Meredith Leigh Dear Riedel
Assistant Professor of the History of Christianity

Dr. Riedel’s research interests focus on the nexus of war, politics, and religion in the early medieval Byzantine oikoumene, with particular interest in how Orthodox Christianity interacted with Islam, Latin Christianity, Judaism, and other indigenous faith traditions of the Mediterranean world. She studies military and diplomatic interactions between Christendom and Islam and is particularly interested in Byzantine cultural attitudes and beliefs in the centuries leading up to the Crusades. Her first book, forthcoming from Cambridge University Press, presents a new analysis of the design and purpose of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI’s military manual, the Taktika, as well as his legislative and homiletic writings, showing his use of biblical allusions and language to articulate a collective Christian political identity. Her second book, on the interaction of Christianity and Islam (7th-13th centuries) is currently in progress.

Dr. Riedel is an ordained Ruling Elder at Triangle Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) in Durham, where she serves on the Outreach Commission and teaches adult Sunday school. While pursuing seminary education, she encountered the vestigial Byzantine empire on visits to the Republic of Turkey. An inexhaustible fascination with the mysteries of the East is thus the catalyst for her ongoing research into the history of Christianity.  

Current Appointments & Affiliations

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