Dr. Roshan Abraham, Assistant Professor of Classics and Religious Studies
Dr. Roshan Abraham is thrilled to be returning to the Midwest to join the faculty of the Religious Studies program and Classics department at Washington University. A native of Kansas City, Dr. Abraham specializes in the study of Greco-Roman and early Christian religions and is currently teaching "Early Christianity and Classical Culture" (L23 ReSt 432). In this course students explore the relationship between early Christian literature, ranging from the canonical New Testament to the apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, and the Greco-Roman culture in which it was written.
In the spring, Dr. Abraham will be offering two courses: "Senior Seminar in Religious Studies: Pilgrimage and Sacred Space in Mediterranean Antiquity" (L23 ReSt 479) and "Magicians, Healers, and Holy Men" (L23 ReSt 3831). The ancient Mediterranean was a world of travelers. In "Pilgrimage and Sacred Space in Mediterranean Antiquity" students will examine stories of pilgrimage in Greco-Roman and early Christian antiquity to uncover the motivations of pilgrims to undertake often perilous journeys to shrines, temples, and oracles. The course is open to seniors and, with permission, advanced undergraduates with previous course work in Religious Studies or Classics.
The second course, "Magicians, Healers, and Holy Men," will reveal a different side of Mediterranean cultural history, one in which casting spells, fashioning voodoo dolls, ingesting potions, and reading the stars were daily practices for philosophers, businessmen, and politicians alike. Through the study of spell-books, curse tablets, and original manuals, students will explore the role of magic, astrology, and divination in the daily life of Mediterranean antiquity.
Dr. Abraham received a BA in English and Classical Languages from the University of Kansas and a PhD in Classical Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. His graduate research focused on the role of holy men in the religious transformations of late antiquity, the perception of ascetic practices as religious ritual or magic, and the ethnography of India in ancient Greek literature. He was awarded the Mellon Fellowship for Humanistic Studies and the Benjamin Franklin Fellowship to support his graduate studies. His graduate work culminated in his dissertation, "Magic and Religious Authority in Flavius Philostratus' Life of Apollonius of Tyana."
In addition to expanding his dissertation research, Dr. Abraham is currently writing articles on the philosophy of Apuleius, the role of magic in Origen's Contra Celsum, and divine foreknowledge in the works of Justin Martyr. His next book-length project is a historical and literary commentary on Philostratus' Life of Apollonius of Tyana, which is being drafted in collaboration with Jaap-Jan Flinterman of the University of Amsterdam and Graeme Miles of the University of Tasmania.