Professor Candida Moss

Professor Candida Moss

Department of Theology and Religion
Edward Cadbury Professor of Theology

Contact details

Email
c.moss.1@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@candidamoss
View my research portal
Address
ERI Building
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

My work primarily focuses on a wide array of ideas about the body and power in early Christianity. This included disability, martyrdom, death, suffering, the afterlife, and the work of enslaved workers in the production of the New Testament. I have additional interests in religion and public life, the Bible and education, and cultural heritage. In addition to my academic work, I am a columnist for the Daily Beast and regularly contribute to other publications like Atlantic Monthly, New York Times, LA Times, Times Supplement of Higher Education, Slate, Politico, and CNN. 

Feedback and office hours

I am available for Office Hours by appointment. For US based postgraduate students office hours can be scheduled in the afternoons and early evening (Eastern Standard Time).

Qualifications

  • BA (Oxon)
  • MAR (Yale Divinity School)
  • MPhil (Yale)
  • PhD (Yale)

Biography

Candida Moss: my research

I read theology as an undergraduate at Oxford, before moving to the United States to pursue post-graduate work in Biblical Studies at, first Yale Divinity School and, later, Yale Graduate School. In 2008, I moved to the University of Notre Dame to teach classes in the departments of Theology, Classics, and History before coming to Birmingham in 2017. 

While my academic work is primarily historical, I work in the public sphere as s Papal news commentator for CBS news, a cultural commentator and columnist for The Daily Beast, and a religion news commentator and writer for CNN, BBC, National Geographic, Smithsonian, Discovery Channel, History Channel, and others. A great deal of my recent work has focussed on the intersection of religion and politics and the influence of certain religious ideas on international relations, policy making, and education.

Teaching

  • Introduction to Biblical Studies
  • Martyrdom
  • Disability Theology

Postgraduate supervision

Gospel of Mark
Early Christianity
Martyrdom
Resurrection and Afterlife in the New Testament and Early Christianity
Reception History
Ancient Medicine and the New Testament
Disability Studies and the Bible
Greco-Roman influence on the New Testament and Early Christianity
Influence of the Bible in contemporary affairs
Ancient Slavery

Find out more - our PhD Theology and Religion  page has information about doctoral research at the University of Birmingham.

Research

My research interests include work on disability, early Christian martyrdom, ancient enslavement and incarceration, Christian views of resurrection of the body, and ancient writing  practices. I have authored seven books and over fifty peer-reviewed articles and essays. 

Other activities

Publications

Recent publications

Book

Moss, C 2024, God's Ghostwriters: Enslaved Christians and the Making of the Bible. Harper Collins, London. <https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/gods-ghostwriters-candida-moss?variant=40292495786062>

Article

Moss, C & Coogan, J 2024, 'The Textual Demiurge: Social Status and the Academic Discourse of Early Christian Forgery', New Testament Studies.

Henning, M & Moss, C 2023, 'Pulling Apart and Piecing Together: Wholeness and Fragmentation in Early Christian Visions of the Afterlife', Journal of the American Academy of Religion, vol. 90, no. 4, pp. 973-986. https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lfac069

Moss, C 2023, 'The Secretary: Enslaved Workers, Stenography, and the Production of Early Christian Literature', The Journal of Theological Studies. https://doi.org/10.1093/jts/flad001

Moss, C, Coogan, J & Howley, J 2023, 'The Socioeconomics of Fabrication: Textuality, Authenticity, and Class in the Roman Mediterranean', Arethusa, vol. 57, pp. 227.

Moss, C 2021, 'Between the Lines: Looking for the Contributions of Enslaved Literate Laborers in a Second Century Text (P. Berol. 11632)', Studies in Late Antiquity, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 432-452. https://doi.org/10.1525/sla.2021.5.3.432

Moss, C 2021, 'Fashioning Mark: Early Christian Discussions about the Scribe and Status of the Second Gospel', New Testament Studies, vol. 67, no. 2, pp. 181-204. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0028688520000351

Moss, C 2021, 'Infant Exposure and the Rhetoric of Cannibalism, Incest, and Martyrdom in the Early Church', Journal of Early Christian Studies, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 341-369. https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2021.0023.

Moss, C & Feldman, LM 2020, 'The New Jerusalem: Wealth, Ancient Building Projects and Revelation 21–22', New Testament Studies, vol. 66, no. 3, pp. 351-366. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0028688520000053

Moss, CR 2019, 'A Note on the Death of Judas in Papias', New Testament Studies, vol. 65, no. 3, pp. 388-397. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0028688519000080

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Moss, CR 2023, What Large Letters: Invisible Labor, Invisible Disabilities, and Paul’s Use of Scribes. in C Johnson Hodge, T Joseph & T-S Benny Liew (eds), Divided Worlds? Challenges in Classics and New Testament Studies. Semeia Studies, vol. 100, Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta, pp. 105-122. <https://cart.sbl-site.org/books/0606104C>

Moss, C 2020, Suicide and Martyrdom in Christianity and Judaism. in The Cambridge World History of Violence. Volume 1: The Prehistoric and Ancient Worlds. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 572-86.

Chapter

Moss, CR 2023, Suffering and Sacrifice. in SP Ahearne-Kroll (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Synoptic Gospels. Oxford Handbooks Online, Oxford University Press, pp. 245–259. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190887452.013.22

Moss, C 2022, Chronometric Violence: Sleeplessness, Incarceration, and the Mechanics of Control. in D LaValle Norman & K Crabbe (eds), The Wakeful Night. Cambridge University Press.

Moss, C & Henning, M 2022, Healthcare and Disability. in J Fitzgerald (ed.), Oxford Handbook of Households in the Biblical World. Oxford Handbook, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

View all publications in research portal