Welcome!
I am an associate professor of history at the University of California, Santa Cruz, specializing in the religions and cultures of the ancient Near East.
My research explores the literary world of Judaism and Christianity, and the afterlives of ancient texts, particularly sectarian texts, and various works labeled apocrypha or heresy. In my first book The Crucified Book: Sacred Writing in the Age of Valentinus, I analyze texts from the Nag Hammadi corpus in the context of ancient Jewish and Greco-Roman Culture.
Currently, I am working on a project, Dead Sea Revivals, which examines restorationist groups from antiquity to the present who find faith in the non-canonical past. Why do the scrolls, a collection of ancient Jewish apocalyptic writings, continue to inspire modern believers? More information is available here.
I welcome inquiries from prospective graduate students interested in the reception history of the ancient Near East, restorationism, and the religious nones.