As of July 1st, 2007, I will joining the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania as an Assistant Professor. I will also be spending 2007/2008 as a Fellow in Penn's Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, as part of their project on Jewish and other Imperial Cultures in Late Antiquity: Literary, Social, and Material Histories. Since 2003, I have been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at McMaster University, where I taught courses on the Hebrew Bible, early Judaism, and early Christianity.

My research interests span the fields of Biblical Studies, Jewish Studies, and Patristics. Particular areas of concern include the relationships between Judaism, Christianity, and Greco-Roman culture; the reception of Second Temple Jewish traditions in late antique Judaism and Christianity; and the overlaps, ambiguities, and fluidity between Jewish and Christian identities in Late Antiquity. In much of my work, I have approached these issues through a focus on biblical interpretation (esp. of Genesis) -- broadly construed to include, not only the practice of exegesis, but also the composition and reception of parabiblical literature, the transmission and translation of biblical texts, the creation of historiographical systems based on biblical narratives, the formation of textual canons, and the collection and compilation of midrashim. Other topics of interest include so-called "Jewish-Christianity"; the history of apocalyptic literature; heresiology, historiography, and religious self-definition; and "magic," astrology, angelology, demonology, and cosmology.

My publications include Fallen Angels and the History of Judaism and Christianity (Cambridge UP 2005), Heavenly Realms and Earthly Realities in Late Antique Religions (Cambridge UP, 2004), and The Ways that Never Parted: Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages (ed. with Adam H. Becker; Mohr Siebeck, 2003 - soon out in paperback with Fortress Press!). I am now working on a book on the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies and "Jewish Christianity" in Late Antiquity. In my (rather scant) free time, I paint and play classical guitar.

This web page was created with Notepad 1.0. All the graphics were made with PaintShopPro 5.01, an excellent program that is particularly suited for designing web graphics. Aside from the text and buttons, the images are manipulated versions of famous art works, mostly taken from scans at Carol Gerten's Fine Art site, arguably the best art site on the Internet. The sidebars, for instance, are based on a clip from Van Eyck's "A Man in a Turban," while most of the buttons should be recognizable (e.g. Michelangelo, Fra Angelico, Chagall, Klimt). If there are any more links you think I should add, or if there are dead links on these pages, please e-mail me. Note that I am bit by bit annotating the existing links and plan to add a few more sections, so any feedback would be appreciated.