Instructional Assistant Professor of Religion

Bryant Hall 25  | 662–915–7020 | billings@olemiss.edu

Ph.D. Religious Studies McGill University

S.T.M. New Testament and Early Christianity Union Theological Seminary (in consortium with Columbia University and Jewish Theological Seminary)

B.S. + M.A. Religious Studies Cincinnati Christian University

Professional Background
Billings is a historian of religion and the author of the recent book, Acts of the Apostles and the Rhetoric of Roman Imperialism (Cambridge University Press, 2017). Dr. Billings specializes in the study of the New Testament and Early Christianity within the context of the ancient Mediterranean world. Prior to joining the Ole Miss faculty, he served as a visiting professor at the University of Miami, Kalamazoo College, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and Pepperdine University.

Teaching and Courses Offered
REL 101 Introduction to Religion
REL 312 New Testament and Early Christianity
REL 372 Rise of Christianity
REL 386 Religion and Film

SK Forrest

Adjunct Professor of Religion

Bryant Hall 100 | 662–915-7020 | forrest@olemiss.edu

Professional Background

I received my Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Harvard University in 2000. I received the Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in 2007, which I competed at Harvard University. After teaching at Centre College in Danville, KY for three years, I joined the University of Mississippi faculty in 2012.

Teaching and Courses Offered
REL 101 Introduction to Religion
REL 320 Hinduism

Research Interests

My research focuses on Middle Persian texts, particularly polemic and apologetic Zoroastrian works and how they were affected by a new style of exegesis Islam introduced into Iran by the 8^th century. The result was a change in the way theologians of this ancient tradition began to present it to outsiders, systematically analyzing concepts they previously simply accepted on faith.

In my book Witches, Whores, and Sorcerers: the Concept of Evil in Early Iran, I examined the idea of evil found in ancient Avestan and Middle Persian Pahlavi Zoroastrian texts. In these scriptures, evil was strongly linked to women and other outsiders to organized religion. This resulted in ritual and social practices that placed them outside of the formal religious sphere. They formed separate religious and ritual spaces, which, while allowing them spiritual solace, also evolved into the practice of medicine, both herbal and magical. Ancient Iranians, like most ancient people, believed that illnesses of all kinds were ultimately the work of demons or their demonic human helpers. The priests believed that only the most dreadful of demons inflicted female illnesses. Priests forbade the knowledge of cures to women and so they created mantric and herbal cures themselves. Many priests came to believe that women who battled these demons finally succumbed to them and became witches and sorceresses. Men and women who neglected purity rules likewise became witches, whores, or sorcerers.

Publications

Witches, Whores, and Sorcerers: the Concept of Evil in Early Iran.  Austin: University of Texas Press, 2011.

Instructional Assistant Professor of Religion

DeSoto Student Services Center, Suite I | 662–393–9290 | stmille1@olemiss.edu

Ph.D., Florida State University

Professional Background
After finishing my B.A. at Liberty University (1999), I received my first M.A. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2003) and my second from McGill University (2005). I matriculated at Florida State University in 2007 and completed my Ph.D. in 2012. Before joining the faculty at the University of Mississippi in 2014, I was an Adjunct Professor of Religion at Florida State University for two years.

Teaching and Courses Offered
REL 300 Comparative World Religions
REL 310 The Hebrew Bible and Early Judaism
REL 312 New Testament and Early Christianity
REL/PHIL 351: Philosophy of Religion
REL/PHIL 360: Science and Religion
REL 366 Sex, Gender, and the Bible
REL 370 Introduction to the Dead Sea Scrolls
REL 372 Rise of Christianity
REL 375: Christianity in America
REL 385 Western Mysticism
REL 386 Religion and Film
REL 395 Special Topics: Jesus and the Gospels
REL 395 Special Topics: Revelation
REL 395 Special Topics: Angels and Afterlife in Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity
REL 395 Special Topics: How the Bible Became a Book

Research Interests
Broadly speaking, my interests focus on Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity. In particular, my research concentrates on orality studies, performance criticism, memory studies, and media criticism of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Jewish Literature of the Second Temple period.

Publications

Dead Sea Media: Orality, Textuality, and Memory in the Scrolls from the Judean Desert. Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 129. Leiden: Brill, 2019.

“Oral Tradition and the Dead Sea Scrolls” in Oral Tradition 33/1 (2019): 3-22.

“Traditional History and Cultural Memory in the Pesharim” in Journal for the Study of Judaism 50 (2019): 348–370.

“‘Sectual’ Performance of in Rule Texts” in Dead Sea Discoveries. 25 (2018): 15–38.

“Role of Performance and Performance of Role: Cultural Memory in Hodayot” in Journal of Biblical Literature. 137 (2018): 359–382.

“Multiformity of Stichographic ‘Systems’ in the Dead Sea Scrolls” in La Revue de Qumrân 29 (2017): 219–245.

“A Scribe Speaks: The Oral Register of Scribal Practices as Reflected in the Dead Sea Scrolls” in Kleine Untersuchungen zur Sprache des Alten Testaments und seiner Umwelt 22 (2017): 75–100.

“Multiformity” in The Dictionary of the Bible in Ancient Media. Edited by T. Thatcher, Chris Keith, Raymond Person, and Elsie Stern. London: T & T Clark, 2017.

“Performance Arena” in The Dictionary of the Bible in Ancient Media. Edited by T. Thatcher, Chris Keith, Raymond Person, and Elsie Stern. London: T & T Clark, 2017.

“Communicative Economy” in The Dictionary of the Bible in Ancient Media. Edited by T. Thatcher, Chris Keith, Raymond Person, and Elsie Stern. London: T & T Clark, 2017.

“תמך ‘to hold, support,’” in Theologisches Wörterbuch zu den Qumrantexten. Edited by H.-J. Fabry and U. Dahmen. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2016.

“The Oral-Written Textuality of Stichographic Poetry in the Dead Sea Scrolls” in Dead Sea Discoveries 22 (2015): 162–188.

Book Reviews

Review of Lloyd, M. Performances of Ancient Jewish Letters: From Elephantine to MMT.  Dead Sea Discoveries 24 (2017): 162–164.

Review of Penner, J., Penner, K., and C. Wassen, eds. Prayer and Poetry in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature: Essays in Honor of Eileen Schuller on the Occasion of Her 65th Birthday. Dead Sea Discoveries 21 (2014): 116–118.

Review of Lange, A., Weigold, M., and J. Zsengeller, eds. From Qumran to Aleppo: A Discussion with Emanuel Tov about the Textual History of Jewish Scriptures in Honor of his 65th Birthday. Dead Sea Discoveries 20 (2013): 162.

Review of Raymond, E. New Idioms Within Old: Poetry and Parallelism in the Non-Masoretic Poems of 11Q5 (= 11QPsa) Dead Sea Discoveries 19 (2012): 237–38.

Review of Petersen, A., et al., eds. Northern Lights on the Dead Sea Scrolls: Proceedings of the Nordic Qumran Network 2003-2006. Journal for the Study of Judaism 42 (2011): 107–08.