Jennifer W. Knust
745 Commonwealth Ave.
Boston, MA 02215
T: 617.358.4222; F: 617.353.3061
Spring 2010 Office Hours: Mon 9:00-10:00,
Wed 1:00-3:00, or by appointment

Jennifer Knust joined the faculty of BU in the fall of 2005. Professor Knust is a specialist in the literature and history of ancient Christianity with a particular interest in the transmission and reception of sacred texts and in the importance of gendered discourses to the production of an early Christian identity. In the College of Arts and Sciences, she teaches courses on the history Christianity, women and religion, and in the Core Curriculum. After earning her PhD from Columbia University in 2001 and before joining the BU faculty, she taught at the College of the Holy Cross and held fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute, the American Council of Learned Societies and the National Endowment for the Humanities (2003-2004). Her book Abandoned to Lust: Sexual Slander and Ancient Christianity (Columbia University Press, 2005) examines the use of sexualized invective by Christian authors from Paul to Irenaeus of Lyons, placing these charges within broad discursive and political contexts. Author of several essays and journal articles, she has written on the transmission of the Gospels, ancient views of sexuality, theories of sacrifice, and religious violence. Her current projects include an inter-disciplinary volume on sacrifice in the ancient Mediterranean (edited with Zsuzsanna Varhélyi, Department of Classical Studies), a detailed study of the transmission of the story of the woman taken in adultery (John 7:53-8:11), and a consideration of the contradictory presentation of sexual ethics within the biblical books.

Complete CV

Click here for Prof. Knust's School of Theology web page.

Courses Taught

CAS/GRS
CC 102 Core Humanities II
RN 224 Women and Religion
RN 301/601 Varieties of Ancient Christianity

STH
TN 721 Introduction to the New Testament
TN 723 New Testament Greek I
TN 724 New Testament Greek II
TN 803 Jesus in the Gospels
TN 804 The Christian Bible: A History
TN 816 Greek Reading
TH 817 Varieties of Ancient Christianity
TN 825 Gender and the Family in Ancient Christianity
TN 920 New Testament Seminar (Gender and Christian Origins)