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Celia Deutsch
Adjunct Associate Professor of Religion
Celia Deutsch, adjunct associate professor of religion, has taught at Barnard College since 1985. She has also worked and lectured in Canada, Italy, Israel, and Great Britain. Professor Deutsch's teaching at Barnard includes such courses as "Introduction to the Hebrew Bible," "Introduction to the New Testament," "Introduction to Western Religions," and "Judaism During the Time of Jesus."
Professor Deutsch's research focuses on early Jewish and Christian social and religious/intellectual history. She draws on literary and cultural criticism, as well as the insights of the social sciences, to examine ancient sources. Her book Lady Wisdom, Jesus, and the Sages explored ways in which early Christian teachers used a female metaphor to conceptualize the role of Jesus and their own status as teachers in their community.
She is currently working of Scholars and Seers: Text Work and Religious Experience in Early Judaism and Early Christianity. This work examines how text work (reading, writing, interpretation, and teaching) has been used as a site of religious experience and how claims to such experience have been used to bolster authority claims. This analysis utilizes the insights of literacy, ritual, and performance theory.
Professor Deutsch is active in numerous professional organizations and is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism Group.
Professor Deutsch is engaged in interreligious dialogue at the national, international, and local levels. She serves as a consultant to the Interfaith Center of New York and is a member Neighbor to Neighbor (Jews, Christians, Muslims collaborating in the Flatbush/Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn).
Selected Publications
"Text Work and Religious Experience: Philo and Clement," in Religious Experience in Early Judaism and Early Christianity, ed. R. Werline and F. Dailey (Society of Biblical Literature, 2007)
"The Therapeutae, Text Work, Ritual, and Mystical Experience," in Paradise Now: Essays on Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism, ed. A. DeConick (Boston, Leiden and Atlanta: Brill and The Society of Biblical Literature, 2006)
"Ancient Rivalries and New Testament Interpretation: An Example from the Acts of the Apostles," in Seeing Judaism Anew: Christianity's Sacred Obligation, ed. M. Boys (Franklin, WI: Sheed and Ward, 2005)
"Jesus As Wisdom: A Feminist Reading of Matthew's Wisdom Christology," in The Feminist Companion to the New Testament; Matthew and Mark, ed. A. J. Levine and V. Phillips (Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001)
"Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism: What Are We Talking About?" in SBL Seminar Papers (2001)
"The Apostolic Decree in Acts: a Response to Professor Alan Segal," in Reinterpreting Tradition and Revelation: Jews and Christians in Conversation, ed. H. G. Perelmuter and J. Pawlikowski (Franklin, WI: Sheed and Ward, 2000)
"The Transfiguration: Vision and Social Setting in Matthew's Gospel (Matt 17:1-9)," in Putting Body and Soul Together: Essays in Honor of Robin Scroggs, ed. G. F. Snyder, A. Brown, and V. Wiles (Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International, 1997)
Lady Wisdom, Jesus, and the Sages: Metaphor and Social Context in the Matthean Community (Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1996)
"Torah, Jesus and Discipleship in the Gospel of Matthew," SIDIC 24 (1991)
Hidden Wisdom and the Easy Yoke: Wisdom, Torah, and Discipleship in Matthew 11:25-30. JSNT Supp 18 (Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1987)
212.854.6023
EDUCATION:
B.A., Trinity College (Washington, D.C.)
M.A., Ph.D., St. Michael's College, University of Toronto
RELATED LINKS:
SPECIALIZATIONS:
Early Judaism
Early Christianity
Comparative study of mysticism