Research Interests:
Research in Progress:
Ph.D. Research:
Dissertation Title: Framing Social Criticism in the Jesus Movement: The Ideological Project in the Sayings Gospel Q
MA Research:
My Masters degree was completed in one year, during which I took 5 courses each semester (3 graduate seminars, plus Greek and Coptic languages). My research focused on Christian Origins, under the supervision of Dr. Willi Braun. My thesis abstract is the following:
Relevant Graduate Course Work:
MA Graduate Seminars:
Method and Theory in the Study of Religion
Hagiography
Graeco-Roman Religions
Historiography
Directed Reading: Early Christian Forms (Emphasis on the Q Document in Galilee)
Directed Reading: Jewish/Early Christian Relations
PhD Graduate Seminars:
Method and Theory in the Study of Religion (year-long course)
The Synoptic Problem
Hellenistic Jewish Thought
James and Hellenistic Wisdom
Judaism and Christianity in Postcolonial Context
Languages:
The Centre for the Study of Religion (University of Toronto) requires its doctoral students to pass its own internal language exams that emphasize reading knowledge. I have been tested on and passed both biblical Greek and German. In addition, I have studied Sahidic Coptic for one year at University of Alberta under the direction of James Hoch. I also have basic reading knowledge of French and Spanish.
Archaeology:
In 2010, I participated in the archaeological dig at Bethsaida, Israel. This experience was invaluable for understanding the social setting of Palestine in the first century. I hope to have the opportunity to do this again.
- Primary: Christians Origins, Hellenistic Judaism, Social History of Early Christianity, the Synoptic Gospels, Graeco-Roman Associations, Ancient Scribalism, Documentary Papyri, Social Theories of Religion, Literacy and Religion, Socio-Economic Dimensions of Early Christianity, Conflict in the Bible
- Secondary: Sociological Theory, Cultural Conflict, Postcolonial Theory, Contemporary Historical Jesus Research
Research in Progress:
Ph.D. Research:
Dissertation Title: Framing Social Criticism in the Jesus Movement: The Ideological Project in the Sayings Gospel Q
- My research brings together my topical interest in early Christianity with my interest in the sociological formation of new religious traditions in their historical contexts. This means attending closely to the historical conditions of both urban and rural context of the Roman Empire and asking questions about Christianity that are relevant to all new social movements. My dissertation takes as its starting point the typical construction of the rural Palestinian Jesus movement as a movement that appeals largely to the Galilean peasantry. Although peasant concerns do indeed seem to be embedded in the Sayings Gospel Q (the object of my analysis), the overall form and content of the document better reflect authors with scribal training. Other than suggesting that Q’s authors might have experienced abrupt socio-economic changes in the early first-century Galilee, no one has offered a sociological defensible explanation for why the Q scribes created a text that aligned their interests with those of the peasantry—it is too often assumed that the message of the gospel was simply persuasive enough on its own to attract followers. This latter assumption overlooks the ideological work involved in synthesizing the sayings of Jesus in such a way that they appealed to different groups of people. By considering cross-cultural examples of popular movements and their organizers, I showed in my dissertation that there are persuasive explanations for why the Q scribes would produce a text such as Q, which adopts a rhetoric of marginality and poverty—something the peasantry would have no doubt experienced—in order to accomplish social criticism. In particular, middling figures such as scribes, who are often marked by status ambiguity or other socio-economic instability, are frequently sources of creativity and innovation in societies, and are usually the ones with the skills to articulate the concerns of subordinate peoples. Indeed, it is they whom we see most often as the visible reformers in new social movements.
MA Research:
My Masters degree was completed in one year, during which I took 5 courses each semester (3 graduate seminars, plus Greek and Coptic languages). My research focused on Christian Origins, under the supervision of Dr. Willi Braun. My thesis abstract is the following:
- The Sayings Gospel, also known as Q, appears to be the product of a group drawn from the scribal sector of Galilee. Building upon the most current reconstructions of first-century Galilee, this thesis examines textual evidence in Q and argues for the authors' familiarity with urban centres and activities in the region. This familiarity and engagement with the urban sphere is explained well by the socio-economic reconstruction of Galilee. Despite their familiarity, the Q people's attitudes and the social program that they advance express hostility and suspicion towards aspects of the urban environment. In addition, modern reconstructions of Galilee, which are used to explain Q's rhetoric, seem to be related to presuppositions about the beginnings of Galilean Christianity. It is argued that Q in its Galilean setting must be disentangled from modern assumptions about Christian origins and Jesus in order to understand the setting of Q, and it is furthermore hoped that Q may be taken as independent evidence for first-century Galilee. (Theses Canada online)
Relevant Graduate Course Work:
MA Graduate Seminars:
Method and Theory in the Study of Religion
Hagiography
Graeco-Roman Religions
Historiography
Directed Reading: Early Christian Forms (Emphasis on the Q Document in Galilee)
Directed Reading: Jewish/Early Christian Relations
PhD Graduate Seminars:
Method and Theory in the Study of Religion (year-long course)
The Synoptic Problem
Hellenistic Jewish Thought
James and Hellenistic Wisdom
Judaism and Christianity in Postcolonial Context
Languages:
The Centre for the Study of Religion (University of Toronto) requires its doctoral students to pass its own internal language exams that emphasize reading knowledge. I have been tested on and passed both biblical Greek and German. In addition, I have studied Sahidic Coptic for one year at University of Alberta under the direction of James Hoch. I also have basic reading knowledge of French and Spanish.
Archaeology:
In 2010, I participated in the archaeological dig at Bethsaida, Israel. This experience was invaluable for understanding the social setting of Palestine in the first century. I hope to have the opportunity to do this again.