Jennifer W. Knust, Professor of Religious Studies

Please note: Jennifer has left the "Classical Studies" group at Duke University; some info here might not be up to date.

Jennifer Knust is a scholar of religion who specializes in early Christian history and the religions of the ancient Mediterranean. Author of To Cast the First Stone: The Transmission of a Gospel Story(with Tommy Wasserman, Princeton 2018), Unprotected Texts: The Bible’s Surprising Contradictions about Sex and Desire (HarperONE 2011), and Abandoned to Lust: Sexual Slander and Ancient Christianity (Columbia 2005), she studies early Christian texts, their contexts, and their receptions from multiple angles, with a particular focus on rhetoric and gendered discourse. Her numerous articles, book chapters, and edited books address the materiality of texts, the intersection of Christian practices with other ancient religions, and the ethics of interpretation in ancient as well as contemporary contexts. 

Office Location:
Email Address:

Teaching (Spring 2024):

• RELIGION 101.01, INTRO TO RELIGIOUS STUDIES Synopsis

  Gray 220, MW 03:05 PM-04:20 PM

• RELIGION 156.01, SCRIPTURE Synopsis

  Gray 228, TuTh 11:45 AM-01:00 PM

  (also cross-listed as AMES 138.01, JEWISHST 156.01, MEDREN 175.01)

• RELIGION 101.01, INTRO TO RELIGIOUS STUDIES Synopsis

  Gray 220, TuTh 01:25 PM-02:40 PM

• RELIGION 218.01, LOOT: WHO OWNS THE PAST? Synopsis

  Nasher 105, WF 10:05 AM-11:20 AM

  (also cross-listed as ARTHIST 217.01, CLST 252.01, MEDREN 356.01)

Office Hours:

Tuesdays 12 pm - 2 pm and by appointment

Education:

Ph.D.	Columbia University	2001
M.Phil.	Columbia University	1997
M.Div.	Union Theological Seminary	1991
B.S.	University of Illinois	1988

Keywords:

Muser Mentor

Recent Publications

1. Knust, J, Review of The Body and Desire: Gregory of Nyssa’s Ascetical Theology, by Raphael A. Cadenhead, Journal of Roman Studies, vol. 111 (November, 2021), pp. 338-339, Cambridge University Press [doi]
2. Knust, J; Wasserman, T, Codex Bezae as Repository, in Studies on the Intersection of Text, Paratext, and Reception A Festschrift in Honor of Charles E. Hill, edited by Lanier, GR; Reid, JN (May, 2021), pp. 142-176, BRILL, ISBN 9789004446465  [abs]
3. Knust, J, Review of Beyond Mary or Martha: Reclaiming Ancient Models of Discipleship, by Jennifer S. Wyant, Review of Biblical Literature (July, 2020), Society of Biblical Literature
4. Wright Knust, J, ‘Who Were the Maccabees?’ The Maccabean Martyrs and Performances of Christian Difference, in Martyrdom: Canonization, Contestation, and Afterlives, edited by Willem van Henten, J; Saloul, I (January, 2020), pp. 79-104, Amsterdam University Press [doi]  [abs]
5. Knust, J; Wasserman, T, The Pericope of the Adulteress (John 7:53-8:11): A New Chapter in its Textual Transmission, Svensk Exegetisk Årsbok, vol. 85 (2020), pp. 22-55, Svenska exegetiska sällskapet (Swedish Exegetical Society)