Here is a collection of my interests and work. You can also download a more comprehensive curriculum vitae.
Research Interests
Dr. Walsh's research specialties include:
- the letters of Paul,
- the history and interpretation of the Synoptic problem,
- theory and method,
- cognitive science,
- Imperial-era literature and archaeology,
- the influence of German Romanticism on the field of early Christian studies,
- philosophy of religion.
Select List of Publications
Books and articles can always be found on my Amazon author page as well as on academia.edu. Here is a list of selected works:
Books
The Origins of Early Christian Literature: Contextualizing the New Testament within Greco-Roman Literary Culture, Cambridge University Press, 2021.
Journal Articles
“Argumentum ad lunam: Pauline Discourse, ‘Double Death,’ and Competition on the Moon,” Harvard Theological Review, in press.
“On the Notion of ‘Religion’: A Taxonomic Analysis of a Large-Scale Database,” co-authored with Edward Slingerland, et al., Journal of the American Academy of Religion, November 2023.
“The Satyrica and the Gospels in the Second Century,” The Classical Quarterly 70.1 (May 2020): 356-367.
“Historians Respond to Whitehouse et al. (2019), ‘Complex Societies Precede Moralizing Gods Throughout World History,’” co-authored with Edward Slingerland, et al., Journal of Cognitive Historiography 5.1-2 (2020): 124-141.
“A Reconsideration of the so-called Synagogue-Basilica of Elche, Spain,” Jewish Studies Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 2 (2016): 91-123.
“The Influence of the Romantic Genius in Early Christian Studies,” special edition of the journal Relegere on “Pre-Critical Readers and Readings: The Bible in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries,” Vol. 5, No.1 (2015): 31-60.
Book Chapters
“City and Country,” invited chapter for The Next Quest for the Historical Jesus, eds. James G. Crossley and Chris Keith (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2024), 324-342.
“The Epistle to the Laodiceans and the Art of Tradition,” Authorial Fictions and Attributions in the Ancient Mediterranean, eds. Chance Bonar and Julia Lindenlaub; WUNT II (Mohr Siebeck, 2024), 13-38.
“Sigmund Freud,” Field Notes: Revisiting the Classics in the Study of Religion, eds. Richard Newton and Vaia Touna (Bloomsbury Press, 2023), 69-76.
“Syriac Dialogue Hymns and New Comedy,” Worth More Than Many Sparrows: Essays in Honor of Willi Braun, eds. Sarah Rollens and Pat Hart (Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2023), 137-157.
“Of Dualisms and Doppelgängers: Mapping Ancient Minds and Bodies in Religious Studies,” Critique in Contexts Surveying Key Categories in the Study of Religion, ed. Rebekka King (Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2022),92-99.
“IVDAEA DEVICTA: The Gospels as Imperial ‘Captive Literature,’” Class Struggle in the New Testament, ed. Robert Myles (London: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, January 2019), 89-114.
“Q and the ‘Big Bang’ Theory of Christian Origins,” Redescribing The Gospel of Mark (Early Christianity and its Literature), eds. Merrill Miller and Barry Crawford (Society of Biblical Literature Press, 2017), 483-533.
“Reliabilism and the Limits of Pragmatism: A Response to Matt Bagger,” Theory in a Time of Excess, eds. Aaron Hughes and Russell McCutcheon (Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2017), 165-171.
“Religion is a ‘Private Matter,’” Stereotyping Religion: Critiquing Clichés, eds. Craig Martin and Brad Stoddard (Bloomsbury Press, 2017), 69-82.
“Civic and Subversive Biography in Antiquity,” co-authored with David Konstan, in Writing Biographies in Greece and Rome: Narrative Technique and Fictionalization, eds. K. de Temmerman and Kristoffel Demoen (Cambridge University Press, 2016), 26-43.
Encyclopedia Entries & Anthologies
“Paul the Apostle,” The Database of Religious History, Religious Expert Poll, Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia (DOI: 10.14288/1.0363889), January 2018.
“What does it take for something to be classified a ‘religion’?” Religion in Five Minutes, eds. Russell McCutcheon and Aaron Hughes, (Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2017), 11-13.
“Is it true that religions outside of Christianity have stories of a virgin mother, crucifixion, etc.?” Religion in Five Minutes, eds. Russell McCutcheon and Aaron Hughes, (Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2017), 152-154.
“What is the cognitive science of religion?” Religion in Five Minutes, eds. Russell McCutcheon and Aaron Hughes, (Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2017), 276-277.
Book Reviews
“God’s Library: The Archaeology of the Earliest Christian Manuscripts by Brent Nongbri (Yale University Press, 2018).” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 89.2 (June 2021), 752–756.
“A Century of Miracles. Christians, Pagans, Jews, and the Supernatural by H.A. Drake (Oxford University Press, 2017),” The Journal of Ecclesiastical History 70.2 (April 2020), 384-386.
Professional & Honorary Organizations
The Database of Religious History (Editor, Ancient Mediterranean Religions) PhiBetaKappa (PBK), University of Miami Chapter (Secretary-Treasurer)
Redescribing Christian Origins (Co-Chair)
Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions (Secretary-Treasurer, outgoing)