by Prochorus”; “Mary, Gospel of the Nativity of”; “Pseudo-Matthew, Gospel of”; “Virgin, Apocalypses of”; “Virgin, Assumption of” in The New Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible. Nashville: Abingdon, forthcoming.

“Review of Maria Vassilaki, ed., Images of the Mother of God: Perceptions of the Theotokos in Byzantium.”  St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly, forthcoming.

“Review of Amy-Jill Levine, A Feminist Companion to Mariology.” Expository Times 117.12 (Sept. 2006).

“Review of Jaroslav Pelikan, David Flusser, Justin Lang, Mary: Images of the Mother of Jesus in Jewish and Christian Perspective.” Expository Times 117.12 (Sept. 2006).

“Review of Jan Willem Drijvers, Cyril of Jerusalem: Bishop and City.”  Expository Times 117.7 (Apr. 2006).

“Review of Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jensen, eds., Mary, Mother of God.”  Expository Times 116.12 (Sept. 2005).

“Review of Uwe Michael Lang, John Philoponus and the Controversies over Chalcedon in the Sixth Century.” Religious Studies Review 30 (2004).

“Review of Mary Foskett, A Virgin Conceived: Mary and Classical Representations of Virginity.”  Biblical Interpretation 12.3 (2004).

“Review of Sarah Jane Boss, Empress and Handmaid: On Nature and Gender in the Cult of the Virgin Mary.”  Church History 73.4 (2004).

“Review of Edmondo Lupieri, The Mandeans: The Last Gnostics.”  History of Religion 43.2 (2003).

“Review of Peter Schäfer, Mirror of His Beauty: Feminine Images of the Divine from the Bible to the Early Kabbalah.”  Shofar 23.1 (2003).  

“Review of Wheeler M. Thackston, Introduction to Syriac.” Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 6.1 (2003).

“Review of Brian E. Daley, S.J., On the Dormition of Mary: Early Patristic Homilies.” Church History 68 (1999).

“Review of Mary Clayton, The Apocryphal Gospels of Mary in Anglo-Saxon England.” Church History 68 (1999).

“Assumption of the Virgin.” Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Edited by David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Meyers, and Astrid B. Beck. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999.

Works in preparation:

Books

The “Six Books” Dormition Narratives in Syriac: Critical Edition, Translation, and Commentary.  Partial draft.  To appear in the Corpus Christianorum Series Apocryphorum (Brepols Publishers).

The Apocryphal Mary: The Hidden History of Early Christian Devotion to the Mother of Jesus.  In progress.

The Homilies of Meletios of Antioch: The First Translation from the Old Georgian  Future project..

Articles

“The Passion of Peter of Capitolias (d. 715): Translation of an Umayyad-era Martyrdom from the Old Georgian.”  In progress.

“Mary in Early Christian Apocrypha: Virgin Territory.”  To appear in conference proceedings.

“Apocalyptic Traditions in the Armenian Dormition Narratives.”  To appear in conference proceedings.

“The Ancient Dormition Apocrypha and the Origins of Marian Piety: Early Evidence of Marian Intercession from Late Ancient Palestine.”  To appear in conference proceedings.

 “An Early Dormition Narrative in Karshuni: An Edition and Translation of the ‘Six Books’ Apocryphon from the Karshuni Codex of St. Mark’s in Jerusalem (Apograph of Dam. Patr. 12/17 & 12/18).”  Drafted (with John C. Lamoreaux , SMU).

 

Academic Presentations

“The End of the World in Earliest Islam: The Historical Muhammad as Eschatological Prophet.”  Center for the Study of Religion, Ohio State University, 10 May 2012.

“A Qurʾānic Intervention at Muhammad’s Death: Q 3:144 as Interpolation.”  Quran and Biblical Literature Group, SBL Annual Meeting, San Francisco, 11/11.

“Mary at the Cross, East and West: The Origins of Marian Lament and Affective Piety in Early Byzantium and the High Middle Ages.”  Portland State University, 28 October 2011.

“Early Evidence for Marian Intercession in Palestine from the Ancient Dormition Apocrypha.”  Sixteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies, Oxford , England , 8/11.

“Reading the Qurʾān with Albert Schweitzer, or Jesus, Muhammad, and the End of the World.” Visiting Scholars on Islam Lecture Series, Lane Community College, 4/7/11.

“Canonization and Criticism: The Collection of the Qurʾān and the Resistance to Methods from Biblical Studies in Qurʾānic Studies.” Quran and Biblical Literature Group, SBL Annual Meeting, Atlanta, 11/10

“Mary at the Foot of the Cross: The Earliest Life of the Virgin and the Origins of Marian Lament.” Sacred Texts and Cultures Group, SBL Annual Meeting, Atlanta, 11/10

“Mary at the Cross: The Lamentation of the Virgin in the Medieval Tradition.”  The Theotokos Lecture in Theology, Department of Theology, Marquette University, 11/11/10.

“The Compassionate Mother: The Earliest Life of the Virgin and the Beginnings of Affective Piety in Late Antiquity.” North American Patristics Society Annual Meeting, Chicago, 5/10.

“Reading the Qurʾān with Albert Schweitzer: A Quest for the Historical Muhammad Using Methods from Biblical Studies.”  Department of Classical and Near Eastern Studies, University of Minnesota, 4/30/10

“Reading the Qurʾān with Albert Schweitzer: The Historical Muhammad as Eschatological Prophet.”  Quran and Biblical Literature Group, SBL Annual Meeting, New Orleans, 11/09

“From Mother of Mysteries to Mother of the Church: The Institutionalization of the Dormition Apocrypha.”  3e cycle en Histoire du christianisme ancien – Automne 2009.  Conférence universitaire de Suisse occidentale, Villars-sur-Glâne (Fribourg), Switzerland, 10/09/09.

“The Virgin Mary’s Hidden Past: From Ancient Marian Apocrypha to the Medieval vitae Virginis.” Annual Meeting of the Mariological Society of America, 6/09, St. Augustine, FL

“Family Secrets: Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in Early Christian Apocrypha.”  Early Christian Families Group, SBL Annual Meeting, Boston, 11/08

“Apocalyptic Traditions in the Armenian Dormition Narratives.”  International Conference on the Armenian Apocalyptic Tradition: A Comparative Perspective. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 10/08

“A New Dormition Fragment in Coptic: P. Vindob. K 7589 and the Marian Apocryphal Tradition.”  Réunion annuelle de l’Association pour l’étude de la littérature apocryphe chrétienne, Dole, France, 6/08.

“Mary the Apostle: A New Dormition Fragment in Coptic and its Place in the History of Marian Literature.”  North American Patristics Society Annual Meeting, Chicago, 5/08.

“Between Scripture and Tradition: The Marian Apocrypha of Early Christianity.” The Function of Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphal Writings in Early Judaism and Early Christianity, SBL Annual Meeting, 11/07.

“The Early Dormition Apocrypha and the Origins of Marian Piety.”  Fifteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies, Oxford, England, 8/07.

“Asceticism in the Early Dormition Narratives.”  Fifteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies, Oxford, England, 8/07.

“A Version of the Six Books Apocryphon in Karshuni: New Evidence Concerning the Early History of the Bethlehem Dormition Traditions.”  Réunion du groupe romand de l'AELAC, Université de Lausanne, Switzerland, 2/24/07.

“Mary at the Margins: Early Marian Apocrypha and the Non-Canonical Canon.”  Evangelische-theologische Fakultät / Institut zur Erforschung des Urchristentums, University of Tübingen, 1/22/07.

“Epiphanius and the Dormition: The Kollyridians Revisited.”  Réunion de l’Association pour l’étude de la littérature apocryphe chrétienne suisse-romand, Bex, Switzerland, 1/5/07.

“Mary in Early Christian Apocrypha: Virgin Territory.”  Conference on Christian Apocryphal Texts for the New Millennium: Achievements, Prospects, and Challenges, University of Ottawa, Canada, 10/01/06 .

“A Mother’s Passion: Mary’s Role in the Crucifixion and Resurrection in the Earliest Life of the Virgin and its Influence on George of Nicomedia’s Passion Homilies.” Conference on the Mother of God in Byzantium: Relics, Icons, and Texts, Oxford University, England, 8/06.

“Epiphanius of Salamis, the Kollyridians, and the Early Dormition Narratives: The Cult of the Virgin in the Later Fourth Century.”  Conference on the Origins of the Cult of the Virgin, University of York, England, 7/06.

“Christianity and Cultures: Balancing the Universal and the Particular.” Andrew Mellon Workshop on the Study of Christianity in a Liberal Arts College, Smith College, 6/06.

“The Cult of the Virgin in the Fourth Century: A Fresh Look at Some Old and New Sources.” North American Patristics Society Annual Meeting, Chicago, 5/06.

“The Gospel of Mary: Mary in the Ministry of Jesus and the Early Church according to the Earliest Life of the Virgin (The Georgian Life attributed to Maximus the Confessor).”  Christian Apocrypha Section, SBL Annual Meeting, 11/05.

“An Early Dormition Narrative in Karshuni: The ‘Six Books’ Apocryphon from the Karshuni Codex of St. Mark’s in Jerusalem.”  Arabic Christian Literature and Early Christian Muslim Relations Section, SBL Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, 11/05.

“The Gospel of Mary: Mary and the Beginnings of Christianity according to the Earliest Life of the Virgin (The Georgian Life attributed to Maximus).”  North American Patristics Society Annual Meeting, Chicago, 6/05.

“The Birth of Jesus and the Birth of the Qur'an: The Local Traditions of Late Ancient Jerusalem and the Qur'anic Nativity Traditions.”  Qur’an and Biblical Literature Section, SBL Annual Meeting, San Antonio, 11/04.

“The Prophet's Palestinian Campaign: Muhammad's Death and the Rise of Islam in Late Ancient Christian Sources.”  Social History of Formative Christianity and Judaism Section, SBL Annual Meeting, San Antonio, 11/04.

“Death and the Maiden: The Early History of the Dormition and Assumption Apocrypha.”  Meeting of L'Association pour l’étude de la littérature apocryphe chrétienne, Dole, France, 6/04.

“‘A Prophet Has Appeared, Coming with the Saracens’: Patristic Sources regarding the Date of Muhammad’s Death.”  North American Patristics Society Annual Meeting, Chicago, 5/04.

“The Georgian Life of the Virgin attributed to Maximus the Confessor: Its Authenticity and Importance.” Eastern Orthodox Studies Group, AAR Annual Me eting, Atlanta, 11/03.

“The Church of the Kathisma and its Influence on the Qur'anic Nativity Tradition.”  ASOR Annual Meeting, Atlanta , 11/03.

“A Peculiar Version of the Inventio crucis in the Early Syriac Dormition Traditions.”  Fourteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies, Oxford, England, 8/03.

“Christmas in the Qur'an: New Evidence regarding the Christian Sources of the Qur'anic Nativity Traditions.”  History of Christianity Section, AAR Annual Meeting, Toronto, 11/02.

“Death and the Maiden: The Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary's Dormition and Assumption.” Oregon Humanities Center, Eugene, 11/02.

“Jesus’ Gnostic Mom: Mary of Nazareth and the Gnostic Mary Traditions.”  Conference on Mary Magdalen: Prophet and Apostle in the Miriamic Tradition, General Theological Seminary, New York City, June 7-10, 2002 .

“The Council of Chalcedon and the Origins of the Dormition and Assumption Traditions.”  North American Patristics Society Annual Meeting, Chicago, 5/02.

“Christmas in the Qur’an: The Kathisma Church and Early Christian and Qur’anic Nativity Traditions.” AAR Northwest Regional Meeting, Eugene, 5/02.

“Rethinking the ‘Gnostic Mary’: Mary of Nazareth and Mary of Magdala in Early Christian Literature.”   Christian Apocrypha Section, SBL Annual Meeting, Nashville, TN, 11/00.

“Visualizing Greco-Roman Palestine : An Internet Database of Images Illustrating the Cultural and Socio-economic Environment of I BCE-I CE Palestine for Teaching and Research” (with Melissa M. Aubin ).  ASOR Annual Meeting, Nashville , 11/00.

“Visualizing Roman Palestine: The Internet and Digital Imagery in the Biblical Studies Classroom.”  Integrating Archaeology into Biblical Studies: A Consultation Series for Improving Instruction, Duke University, 10/21/00 .

“The Kathisma Church and the Origins of the Cult of the Virgin in Early Byzantine Palestine.”  W. F. Albright Institute for Archaeological Research Seminar Series, Jerusalem, 3/30/00.

“A Garden Closed and Reopened: The Assumption of the Virgin and the Early Christian Vision of Paradise.” Social History of Formative Christianity and Judaism Section, SBL Annual Meeting, Boston, 11/99.

“The Newly (Re)Discovered Church of the Kathisma and the Origins of the Cult of the Virgin in Palestine.” Archaeological Excavations and Discoveries: Illuminating the Biblical World Section, SBL Annual Meeting, Boston, 11/99.

“Gender at the Virgin's Funeral: Men and Women as Witnesses to the Dormition.” Thirteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies, Oxford, England, 8/99.

“The Virgin Mary and Religious Identity in the Late Ancient Near East: Mary as Anti-Jewish Symbol in Formative Christianity, Judaism, Mandaeism, and Islam.” AAR Southeast Regional Meeting, Chapel Hill , 3/99.

“The Virgin Mary and the ‘Gnostic’ Mary: The Evidence of the Early Dormition Legends.” North American Patristics Society Annual Meeting, Chicago, 5/98.

“Reconsidering the ‘Gnostic Mary’: Mary Magdalene or the Virgin Mary?” AAR Southeast Regional Meeting, Knoxville, 3/98.

“Mary, the Jews, and the Cult of the Saints: Jews and Christians in the Ancient Dormition Legends.” History of Christianity Section, AAR Annual Meeting, San Francisco, 11/97.

“Mary and the Discourse of Orthodoxy: The Ancient Dormition Legends and the Politics of Christian Truth.” Dumbarton Oaks, Harvard University Center for Byzantine Studies, 1/31/97 .

“‘All alike can have her, just as the other animals show’: The Carpocratians and the Question of Early Christian ‘Libertines.’” History of Christianity Section, AAR Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, 11/20/95.

“Gnosis and Paideia: Education and Heresy in Late Ancient Egypt.” Twelfth International Conference on Patristic Studies, Oxford, England, 8/22/95 .

“Shenoute's Contra Origenistas and ‘Gnosticism’ in Fifth-Century Upper Egypt .” North American Patristics Society Annual Meeting, Chicago, 5/94.

 

Editorial Positions

 

Associate Editor, Journal of Early Christian Studies, 2011-

 

Editorial Board, Orthodox Christian Studies Series, Northern Illinois University Press, 2008-

 

Advisory Board, Journal of Early Christian Studies, 2006-10

 

Editorial Board (Medieval Christianity), Religion Compass, 2006-

 

Editorial Board, Scrinium: revue de patrologie, d’hagiographie critique et d’histoire ecclésiastique (St. Petersburg), 2005-

Editorial Assistant, Journal of Early Christian Studies, 1995-1996

 

Languages
 
ANCIENT & MEDIEVAL:

Arabic

Armenian

Church Slavonic (basic knowledge)

Coptic

Ethiopic (Ge'ez)

Georgian

Greek (Classical and Byzantine)

Irish (basic knowledge)

Latin

Syriac

 MODERN: 

German (spoken) 
French 
Italian

Russian (basic knowledge)
Spanish

Special Language Study:

  • “Einführung in die altirische Sprache und Literatur,” Universität Tübingen, 10/06-2/07.  Instructor: Bernhard Maier.
  • German Language Study (Oberstufe – C1), Goethe Institut, Schwäbisch Hall , Germany, 9/06-10/06.  Instructor: Ellen Butler
  • “Reading Russian for Academic Research,” University of Oregon, 4/03-6/03.  Instructor: Cynthia Vakareliyska.
  • “Introduction to Slavic Languages,” University of Oregon, 1/03-3/03.  Instructor: Cynthia Vakareliyska.
  • “Old Church Slavonic,” University of Oregon, 9/02-12/02.  Instructor: Cynthia Vakareliyska .
  • “Classical Armenian Texts: Sebeos and Eznik.”  Hebrew University of Jerusalem , 10/99-6/00.  Instructor: Michael Stone.
  • “Introduction to Old Georgian,” Catholic University of America, 1/97-5/97.  Instructor: Monica Blanchard.
  • German Language Study (Mittelstufe 2), Goethe Institut, Prien , Germany , 6/92-8/92.  Instructor: Marcus Litz.

Research Abroad

Cambridge University Library, UK, 7/11 (manuscript study)

Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Germany, 11/06-4/07

The Schøyen Manuscript Collection, Oslo, Norway, 7/06-8/06 (manuscript study)

The British Library, 7/06 (manuscript study)

Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, Germany, 9/02 (manuscript study)

William F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem, 7/99-7/00

Independent Field Research: Northeastern Turkey, 4/00

Independent Field Research: Cyprus, 10/99

Independent Field Research: Italy, Albania, Greece, and Western Turkey, 6/95-8/95
Independent Field Research: Western and Southern Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, and Israel, 3/94-5/94

Professional Memberships