Chris is a Ph.D. candidate in Classics and Religious Studies. His dissertation, supervised by Brad Inwood and Laura Nasrallah, explores intersections between ritual practice and philosophical discourse from the late 5th c. BCE to the 2nd c. CE. The dissertation draws on inscribed ritual objects, papyri, and literary and philosophical texts to explore the interplay between lived religion and philosophical piety across a broad cross-section of society and among Greeks, Romans, Jews, Christians, and Egyptians.
Chris has presented his research at the Society for Classical Studies, the Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions, and the Society of Biblical Literature, and has published articles in journals such as Harvard Theological Review, New Testament Studies, and the Studia Philonica Annual. His presentations and publications have examined Plato and Athenian religious culture; interethnic relations among Jews and Egyptians in Roman Alexandria; conceptions of the soul, cosmos, and divinity between Platonists, Stoics, Jews, and Christians; modes of interpreting sacred texts and scriptures in Jewish and Christian antiquity; ritual incantations, curse tablets, and mystery cults; and self-referentiality and reading practices in New Testament writings.
At Yale he has facilitated the Classics Works in Progress Seminar, the Ancient Judaism Seminar, and the Divinity School Colloquium. His research has been supported by fellowships from Archaia, the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, and the Program in Jewish Studies. He has taught courses on Greek language and literature, medicine and disease in Greco-Roman antiquity, the New Testament and early Christianity, and ancient Judaism.
-
Email: chris.atkins@yale.edu