Candida Moss

Candida R. Moss (born 26 November 1978) is an English academic who is Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity on the theology faculty of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana in the United States. A graduate of Oxford and Yale universities, Moss specializes in the study of martyrdom in the early Christian church.

Education and career

Born in London, England, Moss graduated from Worcester College, Oxford part of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England in 2000 with a B.A.(Hons) in theology. In 2002 she received a M.A.R. in Biblical studies from Yale Divinity School. In 2006, Moss graduated from Yale University with a M.A. and M.Phil in religious studies, followed by a Ph.D. in Religious Studies in 2008.^[1]

She became a full Professor in 2012, four years after receiving her PhD from Yale. Her first book was the winner of the 2011 John Templeton Award for Theological Promise. She served as an academic consultant to the television series The Bible^[2] and is a frequent contributor to the National Geographic Channel.^[3] A Roman Catholic, Moss has specialized in the study of martyrdom. In 2013 her book The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom was published in which she argues that the stories of early Christian martyrdom "have been altered ... edited and shaped by later generations of Christians" and none of them are "completely historically accurate".^[4] Additionally, she maintains that the Roman authorities did not actively seek out or target Christians, and only for a brief period of no more than twelve years in the first three centuries of Christian history were Christians prosecuted by order of a Roman emperor.^[5] Moss writes regularly for The Daily Beast and has contributed to LA Times, Politico Magazine, BBC.com, CNN.com, Washington Post, Huffington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Times Higher Education Supplement.

Books

• The Other Christs: Imitating Jesus in Ancient Christian Ideologies of Martyrdom Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2010 ISBN 9780199739875
• Disability Studies and Biblical Literature. Co-Edited with Jeremy Schipper. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011 ISBN 9780230338296
• Ancient Christian Martyrdom: Diverse Practices, Ideologies, and Traditions Yale Anchor Reference Library. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2012 ISBN 9780300154658
• The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom New York: HarperOne, HarperCollins, 2013 ISBN 978-0-06-210452-6

Honors and awards

• John Templeton Award for Theological Promise in 2011
• National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar Grant Recipient
• Charlotte W. Newcombe Fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation 2007-2008
• Recipient of a Memorial Stipend from the Catholic Biblical Association
• Marquand Scholar of Yale Divinity School
• 1997 Scholar of Worcester College, Oxford

Reviews of The Myth of Persecution

• Croy, N. Clayton (October 2013). "The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Persecution" (PDF). 
• "The Death of Jesus and the Rise of the Christian Persecution Myth - review". The Daily Beast. 31 March 2013. 
• Miller, Laura (24 February 2013). ""The Myth of Persecution": Early Christians weren't persecuted". Salon. 
• Daly, Maureen (27 March 2013). "The long shadow of the martyr myth". National Catholic Reporter. 
• Blake, John (30 March 2013). "Christ was persecuted, but what about Christians?". CNN Belief Blog. 
• Radner, Ephraim (May 2013). "Unmythical Martyrs A review of The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom". First Things. 
• "THE MYTH OF PERSECUTION How Early Christians Invented a Story of Persecution". Kirkus Reviews. 26 November 2012. 
• Haykin, Michael (25 August 2014). "The Myth of Persecution". 

References

External links

• Official website