Michael Peppard

Dr. Michael Peppard is a scholar and teacher whose primary work brings to light the meanings of the New Testament and other Christian sources in their social, political, artistic, and ritual contexts. He also frequently offers commentary on current events at the nexus of religion, politics, and culture for venues such as Commonweal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and has appeared frequently on CNN, PBS, MSNBC, and other networks.

His first book, The Son of God in the Roman World: Divine Sonship in Its Social and Political Context (Oxford, 2011), was a recipient of the Manfred Lautenschläger Award for Theological Promise, sponsored by the University of Heidelberg. Scholarly articles have appeared in over ten journals, including flagship publications for biblical studies, early Christian studies, liturgical studies, Jewish-Christian relations, and Catholic theology. His regular course topics include the New Testament, early Christianity, art and ritual, religion and politics, and the languages of Greek and Coptic.

Several of his current research projects deal with early Christian art, ritual, and material culture. His second book, The World’s Oldest Church: Bible, Art, and Ritual at Dura-Europos, Syria (Yale, 2016), offers a theological and liturgical reinterpretation of the artistic remains of the oldest securely datable church building--from mid-third-century Syria. Dr. Peppard also trained as a papyrologist with materials in both Greek and Coptic and mentors students in this area.

Other active research projects include: early Christology; Christian interaction with Roman imperial rhetoric and ideology; early Christian texts in Coptic; and the reception history of Jesus’ parables. As a break from studying the past, Dr. Peppard participates in the campus conversation about religion in public life, in part through his affiliation with the Curran Center for American Catholic Studies.

Dr. Peppard hails originally from Colorado and currently lives in New York with his wife and daughter.

PhD - Yale University

MAR - Yale Divinity School

Certificate- Yale Institute of Sacred Music

BA - University of Notre Dame

*New Testament Studies – Gospels; Christology; Parables; Rhetoric.

*Early Christianity – Art, Ritual, and Material Culture; Coptic studies; Jewish and Christian Identity Formation; Roman Religion; Papyrology; Early Christian Women.

*Reception History of the Bible – liturgical, artistic, theological, material.

*Contemporary Issues – Catholicism in American public life; Jewish-Christian relations; Religion and American Politics.

The World’s Oldest Church: Bible, Art, and Ritual at Dura-Europos, Syria. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016.

“Illuminating the Dura-Europos Baptistery: Comparanda for the Female Figures.” Journal of Early Christian Studies 20 (2012): 543-74.

The Son of God in the Roman World: Divine Sonship in its Social and Political Context. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.

“The Eagle and the Dove: Roman Imperial Sonship and the Baptism of Jesus (Mark 1.9-11).” New Testament Studies 56 (2010): 431-51.

“Do We Share a Book? The Sunday Lectionary and Jewish-Christian Relations.” Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations 1 (2005-6): 89-102.