Late Antiquity Friends: Came across a curious detail in Martyrdom Victor. Angels wrap Victor's soul in a fine-linen-cloth before ascent. Do you know of other examples? "ⲁϥⲛⲁⲩ ⲉⲧⲉⲯⲩⲭⲏ ⲛⲁⲡⲁ ⲃⲓⲕⲧⲱⲣ ⲉⲁⲩⲥⲟⲩⲉⲗⲟⲩⲱⲗⲥ ϩⲛϩⲉⲛⲙⲁⲡⲡⲁ ⲛϣⲛⲥ/He saw that they wrapped the soul of Apa Victor in a linen cloth"(89.8)

I'm so excited about the work the Crossroads Project fellows have done and hope you will check out the new projects and teaching resource.

New pod! Mike interviews Tina Shepardson about A Memory of Violence: Syriac Christianity and the Radicalization of Religious Difference in Late Antiquity. Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n... Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/0HyD...

New pod! Matthew D. C. Larsen and Mark Letteney on Ancient Mediterranean Incarceration You can now subscribe to the show too. Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m... Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2Vys...

You can now download the book on the publisher's website: press.umich.edu/Books/P/Publ... (open access of course)

"The academic career is framed as a privileged but high-risk venture that ppl knowingly choose to embark on so they must endure the consequences or find a way to cope, thus obscuring deliberate adoption of biz models that [deprioritize] investment in staff + render large sections of the workforce 🗑️"

🐣 Our SBL Review Symposium for Mike Chin’s new monograph “Life” has just been published with Religious Studies Review 51/2. Have a look here, especially if you are interested in ancient natural history or new ways of writing old history: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/17480922...

Xenia Chan brings a decolonial lens to The Prophetic Body: "The task ahead in repairing the violence done by the dualistic mind/body hierarchy—and especially the notion of some bodies and their worth as superior/inferior—is not simply an individual task, but a communal one."

This Week in Teaching Religion + Sexuality: Laying out some key terms and a brief history of the study of sexuality. Using snippets of Gayle Rubin and Evelynn Hammonds to help define some core questions about how to study sex/uality and religion.

This Week in Teaching Wo/men + Bible: Diving into gender roles and households in Ancient Israelite contexts as well as interrogating personal assumptions about the past with the help of Carol Meyers and the Trans Biblical podcast.

Today in Teaching Intro to Religions: Diving into imperialism + religion. Did a close reading of Inter Caetera + thinking re: power and maps with @mpgphd.bsky.social and @profirmf.bsky.social 's amazing Religion is Not Done with You. Grateful for their making complex ideas so approachable/teachable

New podcast! Mike Motia interviews Walter Scheidel about his book, What Is Ancient History? @princetonupress.bsky.social newbooksnetwork.com/what-is-anci...

Delighted to share my @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social interview with wonderful Dr. Mariam Ayad about their work on Coptic heritage and the edited volume Coptic Culture and Community. newbooksnetwork.com/coptic-cultu...

Delighted to share my @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social interview with wonderful Dr. Mariam Ayad about their work on Coptic heritage and the edited volume Coptic Culture and Community. newbooksnetwork.com/coptic-cultu...

New Books in Late Antiquity episode! Lydia Bremer-McCollum discusses Coptic Culture and Community: Daily Lives, Changing Times with author Mariam Ayad. newbooksnetwork.com/coptic-cultu...

First day of classes @Spelman! Already tripped and fell fully on my back/ass in front of my first intro to religion class. Off to a great start, clearly!

Biblical scholar oriented friends; I inherited an out-dated course on Women and the Bible. Crowdsourcing your your favorite things (readings, units, learning activities, written assignments etc.) for undergrads on the subject of gender, wo/men, trans and queer approaches, and the bible?

congratulations to @lcbmphd.bsky.social & @lsnasrallah.bsky.social! details here: www.acls.org/fellow-grant... www.acls.org/fellow-grant...

It's publication day for the Pearlsong! Syriac and two Greek texts, each w/ Eng. tr., + glossaries and commentary. Just $40! The paper, cover & jacket, and printing are fabulous! If you read it, I hope you have as much fun with it as I did writing it!

It's not too late to sign up for this summer Coptic course! www.religiondepartment.com/coptic Begins July 8th. Available Asynch. or Synch. Lectures live Tuesdays at 10:00am Atlanta/EDT (3:00pm London/BST, 4:00pm Amsterdam/Zurich/CEST, 5:00pm Cairo/EEST, and 12:00am July 9th Australia/AEST).

It's not too late to sign up for this summer Coptic course! www.religiondepartment.com/coptic Begins July 8th. Available Asynch. or Synch. Lectures live Tuesdays at 10:00am Atlanta/EDT (3:00pm London/BST, 4:00pm Amsterdam/Zurich/CEST, 5:00pm Cairo/EEST, and 12:00am July 9th Australia/AEST).

Starting in a few days on July 8!

A text-based intro to Coptic later this summer. If you want to start learning Coptic, especially if you're into the Gospel of Thomas, check it out!

It's the summer for starting Coptic!

$175 for an 8-week Intro Coptic course! All learners welcome! www.religiondepartment.com/coptic

$175 for 8-week Coptic course focused on learning to read the Gospel of Thomas. Access to weekly 90-minute lecture (available synchronous or asynch.), learning materials authored by me, and weekly office hours. #Coptic #DigitalPhilology #NagHammadi #Apocrypha #BiblicalStudies

Absolutely ecstatic to announce that we here at Religion for Breakfast are offering an online Intro to Coptic class...using the Gospel of Thomas as the primary text! Taught by the amazing scholar of early Christianity Dr. Lydia Bremer-McCollum. Learn more here: www.religiondepartment.com/coptic

Come learn Coptic an affordable cost! You will learn the basics of how to read and learn the language via a corpus-based approach. Come for the Gospel of Thomas! Stay for the more open access philology! All learners welcome!

New Books in Late Antiquity episode! Mike Motia interviews Stefanie Lenk about her book, Roman Identity and Lived Religion: Baptismal Art in Late Antiquity. newbooksnetwork.com/roman-identi...

Are you a scholar of religion with a passion for public scholarship? Want to share your work with an enthusiastic, global audience hungry for deeper learning? We’re inviting scholars to give lectures in a live Zoom series hosted by Religion for Breakfast. More here! docs.google.com/document/d/1...

🎺 Syriac reading group 🎺 • Wednesday, 11am-12 (UTC-4 / EST) on Zoom • now reading the De Mundo (ps-Arist.) • beginning Syriac students welcome • contact me for link or more info

Compiled a list of Sahidic Coptic animal names to teach and review the alphabet and provide some pronunciation practice.🦊🐫🦇🦥🦆🐊🐜🦅🦂🐝🦗🦈🐟🐕🐉 docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Compiled a list of Sahidic Coptic animal names to teach and review the alphabet and provide some pronunciation practice.🦊🐫🦇🦥🦆🐊🐜🦅🦂🐝🦗🦈🐟🐕🐉 docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

ⲙⲁⲁⲩ ⲛⲁϥ ⲛⲉⲃⲓⲱ = "queen bee" in Sahidic. (although literally, "mother of honey flies" which is much more Daenerys Targaryen imo) ++ Queen bees are also how they solved/re-hived the 250million bees that escaped in WA this week. www.youtube.com/watch?v=--wv...)

Turkish cezve (جزوه) < Arabic /ǧaḏwa/ جذوة "firebrand" (i.e. a stick with burning embers at one end)

Adjuncting online for an R1 this summer. I am supposed to start THIS Monday but the institution has failed to provide me with the final offer letter, access to institutional tech (including zoom, the classroom). The response so far = "that must be so stressful for you."

Want to learn more about Coptic, vernacular religion in late ancient Egypt, and the category of magic? Check out my latest interview with expert Dr. Korshi Dosoo! 🔽🔽🔽

Want to learn more about Coptic, vernacular religion in late ancient Egypt, and the category of magic? Check out my latest interview with expert Dr. Korshi Dosoo! 🔽🔽🔽

I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing Dr. Korshi Dosoo about their incredible expertise on Coptic magic! Grateful for this fun/clear convo about ancient magic! Thanks to @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social + @ancientjewreview.bsky.social! Check out the episode ⬇️ newbooksnetwork.com/papyri-copti...

I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing Dr. Korshi Dosoo about their incredible expertise on Coptic magic! Grateful for this fun/clear convo about ancient magic! Thanks to @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social + @ancientjewreview.bsky.social! Check out the episode ⬇️ newbooksnetwork.com/papyri-copti...

This Friday I'm doing a short Zoom workshop on adjectives in Syriac. Join us if you want to get to know adjective forms & functions in Syriac, the most frequently met adjectives, and a list of opposites – or just to read lots of fun phrases from Syriac literature! More details 👇

Happening today ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ DM for questions/access!

Highly recommend watching all the way through for Joni. The facial reaction of the person next to Queen Joni at 0:53 is also hilarious.

Delighted to share the beautiful cover for our volume, Towards An Accessible Academy: Perspectives from Disabled Medievalists, edited by Alexandra R. A. Lee, E. R. P. Champion, and me. Coming soon from @mip-medpub.bsky.social for the Premodern Transgressive Literatures series ✨

ⲛⲕⲉⲥⲧⲱⲛⲁⲣⲓⲟⲥ ⲇⲉ ⲁⲩϭⲱⲡⲉ ⲛⲁⲡⲁ ⲃⲓⲕⲧⲱⲣ ⲛϩⲟⲩⲛ ⲛⲧⲉϥⲣⲓ ⲉⲣⲉϩⲉⲛⲑⲁⲣⲙⲟⲩⲥ ϩⲛⲧⲉϥϭⲓϫ ⲉϥⲟⲩⲱⲙ ⲁⲡⲁ ⲃⲓⲕⲧⲱⲣ ⲇⲉ ⲁϥⲛⲉϫⲛⲧϩⲁⲣⲙⲟⲩⲥ ⲉⲡⲉⲥⲏⲧ ⲉⲡϣⲟⲩϣⲧ//The police came to arrest Apa Victor in his cell where he was snacking on some Lupini beans in his hand. And Apa Victor chucked the beans out the window! (Mar. Victor 6.63.3-4)

New Books in Late Antiquity episode! Mike Motia interviews Andrew Griebeler about his book, Botanical Icons: Critical Practices of Illustration in the Premodern Mediterranean. newbooksnetwork.com/botanical-ic...

//Coptic Reading Group// Meets Mondays @ 10:00am Atlanta, GA | 5:00pm Cairo | 4:00pm Amsterdam/Zurich | 3:00pm London | 7:00am Seattle (sorry!) Reading Martyrdom of Victor via annotated text @copticscript.bsky.social Picking up 5/12 Part 6 Chapter 59: data.copticscriptorium.org/texts/victor...

So inspiring to see so many of my students bursting with enthusiasm re: how relevant religion is to understanding the(ir) worlds--reading op-eds about immigration, a presentation on popes, the news, and Conclave, + a deep dive into legacies of colonialism and African spiritual traditions/Sinners.

"Moves too much while teaching" = feedback I have been getting since undergrad. Really not sure how to stop that. I do note a serious dip in steps/class (2-3k) on days when I do a "serious" class session and sit. Maybe I start choreographing lectures and just really go for it?

Thrilled to announce that I was awarded an ACLS Project Development Grant for my first book project The Book at the Limits of Christian Materiality. Extremely grateful for the @acls1919.bsky.social and the financial support to finally publish this project! www.acls.org/fellow-grant...