Nicole Kelley
Contact Information
Nicole Kelley (Ph.D., Harvard University) joined the Department of Religion faculty in 2003. She teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses on the ancient Mediterranean world and the history of Christianity. Her research focuses on Christian apocryphal literature, ancient conceptions of disability and illness, and religiously inflected “folk theories” of fetal development. Her first book, Knowledge and Religious Authority in the Pseudo-Clementines, argues that the Recognitions is best understood not as a mediocre repository of materials relevant for the study of Christian origins, but rather an important witness to the vibrant and religiously competitive landscape of late antique Syria. She is currently working on an essay about Augustine of Hippo, Christian folk medical theory, and notions of fetal personhood.
Research Interests
Articles
- “The Deformed Child in Ancient Christianity,” in Children in Ancient Christianity, ed. Cornelia B. Horn (Mohr Siebeck, forthcoming).
- “Astrology in the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions,” Journal of Ecclesiastical History 59.4 (2008), 607-629.
- “The Theological Significance of Physical Deformity in the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies,” Perspectives in Religious Studies 34 (2007), 77-90.
- “Philosophy as Training for Death: Reading the Ancient Christian Martyr Acts as Spiritual Exercises,” Church History 75.4 (2006), 723-747.
- “Problems of Knowledge and Authority in the Pseudo-Clementine Romance of Recognitions,” Journal of Early Christian Studies 13.3 (2005), 315-348.
- “The Cosmopolitan Expression of Josephus’ Prophetic Perspective in the Jewish War,” Harvard Theological Review 97.3 (2004) 257-274.
Conference Presentations
- “Epilepsy in Late Antique Christian Writings,” presented at the Disability Studies and Healthcare in the Bible and Near East section, AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, November 2007
- “The Epidemiology of Religion in the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies,” presented at the XV International Conference on Patristic Studies, Oxford UK, August 2007
- “On Recycling Texts and Traditions: The Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions and Religious Life in Fourth-Century Syria,” presented at the colloquium “Late Antique Crossroads in the Levant: Space, Ritual, Texts and Daily Life,” Montreal, Canada, November 2006
- “Pseudo-Clementine Polemics against Sacrifice: A Window onto Religious Life in the Fourth Century?”, presented at the colloquium “Christian Apocryphal Texts for the New Millennium: Achievements, Prospects, and Challenges,” Ottawa, Canada, September-October 2006
- “What is the Value of Sense Perception in the Pseudo-Clementine Romance?”, presented at the Colloquium on the Pseudo-Clementine Romance, Lausanne and Geneva, Switzerland, July-August 2006
- “Astrological Knowledge and Apostolic Competition: The Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions in the Context of Fourth-Century Syria,” presented at the Christian Apocrypha Section, AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, November 2005
