Candida R. Moss | |
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Born | London, England | 26 November 1978
Title | Edward Cadbury Professor of Theology |
Spouse | Justin Foa (m. 2018) |
Awards | American Academy of Arts and Sciences |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | |
Doctoral advisor | Adela Yarbro Collins |
Academic work | |
Discipline | |
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Institutions |
Candida R. Moss FRHistS (born 26 November 1978) is an English public intellectual, journalist, [1] New Testament scholar and historian of Christianity, and as of 2017, the Edward Cadbury Professor of Theology in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Birmingham. A graduate of Oxford and Yale universities, Moss specialises in the study of the New Testament, with a focus on the subject of martyrdom in early Christianity, [2] as well as other topics from the New Testament and early Church History. She is the winner of a number of awards for her research and writing and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Moss was born on 26 November 1978 in London, England. She graduated from Oxford University in 2000 with a B.A. in theology, [3] [4] a degree taken with Honors at Worcester College. [4] In 2002, she received a Master of Arts in Religion (M.A.R.) in Biblical studies from Yale Divinity School. [5] Moss graduated from Yale University in 2006 with an M.A. and an M.Phil in New Testament, following this by a PhD in the same field in 2008. [5] Her doctoral advisor was Adela Yarbro Collins. [6]
Moss began her career at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, and became a full professor there in 2012, four years after receiving her PhD from Yale. [5] As of August 2017, [7] Moss had joined the faculty of the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Birmingham as Edward Cadbury Professor of Theology. [7] She is also a research associate at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University. [8]
Moss has specialized in the study of martyrdom, ancient medicine and the New Testament, early Christian ideas about the resurrection of Jesus's physical body, and enslaved literate workers in the ancient world. [9]
Moss has written three books on martyrdom. Her writing on this subject has been praised for its "readability, clarity...creativity, thoughtfulness, and wit." [10] She was the recipient of The John Templeton Award of Theological Promise in 2011, which cited her 2010 OUP book, The Other Christs: Imitating Jesus in Ancient Christian Ideologies of Martyrdom. [11] Her 2012 book, Ancient Christian Martyrdom, argued that post-Enlightenment bias against martyrdom had led scholars to think of martyrdom as a phenomenon that spread from one region of the Roman empire to another; against this, Moss argues that martyrdom developed differently in different contexts. [12] Her controversial 2013 book, The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom, argues that the stories of early Christian martyrdom "have been altered ... edited and shaped by later generations of Christians" and none of them are "completely historically accurate"; [13] she additionally maintains that the Roman authorities did not actively seek out or target Christians and that in the first three centuries of Christian history, Christians were only prosecuted by order of a Roman emperor for a brief period (no more than twelve years). [14] In a review published in 2013 focusing on her first two books, Edinburgh classicist Lucy Grig wrote that "Candida Moss has swiftly established herself as one of the most interesting and original scholars working on early Christian martyrdom." [2]
Moss is well known as one of the first scholars to study the role and relevance of disability and ancient medicine in the New Testament. In 2011 she co-edited Disability Studies and Biblical Studies with Jeremy Schipper and, in 2015, co-authored Reconciling Infertility: Biblical Perspectives on Procreation and Childlessness with Yale Divinity School professor of Hebrew Bible Joel Baden. The latter was shortlisted by the American Academy of Religion for its Book Prize for Textual Studies. [15] Her 2019 book Divine Bodies: Resurrecting Perfection in the New Testament and Early Christianity argued that disability might be preserved in the resurrection.
In 2017 Moss and Baden collaborated on a second book on Bible Nation: The United States of Hobby Lobby, which examined the efforts of the Green family, the owners of Hobby Lobby to influence religion and politics in America. The book grew out of their role exposing antiquities trafficking and the Hobby Lobby smuggling scandal. The New Republic described the book as "Exhaustively reported and scrupulously fair". [16] The Washington Post called it a "remarkable fusion of biblical studies and investigative journalism." [17] It was named one of Publishers Weekly's 2017 Best Books in Religion.
Moss's most recent work has focussed on Slavery in Ancient Rome and the ways in which enslaved secretaries, scribes, readers, and copyists contributed to the writing of the New Testament and the dissemination of early Christianity. After publishing several peer-reviewed articles in the Studies in Late Antiquity, the Journal of Theological Studies, and New Testament Studies, Moss published God's Ghostwriters: Enslaved Christians and the Making of the Bible with Little, Brown and Company in 2024. The book received widespread attention in as a paradigm-shifting book. The Irish Independent called it ""A tour de force" and "an intellectual triumph." [18] The Spectator wrote that Moss's "massive achievement is to shift the paradigm and tell the early Christian story (as far as is possible) from the perspective of the enslaved." [19] The New York Times Book Review concluded that the book made "it impossible to ignore the labor between the lines.” [20] And the Wall Street Journal described it as "by far the best account we have of the roles by enslaved people in supporting the high literary culture of the ancient world more broadly." [21] It added that "No one can possibly doubt, after reading this vigorous and provocative book, that the whole texture of Christian thought would have looked very different without them." At the same time, some reviewers took issue with Moss's use of Saidiya Hartman's methods of critical fabulation and criticized the speculative nature of some of her arguments. The book was distinctive as the first work of ancient history written for the general public to be published with a companion website containing thousands of additional endnotes and references. [22]
According to a report “Updated Science-wide Author Databases of Standardized Citation Indicators,” released by the global information analytics company Elsevier on October 4, 2023, Moss is among the 2% most cited science authors in the world. [23] In his 2024 endorsement for God's Ghostwriters, New York Times bestselling-author Reza Aslan described Moss as "the most compelling voice in Biblical Scholarship" [24] On his blog Variant Readings, Manuscript expert Brent Nongbri described it as "probably the most important book in New Testament studies written in the last half century." [25]
Moss is a columnist for The Daily Beast . [26] She has written for the Los Angeles Times , [27] Politico , [28] The New York Times , [29] BBC Online, TIME, [30] CNN.com, [31] The Washington Post , [32] HuffPost , The Chronicle of Higher Education , [33] America and the Times Higher Education Supplement. [34]
In January 2015, Moss and her coauthor Joel Baden were the first to reveal the Hobby Lobby smuggling scandal to the public when they wrote about the company's import of illicitly obtained cuneiform tablets for the Daily Beast. [35]
Moss has served as papal news contributor for CBS News, [36] and contributed to the BBC Radio 4's In Our Time. [37] She was an academic consultant to the television series The Bible, [38] and an on-air expert and host for National Geographic Explorer, [39] as well as for the History, Travel, [40] and Smithsonian [41] Channels.
Moss is an advocate for public academic scholarship. In a 2022 article for data-based website Academic Influence, Moss topped the list of the ten most influential women in religious studies in that last ten years. [42]
Awards
Endowed Lectures
Moss is a kidney transplant recipient. [54] She is a Roman Catholic. [55] She is the daughter of journalist, political speech writer, and best-selling author Robert Moss. [56] Moss's mother, Katrina Elizabeth Wise, died in 2005. [57]
In April 2018, she married Justin Foa, the President and CEO of Foa & Son, an international insurance brokerage firm established in 1861. [56] Moss's brother-in-law is Barrett Foa, a singer, dancer, and actor who portrayed Eric Beale on the military police procedural NCIS: Los Angeles . [58] Moss has two stepsons, Max and Luke. In an article published on Mother's Day 2022 Moss said of them that she "did not think anyone could love any child more than I love the boys." [59]
The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Israelites. The second division of Christian Bibles is the New Testament, written in Koine Greek.
Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible. For its theory and methods, the field draws on disciplines ranging from ancient history, historical criticism, philology, theology, textual criticism, literary criticism, historical backgrounds, mythology, and comparative religion.
The Pauline epistles, also known as Epistles of Paul or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen books of the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle, although the authorship of some is in dispute. Among these epistles are some of the earliest extant Christian documents. They provide an insight into the beliefs and controversies of early Christianity. As part of the canon of the New Testament, they are foundational texts for both Christian theology and ethics.
Scott Walker Hahn is an American Catholic theologian and Christian apologist. A former Protestant, Hahn was a Presbyterian minister who converted to Catholicism. Hahn's popular works include Rome Sweet Home and The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth. His lectures have been featured in multiple audio distributions through Lighthouse Catholic Media. Hahn is known for his research on Early Christianity during the Apostolic Age and various theoretical works concerning the early Church Fathers.
Criticism of Christianity has a long history which stretches back to the initial formation of the religion in the Roman Empire. Critics have challenged Christian beliefs and teachings as well as Christian actions, from the Crusades to modern terrorism. The arguments against Christianity include the suppositions that it is a faith of violence, corruption, superstition, polytheism, homophobia, bigotry, pontification, abuses of women's rights and sectarianism.
Tikva Simone Frymer-Kensky was a professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School. She received her MA and PhD from Yale University. She had previously served on the faculties of Wayne State University, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Yale University, Ben Gurion University, and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where she served as director of Biblical studies.
Criticism of the Bible refers to a variety of criticisms of the Bible, the collection of religious texts held to be sacred by Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and other Abrahamic religions. Criticisms of the Bible often concern the text’s factual accuracy, moral tenability, and supposed inerrancy claimed by biblical literalists. There remain questions of biblical authorship and what material to include in the biblical canon.
Bart Denton Ehrman is an American New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. He has written and edited 30 books, including three college textbooks. He has also authored six New York Times bestsellers. He is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Harold William Attridge is an American New Testament scholar and historian of Christianity best known for his work in New Testament exegesis, especially the Epistle to the Hebrews, the study of Hellenistic Judaism, and the history of early Christianity. He is a Sterling Professor of Divinity at Yale University, where he served as Dean of the Divinity School from 2002 to 2012.
Luke Timothy Johnson is an American Catholic New Testament scholar and historian of early Christianity. He is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Candler School of Theology and a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University.
Christians were persecuted throughout the Roman Empire, beginning in the 1st century AD and ending in the 4th century. Originally a polytheistic empire in the traditions of Roman paganism and the Hellenistic religion, as Christianity spread through the empire, it came into ideological conflict with the imperial cult of ancient Rome. Pagan practices such as making sacrifices to the deified emperors or other gods were abhorrent to Christians as their beliefs prohibited idolatry. The state and other members of civic society punished Christians for treason, various rumored crimes, illegal assembly, and for introducing an alien cult that led to Roman apostasy. The first, localized Neronian persecution occurred under Emperor Nero in Rome. A number of mostly localized persecutions occurred during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. After a lull, persecution resumed under Emperors Decius and Trebonianus Gallus. The Decian persecution was particularly extensive. The persecution of Emperor Valerian ceased with his notable capture by the Sasanian Empire's Shapur I at the Battle of Edessa during the Roman–Persian Wars. His successor, Gallienus, halted the persecutions.
Jon Douglas Levenson is an American Hebrew Bible scholar who is the Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies at the Harvard Divinity School.
Dennis Ronald MacDonald is the John Wesley Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at the Claremont School of Theology in California. MacDonald proposes a theory wherein the earliest books of the New Testament were responses to the Homeric Epics, including the Gospel of Mark and the Acts of the Apostles. The methodology he pioneered is called Mimesis Criticism. If his theories are correct then "nearly everything written on [the] early Christian narrative is flawed." According to him, modern biblical scholarship has failed to recognize the impact of Homeric Poetry.
Larry Weir Hurtado, was an American New Testament scholar, historian of early Christianity, and Emeritus Professor of New Testament Language, Literature, and Theology at the University of Edinburgh (1996–2011). He was the head of the School of Divinity from 2007 to 2010, and was until August 2011 Director of the Centre for the Study of Christian Origins at the University of Edinburgh.
Loren T. Stuckenbruck is a historian of early Christianity and Second Temple Judaism, currently professor of New Testament at the University of Munich, in Germany. His work has exerted a significant impact on the field.
Adela Yarbro Collins is an American author and academic, who served as the Buckingham Professor of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation at Yale Divinity School. Her research focuses on the New Testament, especially the Gospel of Mark and the Book of Revelation. She has also written on the reception of the Pauline epistles, early Christian apocalypticism, and ancient eschatology.
The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom is a 2013 book by Candida Moss, an award-winning historian and professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of Notre Dame. Prior to the writing of this book Moss had published two other works on early Christian martyrdom. In her book, Moss advances the thesis that:
Frederick Clifton Grant was an American New Testament scholar. Grant was born on February 2, 1891, in Beloit, Wisconsin. He received a Bachelor of Divinity degree from General Theological Seminary in 1912 and Master of Sacred Theology and Doctor of Theology degrees from Western Theological Seminary in 1916 and 1922 respectively. As dean of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, he was "intellectual leader" of a campaign to liberalize divorce canons in the Episcopal Church. Grant was Edward Robertson Professor of Biblical Theology at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City. In 1951, a Festschrift was published in his honor. The Joy of Study: Papers on New Testament and Related Subjects Presented to Honor Frederick Clifton Grant included contributions from Henry Cadbury, Philip Carrington, and Robert M. Grant.
James Frank McGrath is the Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University. He is known for his work on Early Christianity, Mandaeism, criticism of the Christ myth theory, and the analysis of religion in science fiction. McGrath received his Ph.D. from Durham University in 1998.
Christian persecution complex is the belief, attitude, or world view that Christian values and Christians are being oppressed by social groups and governments in the Western world. This belief is promoted by certain American Protestant churches, and some Christian- or Bible-based groups in Europe. It has been called the "Evangelical", "American Christian" or "Christian right" persecution complex.
Reviewed Works: The Other Christs: Imitating Jesus in Ancient Christian Ideologies of Martyrdom by Moss, Candida; Ancient Christian Martyrdom: Diverse Practices, Theologies, and Traditions by Moss, Candida.
Candida R. Moss... Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity/Biblical Studies/Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity/History of Christianity/Education/ 2008 Ph.D., Yale University (New Testament) / 2004 M.A., M.Phil., Yale University (New Testament) / 2002 M.A.R., Yale Divinity School (Biblical Studies) / 2000 B.A. University of Oxford (Theology).
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ignored (help)Myth of Persecution I wrote when I taught at the University of Notre Dame, which as you know is a very Catholic institution, and it was written during the Obama years and at the time I was hearing a lot from my fellow Catholics at Notre Dame about how Christians were under attack in the United States just like they always had been since the beginning.