April DeConick
Isla Carroll & Percy E. Turner Professor of Biblical Studies
SURF Mentoring
Potential projects/topics: Student will consult with me to determine which of my research projects would best suit the student's interests and personal goals. I have a number of book projects at various stages of production that involve research in ancient sources related to the formation and development of early Christian movements. Student can be involved in collecting primary data, creating charts-tables-diagrams, bibliographical searches, copy-editing, proof-reading, etc.
Potential skills gained: Students will learn how to conduct research, write, and publish books.
Required qualifications: Sincere interest, motivation, and integrity.
Direct mentor: Faculty/P.I.
Research Areas
Areas of Speciality Professor DeConick studies those who suffered oppression and intolerance, who were marginalized, forbidden and forgotten in the ancient Christian world. She explores everything from women’s issues in biblical and apocryphal texts to therapeutic and shamanic practices in Nag Hammadi literature. To reach a broader public, she maintains a blog, The Forbidden Gospels. Her work focuses on New Testament and pre-Nicene literature, non-canonical gospels, gnostic literature and movements, mysticism and esotericism in early Christianity, new religious movements past and present, the biosocial study of religion, and a theoretical point of view called post-constructivism.