Jennifer Wright Knust | Scholars@Duke

Jennifer Wright Knust
Professor of Religious Studies

Jennifer Knust is a scholar of religion who specializes in early Christian history and the religions of the ancient Mediterranean. Author of To Cast the First Stone: The Transmission of a Gospel Story(with Tommy Wasserman, Princeton 2018), Unprotected Texts: The Bible’s Surprising Contradictions about Sex and Desire (HarperONE 2011), and Abandoned to Lust: Sexual Slander and Ancient Christianity (Columbia 2005), she studies early Christian texts, their contexts, and their receptions from multiple angles, with a particular focus on rhetoric and gendered discourse. Her numerous articles, book chapters, and edited books address the materiality of texts, the intersection of Christian practices with other ancient religions, and the ethics of interpretation in ancient as well as contemporary contexts.

Office Hours

Tuesdays 12 pm - 2 pm and by appointment

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Professor of Religious Studies, Religious Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2019
Director of Undergraduate Studies of the Department of Religious Studies, Religious Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2020
Director of the Center for Late Ancient Studies, Classical Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2020

Contact Information

jennifer.knust@duke.edu

Background
Education, Training, & Certifications
- Ph.D., Columbia University 2001
- M.Phil., Columbia University 1997
- M.Div., Union Theological Seminary 1991
- B.S., University of Illinois 1988
Publications & Artistic Works
Selected Publications
- Books
  - Knust, Jennifer, and Tommy Wasserman. To Cast the First Stone The Transmission of a Gospel Story. Princeton University Press, 2018.
  - Moser, Claudia. Ritual Matters Material Remains and Ancient Religion. University of Michigan Press, 2017.
  - Orlin, Eric. Routledge Encyclopedia of Ancient Mediterranean Religions. Routledge, 2015.
  - Knust, J. W., and Z. Várhelyi. Ancient Mediterranean Sacrifice, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199738960.001.0001.
    Full Text
  - Knust, Jennifer Wright. Unprotected Texts The Bible's Surprising Contradictions About Sex and Desire. Harper Collins, 2011.
  - Knust, Jennifer Wright. Abandoned to Lust Sexual Slander and Ancient Christianity. Columbia University Press, 2006.
- Academic Articles
  - Wheeler-Reed, D., J. W. Knust, and D. B. Martin. “Can a man commit 'Greek passage' with his wife?” Journal of Biblical Literature 137, no. 2 (January 1, 2018): 383–98. https://doi.org/10.15699/jbl.1372.2018.345030.
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  - Wheeler-Reed, D., J. W. Knust, and D. B. Martin. “Can a man commit {greek word presented} with his wife?” Journal of Biblical Literature 137, no. 2 (January 1, 2018): 383–98. https://doi.org/10.1353/JBL.2018.0021.
    Full Text Open Access Copy
  - Knust, Jennifer, and Tommy Wasserman. “The Biblical Odes and the Text of the Christian Bible: A Reconsideration of the Impact of Liturgical Singing on the Transmission of the Gospel of Luke.” Journal of Biblical Literature 133, no. 2 (2014): 341–65. https://doi.org/10.1353/jbl.2014.0024.
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  - Knust, Jennifer Wright. “Livesey, Nina E. Circumcision as a Malleable Symbol. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe 295. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2010. x+198 pp.” The Journal of Religion 93, no. 1 (January 2013): 116–17. https://doi.org/10.1086/669842.
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  - Knust, J. W. “Holy Misogyny: Why the Sex and Gender Conflicts in the Early Church Still Matter. By April DeConick.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 80, no. 4 (December 1, 2012): 1128–30. https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lfs065.
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  - Knust, Jennifer, and Tommy Wasserman. “Earth Accuses Earth: Tracing What Jesus Wrote on the Ground.” Harvard Theological Review 103, no. 4 (October 2010): 407–46. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0017816010000799.
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  - Wright Knust, Jennifer. “Book Review: Scot McKendrick and Kathleen Doyle, Bible Manuscripts: 1400 Years of Scribes and Scholars (London: The British Library, 2007), 160 pp.” International Journal of the Classical Tradition 16, no. 3–4 (December 2009): 601–3. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12138-009-0155-x.
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  - Knust, Jennifer Wright. “Tertullian's Aduersus Iudaeos: A Rhetorical Analysis.” Journal of Early Christian Studies 17, no. 4 (2009): 687–88.
    Link to Item
  - Knust, Jennifer Wright. “Saving Shame: Martyrs, Saints, and Other Abject Subjects.” Catholic Historical Review 94, no. 4 (October 2008): 764–66.
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  - Knust, Jennifer Wright. “The Sex Lives of Saints: An Erotics of Ancient Hagiography.” Catholic Historical Review 94, no. 4 (October 2008): 764–66.
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  - Knust, Jennifer Wright. “Book Review: An Apologia for Canonical Interpretation.” The Expository Times 119, no. 8 (May 2008): 413–14. https://doi.org/10.1177/00145246081190081210.
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  - Knust, Jennifer Wright. “Canon and biblical interpretation.” Expository Times 119, no. 7 (April 2008): 357–58.
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  - Knust, Jennifer Wright. “In Pursuit of a Singular Text: New Testament Textual Criticism and the Desire for the True Original.” Religion Compass 2, no. 2 (March 2008): 180–94. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-8171.2008.00062.x.
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  - Knust, Jennifer Wright. “Apologetic discourse and the scribal tradition: Evidence of the influence of apologetic interests on the text of the canonical Gospels.” Journal of Religion 86, no. 4 (October 2006): 671–72.
    Link to Item
  - Knust, Jennifer Wright. “Kissing Christians: Ritual and Community in the Late Ancient Church. By Michael Philip Penn. Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005. viii + 190 pp. $42.50 cloth.” Church History 75, no. 3 (September 2006): 651–53. https://doi.org/10.1017/s000964070009870x.
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  - Knust, J. W. “Early Christian re-writing and the history of the pericope adulterae.” Journal of Early Christian Studies 14, no. 4 (January 1, 2006): 485–536. https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2007.0009.
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  - Knust, Jennifer. “"Who's Afraid of Canaan's Curse? Genesis 9:18-29 and the Challenge of Reparative Reading".” Biblical Interpretation 22, no. 4–5 (n.d.): 388–413.
- Book Sections
  - Knust, Jennifer, and Tommy Wasserman. “The Wondrous Gospel of John: Jesus's Miraculous Deeds in Late Ancient Editorial and Scholarly Practice.” In Healing and Exorcism in Second Temple Judaism and Early Christianity, 511:165–96. Mohr Seibeck, 2019.
  - “The Future of New Testament Textual Scholarship.” Mohr Siebeck, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1628/978-3-16-156663-9.
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  - “The Bible and Feminism.” Oxford University Press, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198722618.001.0001.
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  - Knust, J. W., and Z. Várhelyi. “Introduction: Images, Acts, Meanings and Ancient Mediterranean Sacrifice,” 2012.
  - Knust, J. W. “Jesus’ conditional forgiveness.” In Ancient Forgiveness: Classical, Judaic, and Christian, 176–94, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511978654.011.
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Teaching & Mentoring
Recent Courses
Scholarly, Clinical, & Service Activities
Service to the Profession
- Participant. Faculty Short Course on Improving Departmental Climate. Duke Office of Faculty Advancement & Duke Office of Institutional Equity. August 2, 2021 - August 5, 2021 2021

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Education, Training, & Certifications

Selected Publications

Books

Academic Articles

Book Sections

Recent Courses

Service to the Profession