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RESEARCH
INTERESTS & INFLUENCES
By
training I am a New Testament scholar with a special interest in
early Christian social history. Study of early Christian social
history has been marked in recent years by a shift toward study
of its rhetorical strategies and of the role of communication, written
and oral, in its spread. This interest in Christian discourse reflects
the influence of the work of Michel Foucault who is largely responsible
for the recent awareness of the sheer power of discourse in history,
even in societies like the ancient Roman Empire.
More
specifically, I am interested in the ways in which the early Christian
social body defined itself, in part, by its discourse on body issues,
e.g., dress and adornment; sexuality; asceticism; martyrdom; illness;
and the female body as a locus of Christian self-definition. My
interest in this reflects the influence of recent anthropological
and sociological studies of the human body, especially the anthropological
literature on the symbolic and classificatory role of the body (e.g.,
work of Mary Douglas). The value of this literature for early Christian
studies is demonstrated by Peter Brown's now classic The Body
and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity.
Although
the project of Christian self-definition is commonly associated
with the second and third centuries C.E., its beginnings can be
traced in the New Testament. The "Pauline legacy" (the
letters that bear Paul's name in the canon + early non-canonical
works such as the Acts of Paul) provides material with which
to reconstruct early Christian social history and to explore the
role of body issues in Christian discourse. Thus, a number of my
recent research and writing projects have dealt with the Acts
of Paul as well as 1 Cor. 11:2-16.
The
scholarship in which I am engaged, however, is not directed primarily
to fellow scholars. Because I think and teach within a department
of theology, with my teaching responsibilities focused on the New
Testament, I am conscious of and seek to address the needs of the
Church in my teaching and research, with special attention to the
needs of critically thinking women.
Therefore, a significant portion of my research and writing agenda
is, and will continue to be, devoted to "translating"
the results of biblical scholarship for the educated non-specialist
and/or bringing the insights of feminist scholarship to bear upon
our reading of biblical texts. Reflective of that intention, currently
I am working on two projects that reflect my interest in biblical,
and more specifially, Gospel, spirituality (see CURRENT PROJECTS
#1 on the left), as well as a critical analysis, through the lenses
afforded by critical theory, of the gender constructs in Mel Gibson's
popular The Passion of the Christ and their contribution
to a particular version of sacrificial theology that is increasingly
problematic in the eyes of theologians and biblical scholars alike,
particularly in view of Gospel testimony (see CURRENT PROJECTS #2
on the left). My current work on the Gospel of Mark also includes
preparation for a future writing project - a feminist commentary
on Mark in the Wisdom Commentary series (Barbara Reid, general editor),
currently under development by Liturgical Press.
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