George P. Carras Senior Research Professor (Classical studies, Religion)

George P. Carras

434-409-1703
gcarras@wlu.edu
Curriculum Vitae

Educational Background
Book Project Description

Fellow, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, Charlottesville, Va
Scholar – Fellow, School of Religious Studies in the Faculty of Arts (CREOR), McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Research Associate, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, Faculty of Classics, Oxford
General Faculty, University of Virginia

Education

D.Phil. - Oxford - Oriental / Jewish Studies, Classical Studies, Religion
MA - Manchester - New Testament, Biblical/Literary Criticism
BA (Honors) - UC Berkeley - Classics, Ancient History, Religion, Jewish Studies
MA (Hon.) - Oxford - Biblical Studies, Theology
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Near Eastern Studies, UC Berkeley

Research

Classical Studies:
Flavius Josephus, Flavian Rome, Moral World of Antiquity, Plutarch, his World and the "Moralia", Josephus and Paul as Two Diaspora Jews, Josephus and the Rabbis, Philo, Pseudo-Phocylides

Religion:
The Jewish Paul; Lukan Studies, Intertextuality

Teaching

Classical Studies:
Moral World of Antiquity (Greek, Roman, Jewish, early Christian), Epictetus - Life and Writings and other Stoics, The Religions of Antiquity, World of Greco-Roman Culture, Philo of Alexandria, Flavius Josephus, Second Temple Judaism within the Greco-Roman World

Religion:
Inside Matthew's World, Luke - Acts: Legacies of Israel, Paul and the World of the Judaism, The Moral Vision of the New Testament, NT Exegesis. Pauline Letters, Intertextuality, OT use within the NT, Legacy of Hellenistic Jewry - Philo, Josephus and Paul

Selected Publications

(Classical Studies)

Books:

  • Two Diaspora Jews: Josephus and Paul - A Historical, Social and Theological Comparison of Hellenistic Jewry, (Arbeiten zur Geschichte des antiken Judentums und des Urchristentums/ Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity series - AJEC), Leiden: Brill, (in progress 2019)
  • Paul, Josephus and Judaism: The Shared Judaism of Paul and Josephus (2012, E-version, Oxford)

Articles:

  • "Dependence, Paraphrase or Common Tradition in Philo's Hypothetica and Josephus' Contra Apionem," Studia Philonica Annual 5 (1993), 24-47
  • "Philo's Hypothetica - Josephus' Contra Apionem and the Question of Sources" in D. Lull (ed.), 1990 Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers, Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990, 431-450

Paper(s): 

  • “On Contextualizing Josephus and the Rabbis – Meaning and Function”, paper given at the Seminar in the Jewish History and Literature in the Greco-Roman Period, Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Oxford University, October 2015
  • "Torah Observance in Diaspora Judaism in Josephus, Philo, Pseudo Phocylides Sentences and Paul" paper given at the SBL National Conference, Chicago, November 2012

Book Reviews:

  • Jan Bremmer and Marco Formisano, Perpetua's Passions, Oxford University Press, 2012; Religious Studies Review, June 2013, Vol. 39 Issue 2, 105-106
  • Thomas J. Heffernan, The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity, Oxford University Press, 2012; Religious Studies Review, June 2013, Vol. 39 Issue 2, 106
  • Karl-Gustav Sandelin, Attraction and Danger of Alien Religion, (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 290) Mohr Siebeck, 2012; Journal for the Study of Judaism, 2014, Vol. 45 Issue 3, 432-434

(Religion)

Books:

  • Putting Paul in his Place: Inheritor, Internal Critic and Transformer of Diaspora Judaism, Oxford University Press: New York, (in preparation 2019)
  • Hellenistic Judaism and early Christianity: a collection of essays (previously published articles and unpublished conf. papers (in preparation 2020)

Articles:

  • “Jewish Sensibilities and the Search for the Jewish Paul - Reception in the Lukan Paul: Interplay with Flavius Josephus” in The Early Reception of Paul the Second Temple Jew, Oliver, Isaac and Boccaccini, Gabriele (eds), Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 2018, forthcoming
  • "Observant Jews in the Story of Luke and Acts: Paul, Jesus and Other Jews" in J. Verheyden (ed.), The Unity of Luke-Acts, Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1999, 693-708
  • "Luke and the OT: Intertextuality between Numbers 15.22-31 & Luke 23.34" in C.M. Tuckett (ed.), The Scriptures in the Gospels, Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1997, 605-616
  • "Romans 2.1-29: A Dialogue on Jewish Ideals," Biblica 73 1992, 183-207
  • "Jewish Ethics and Gentile Converts: Some Remarks on 1 Thess. 4.3-8" in R.F. Collins (ed.), The Thessalonian Correspondence, Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1990, 306-315

Book Review:

  • Paul The Jew: Rereading the Apostle as a Figure of Second Temple Judaism, Boccaccini, Gabriele and Segovia , Carlos A. (eds), Minneapolis: Fortress Press, Reviews of the Enoch Seminar (RES), 2016

Paper(s):

  • “Jewish Sensibilities in Luke, Paul and Josephus – The Quest of the Jewish Paul”, paper given at the Enoch Seminars: International Scholarship on Second Temple Judaism and Christian, Rabbinic and Islamic Origins, Conference Topic – “The Early Reception of Paul the Second Temple Jew”, June 2016, Rome, Italy

Papers Planned 2017-18:

  • “Rabbinic Echoes in a Josephan Diaspora Legal Summary, Against Apion 2”, Association of Jewish Studies (AJS), December 17-19, 2017
  • “Jewish Sensibilities in Josephus and Paul”, Colloquium on Judaism and Christianity, Dept of Religious Studies, University of Virginia, Winter Term 2018
  • “A Neglected Window to Paul’s Judaism: Contribution of Josephus”, New Testament Seminar, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford, Spring Term 2018
  • “Moral World of Antiquity”, Oxford Philosophical Society, University of Oxford, associated with the Faculty of Classics. University of Oxford, Spring Term 2018
  • “Jewish Sensibilities in Luke, Paul and Josephus – The Quest of the Jewish Paul”, Center for the Study Christian Origins, Faculty of Divinity, University of Edinburgh, Spring Term 2018
  • “The Bible among Diaspora Jews: Josephus and Paul. The Hebrew Bible, Lxx, Aramaic Versions as Rewritten Paraphrase, Quotations, Allusions and Readapted Story”, Biblical Studies Seminar, Faculty of Divinity, St Mary’s College, University of St Andrews, Spring Term 2018
  • “Josephus and his Paraphrase of the Rewritten Bible”, NT Seminar/ Hebrew, Jewish, Early Christian Studies Seminar, Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, Spring Term 2018

Awards, Honors, Affiliations (recent)

  • Visitorship (visiting scholar), Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford, UK April - June 2018
  • Visiting Fellow, Faculty of Divinity, University of Edinburgh, UK April – June 2018
  • Visiting Fellow, Faculty of Divinity, University of St Andrews (St May’s College), UK April – June 2018
  • Visiting Fellow, Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, UK, April – June 2018
  • Fellow, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, Charlottesville, Va – 2013-2018
  • Associate Faculty, Oriental Studies, University of Oxford, January – July, 2013, October – December 2015
  • Visiting Fellow, Mansfield College, University of Oxford, January – July, 2013, October – December 2015  
  • Visiting Scholar, Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University of Oxford, January – June, 2013, October – December 2015  
  • Research Visitor and Associate, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford, 2008-2018
  • Fellow – Scholar, CREOR (Centre for Research on Religion), Faculty of Religious Studies, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 2007-2023