The personal website of Dr. Philip L. Tite
Scholar, Educator, and Writer
Bio
I am an assistant professor in religious studies at the University of Virginia. Prior to joining UVA, I taught at the University of Washington, Seattle University, Youngstown State University, Western Washington University, Pacific Lutheran University, Central Washington University, Willamette University, and as a doctoral candidate at McGill University. As a tutor and volunteer librarian, I’ve also taught children from pre-school to high school. I have joked that I’ve taught everything from pre-school to Ph.D. (and the one constant is that everyone loves playing with crayons lol).
With appropriately twenty years of teaching experience, I have had the joy of impacting students and watching them go on to succeed in their lives. I’ve taught mostly in higher education, including in graduate and undergraduate programs. My experience includes pre-university education (I’ve jested that I’ve taught everything from preschool to Ph.D.). I love teaching because I love making a difference by empowering my students to believe in themselves as they grow into life-long learners.
As a researcher, I continue to create knowledge that engages colleagues. I’ve served as the editor of several scholarly journals, served on editorial committees, and I am the founding editor of a dynamic and cutting-edge book series. I also have a robust research agenda: four academic books, co-editor of a fifth book, and numerous refereed articles in leading journals (JBL, JTS, JSNT, MTSR, SR, and HTR among others). I have also contributed essays for various books, including two major translation projects (a new translation and extensive introduction to two Coptic texts for the MNTA project).
As a teacher, I believe in collaborative pedagogy, where I join my students as a facilitator of a learning community. Like other disciplines in the humanities, the study of religious phenomena should foster critical thinking skills that have value beyond the specifics of a given course. Critical thinking is a vital component of life-long learning, knowledge mobilization, and engaged citizenship.
My research interests focus on ancient religious traditions, specifically early Christianity from the first to fourth century, including New Testament studies and apocryphal traditions, though I also have strong interests in method and theory in the academic study of religion. I hold a Ph.D. degree (2005) in religious studies from McGill University, Montreal QC Canada (with a dissertation on paraenetic discourse in Valentinianism). Most of my work in antiquity centers on social history, non-canonical texts, epistolary analysis, and apocryphal as well as heretical traditions.
Research Interests and Activity
I am the author of four books (Compositional Transition in 1 Peter [1997], Conceiving Peace and Violence [2004], Valentinian Ethics and Paraenetic Discourse [2009], and The Apocryphal Epistle to the Laodiceans [2012] and co-editor of a fifth book (Religion, Terror and Violence [2008]) along with numerous academic articles published in various academic books and journals (e.g., Journal of Theological Studies, Studies in Religion, Journal of Biblical Literature, Journal of Early Christian Studies, Journal for the Study of the New Testament, Harvard Theological Review, Teaching Theology and Religion, Religious Studies and Theology, Religion, and Method and Theory in the Study of Religion). I am under contract for two further books, one on the apocryphal letters of Paul and the other (co-authored) a commentary on the Gospel of Luke with a focus on reception history.
For nine years, I served as the editor of the Bulletin for the Study of Religion. I was also the editor of both Postscripts: A Journal of Sacred Texts and Contemporary Worlds and ARC: The Journal of the Faculty of Religious Studies, McGill University. I was recently selected to be founding co-editor of a new journal to launch in 2025. I am the founding editor of the book series “Studies in Ancient Religion and Culture” (published by Equinox). I have also served on the editorial boards of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion and the Journal of Religion and Violence. I was a founding member of the program committee for the AAR Comparative Approaches to Religion and Violence Group. I also served as editor for the “Epistles” section of the e-Clavis Christian Apocrypha project, which is maintained by the North American Society for the Study of Christian Apocryphal Literature (NASSCAL).
Current research projects include a book project on the apocryphal letters of Paul. This project builds on my book, The Apocryphal Epistle to the Laodiceans: An Epistolary and Rhetorical Analysis (TENT, 7; Brill, 2012), which is the only modern monograph on this Latin letter and one of the few recent works that breaks from the dismissive approach to this letter. My new project will offer an introduction, fresh translations, and commentary on several ancient letters written in Paul’s name from the second century onward. My other book project is a commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Luke Through the Centuries, with a focus on the reception history of that gospel. This commentary is to appear in the Blackwell Commentary series. My interest in reception theory includes an application of Deleuze’s theory of simulacra (which, with Matt Whitlock, I’ve applied to the Acts traditions, including the NT book of Acts and the apocryphal Acts of Cornelius, in a chapter of a book on critical theory in early Christianity to appear in 2022).
I also have a fascination with religion and humor in modern societies. As editor of the Bulletin, I organized a thematic issue on this topic in order to jump into the topic. In addition I designed a special topics course at the University of Washington a few years ago as a venue for theorizing data for two book projects I have in mind (one an academic monograph, the other an edited volume).
I continue to have strong interests in ancient Gnosticism and the Nag Hammadi Codices, though over the years I have expanded my interests to other apocryphal texts as well as martyrdom traditions. Several article projects are currently underway, such as on the Gospel of Peter. I have also translated and written a comprehensive introduction to a Coptic Encomium on John the Baptist for the first volume of the More New Testament Apocrypha (MNTA) project (published by Eerdmans in 2016) and will have a translation and introduction to a Dialogue Between John and the Revealer (a fragmentary Coptic text) appearing the second MNTA volume in 2020.
A few years ago, my interests in antiquity were expanded from textual analysis to material culture (and to find points of intersection between them). For example, I published a “narrative” analysis of a set of fourth-century mosaics from Roman Britain, which have a strong mixture of Christian and Greco-Roman mythical images set within a spatial setting of moral progression through dualistic struggle. This article appeared in the inaugural special issue of the Bollettino di Archeologia Online (the conference proceeding of the 2008 International Congress of Classical Archaeology), though an earlier presentation of that paper was given in Amsterdam at the Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference (TRAC 2008). I have also drawn upon stable isotope analysis of Roman diet to reassess socio-economic readings of 1 Cor. 8 and 10 (published in the Journal for the Study of the New Testament), where I shifted the socio-economic analysis from a class conflict in Corinth to an in/out-group conflict over commensality (thus, a shift from a vertical social structure to a horizontal social structure tied into identity activation). I also co-authored chapter applying Deleuze to the Acts traditions (not only canonical Acts, but also the apocryphal Acts of Cornelius where we explore the role of simulacra across time, moving both forward and backward chronologically via a rhizomatic framework). My interest in New Testament studies has me engaged in current research on the Pauline epistles, early Christian gospels (currently focused on Luke), and social scientific analyses of ancient religious communities.
The Personal Side
I am enjoying exploring the beautiful state of Virginia as I settle into my new home in Charlottesville. My adorable cat, Freyja, enjoys her new home and we are finding the people here welcoming and kind. I am especially wanting to explore the various wineries out here, given my love of wine. I have a love of art, literature, and food. I also have a love of pop culture, specifically comic books from the 1960s to ’80s, and have volunteered for the charity Heroes Initiative. I also enjoy creative writing, though I have only published a handful of short stories and poems (speculative fiction and fantasy) in token markets, though I do have a few graphic novels begging to come out of me. Of course, I also love good wines and spirits (again, building a collection and developing a beautiful wine cellar!).
I am very much an antiquarian. I love history and I love old things. A former professor of mine at Wilfrid Laurier University, upon learning that I had some sort of relational connection to Sir William Tite (the British architect from the 19th century), once remarked “well you come by it honestly enough”. I love old books and libraries. When I travel, I want to explore ancient buildings, ruins, museums, and wander through historic landscapes. I also have a few antiques — including a small collection of straight razors, an old spinning wheel, a collection of vintage dress hats (which I do wear on occasion), a newly started stamp collection, and a tea trolley along with a collection of tea pots and tea cups. As can be seen, I’m a collector and intellectual at heart. Give me a good book, a glass of wine or port, a lovely fire, and a cuddling cat and my life is complete. 🙂
Contact
This is a contact page with some basic contact information and a contact form.
Philip Tite, Ph.D. 