Philip A. Harland is presently Assistant Professor (Social and Cultural History of Christianity) in the Religion Department of Concordia University, Montreal. He received his bachelor?s degree in both History and Religious Studies from the University of Waterloo before pursuing graduate studies at the University of Toronto. His master?s degree and doctorate in Christian origins and the religions of antiquity came from the Centre for the Study of Religion. Before assuming his present position at Concordia, his was teaching at several universities in Ontario, including Wilfrid Laurier University, University of Waterloo, University of Toronto, York University, and McMaster University. His teaching and research focus on the comparative study of Judaism, Christianity, and other religions in ancient society, as well as the social history of the Greco-Roman world generally.
He is currently leading a multi-year seminar within the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies focussed on studying the intersection of religion and travel in antiquity (including pilgrimage, travel to promote the efficacy of a God or gods, ethnography and travel-writing). Furthermore, he is in the midst of preparing a book-length study on the dynamics of identity in the world of the early Christians (especially familial dimensions of group identity). Another of his ongoing projects investigates acculturation and identity among immigrant groups in the Greco-Roman world, shedding light on Judeans in the diaspora. He also has teaching interests in the social and cultural history of Christianity from origins to present generally, as well as the place of women and issues of gender within that history.
Books
2003
Associations, Synagogues, and Congregations: Claiming a Place in Ancient Mediterranean Society. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003.
(Winner of the F. W. Beare Book Award, Canadian Society of Biblical Studies, 2004)
Articles in Refereed Journals
(Click on blue highlighted titles to view online articles)
2006
?Acculturation and Identity in the Diaspora: A Jewish Family and ?Pagan? Guilds at Hierapolis,? Journal of Jewish Studies (forthcoming, accepted for publication).
?Familial Dimensions of Group Identity (II): ?Mothers? and ?Fathers? in Associations and Synagogues of the Greek World,? Journal for the Study of Judaism (forthcoming, accepted for publication).
2005
?Familial Dimensions of Group Identity: ?Brothers? (???????) in Associations of the Greek East,? Journal of Biblical Literature 124 (2005) 491-513.
2003
?Christ-bearers and Fellow-initiates: Local Cultural Life and Christian Identity in Ignatius? Letters,? Journal of Early Christian Studies 11 (2003) 481-99.
?Imperial Cults within Local Cultural Life: Associations in Roman Asia,? Ancient History Bulletin / Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte 17 (2003) 85-107.
2000
?Honouring the Emperor or Assailing the Beast: Participation in Civic Life among Associations (Jewish, Christian and Other) in Asia Minor and the Apocalypse of John,? Journal for the Study of the New Testament 77 (2000) 99-121.
1996
?Honours and Worship: Emperors, Imperial Cults and Associations at Ephesus (first to third centuries c.e.),? Studies in Religion/Sciences religieuses 25 (1996) 319-34.
Articles in Books and Reference Works
2006
The Declining Polis? Religious Rivalries in Ancient Civic Context,? in Religious Rivalries and Relations Among Pagans, Jews, and Christians, edited by Leif E. Vaage. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press (forthcoming).
?Associations and the City,? in Associations in the Ancient World: Cults, Guilds and Collegia, co-authored with John S. Kloppenborg and Richard Ascough. Berlin: de Gruyter (forthcoming).
2005
?Spheres of Contention, Claims of Preeminence: Rivalries Among Associations in Sardis and Smyrna,? in Religious Rivalries and the Struggle for Success in Sardis and Smyrna, edited by Richard Ascough, pp. 53-63. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2005.
2002
?Connections with Elites in the World of the Early Christians,? in Handbook of Early Christianity: Social Science Approaches, edited by Anthony J. Blasi, Paul-André Turcotte, and Jean Duhaime, pp. 385-408. Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira Press, 2002.
?The Economy of First Century Palestine: The State of Scholarly Discussion,? in Handbook of Early Christianity: Social Science Approaches, edited by Anthony J. Blasi, Paul-André Turcotte, and Jean Duhaime, pp. 511-27. Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira Press, 2002.
2000
?Bithynia,? ?Mysia,? ?Pamphylia,? and ?Perga,? in Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, edited by D.N. Freedman, A.B. Beck and A.C. Myers. Grand Rapids: Eerdman, 2000."
Contact: pharland@alcor.concordia.ca
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