UMass Boston

Jason von Ehrenkrook, Department Chairman, Classics and Religious Studies

Jason von Ehrenkrook

Department:
Classics & Religious Studies
Title:
Department Chair
Phone:

Biography

Jason von Ehrenkrook’s research interests are broad, ranging from the boundaries of religious identity in the ancient Mediterranean world to the reception of the Bible in contemporary culture. He is currently working on two books examining the use of the Bible in U.S. politics.

Area of Expertise

Greco-Roman Judaism, Roman Near East, Christian Origins, Biblical Studies, Reception of the Bible, Gender and Sexuality

Degrees

PhD, The University of Michigan (2009)

Professional Publications & Contributions

SELECT PUBLICATIONS

  • "The Inaugural Bible: Presidential Rhetoric and the Politics of Scripture." Journal of the Bible and its Reception 7 (2020): 205-240.
  • "The Astronomical Book [Enoch]." In The Textual History of the Bible: Deutero-Canonical Texts (ed. Armin Lange). Brill, 2019.
  • "Christian Paideia and the Politics of Empire in Eunapius' Vitae Sophistarum." Pages 593-604 in Wisdom Poured Out Like Water: Studies on Jewish and Christian Antiquity in Honor of Gabriele Boccaccini (ed. Jason von Ehrenkrook et al.). De Gruyter, 2018.
  • “Christians, Pagans, and the Politics of Paideia in Late Antiquity.” Pages 255-266 in Second Temple Jewish Paideia in Context (ed. J. M. Zurawski and G. Boccaccini). De Gruyter, 2017.
  • “The Afterlife in Philo and Josephus.” Pages 97-118 in Heaven, Hell, and the Afterlife: Eternity in Judaism, Christianity and Islam (ed. J. Harold Ellens; vol. 1). Praeger, 2013.
  • “The Specter of Judeo-Christianity and the Politics of Gender Deviancy: From St. Paul of Tarsus to St. Paul, MN.” Relegere: Studies in Religion and Reception 2.2 (2012): 253-63.
  • Sculpting Idolatry in Flavian Rome: (An)Iconic Rhetoric in the Writings of Flavius Josephus. Society of Biblical Literature/Brill, 2011.
  • “Effeminacy in the Shadow of Empire: The Politics of Transgressive Gender in Flavius Josephus.” The Jewish Quarterly Review 101 (2011): 145–63.
  • “Image and Desire in the Wisdom of Solomon.” Zutot: Perspectives on Jewish Culture 7 (2011): 41–50.
  • “Sculpture, Space and the Poetics of Idolatry in Josephus’ Bellum Judaicum.” Journal for the Study of Judaism 38 (2008): 170–91.

Additional Information

COURSES TAUGHT

  • RELSTY 109 Symbol, Myth, Ritual: Cultural Studies in Religion
  • RELSTY 110 Religions of Boston
  • RELSTY 125 Jerusalem: Sacred Space, Contested Space
  • RELSTY 220 Myth in the Ancient Near East
  • RELSTY 241 Myth, History, Prophecy: The Old Testament
  • RELSTY 242 Origins of Christianity
  • RELSTY 310  Apocalypse and the End of the World
  • GREEK 211 Intermediate Greek I
  • GREEK 222 Intermediate Greek II