University of Texas - Austin, Religious Studies

Postdoctoral Fellowship in Ancient Mediterranean Religions

ISAC Postdoctoral Fellowship in Ancient Mediterranean Religions

Department of Religious Studies

The University of Texas at Austin

The Department of Religious Studies at the University of Texas at Austin seeks to appoint in Fall 2023 a two-year postdoctoral fellow affiliated with the Institute for the Study of Antiquity and Christian Origins (ISAC) in the field of Ancient Mediterranean Religions (AMR). We seek early career scholars working in Christian origins (including New Testament studies, Second Temple Judaism, Early Christianity, and Late Antiquity) whose research engages non-traditional archives and diverse perspectives. Specifically, our priority is to support scholarship in AMR that engages with one or more of the following themes:

Decoloniality and Subalternity:

Research that examines the role of religion among communities struggling against systems of oppression such as colonization or other forms of dominance. Topics may include, but are not limited to, religious identities of racialized, ethnic, disabled, gendered, and sexual minorities; religious experiences of enslaved persons; feminist and intersectional interpretation of biblical texts; hagiographies of the socially marginal.

Migration and Diaspora Studies:

Research that explores religious practice among populations shaped by displacement or alienation from their cultures of origin. Topics may include, but are not limited to, xenophobia and religious prejudice toward migrants; religion in borderland communities; cross-cultural/cross religious textual reception; religion and diasporic identities; religious boundary crossing and hybridity.

Review of applications will begin Dec 3, 2022. Applications will be accepted until positions are filled.

Responsibilities:

• Teach two courses per academic year, one in each long semester.
• Present research work in a department or area colloquium in the first year of the postdoc
• In the second year, organize a research symposium or conference on an interdisciplinary topic, preferably in collaboration with another department or research unit at UT Austin.
• Participate in department and university intellectual communities and programs concerning Christian Origins, Biblical Studies, and Late Antiquity.

Required Qualifications:

Applicants should hold a Ph.D. in Religious Studies or a related field in the area of Ancient Mediterranean Religions by the time of appointment. Ph.D. must have been received no more than three years prior to the start date.

Salary, benefits, and research support: 

• $65,000 salary plus standard faculty benefits.
• $4,000 in relocation support.
• $4,000/year in research support.
• Additional funds from ISAC will be available for organizing a conference or research symposium.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.