Website for Michael A. Williams

Curriculum vitae

Michael A. Williams

Professor, Comparative Religion Program,
Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies;
and the Department of Near Eastern Languages & Civilization

University of Washington
Seattle, WA
maw@uw.edu

EDUCATION: 

  • B.A.  1968  Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas  (Religious Studies; summa cum laude)
  • M.A.  1970  Miami University, Oxford, Ohio  (Hellenistic-Roman Religions)
  • Ph.D. 1977  Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.  (New Testament and Christian Origins)

ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT AND UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE:

  • 1976-77      Acting Assistant Professor, Comparative Religion Program, Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
  • 1977-83      Assistant Professor of Comparative Religion, University of Washington
  • 1983-95      Associate Professor of Comparative Religion, University of Washington
  • 1995-98      Professor of Comparative Religion, University of Washington
  • 1998-           Professor of Comparative Religion and Near Eastern Languages & Civilization

 

  • Member of Middle East Studies Program, Jackson School of International Studies
  • Member of the International Studies Program, Jackson School of International Studies
  • Adjunct Professor, Department of Near East Languages and Civilizations, University of Washington (1984-98; joint appointment as Professor, 1998- )
  • Adjunct Professor, Department of History, University of Washington (1995-  )

 

  • Chair, Comparative Religion Program, University of Washington (1985-91)
  • Chair, College of Arts and Sciences Curriculum, Practices, and Standards Committee (1997-98)
  • Chair, Department of Near East Languages and Civilization, University of Washington (1997-2005)

 

PUBLICATIONS

  1. Books and Editions
    • Translator and assistant editor of:  Martin Dibelius, A Commentary on the Epistle of James (11th German edition by Heinrich Greeven), ed. Helmut Koester, Hermeneia Series (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975).
    • Editor, Charisma and Sacred Biography, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Thematic Studies Series, 48:3-4 (Chico, California: Scholars Press, 1982).
    • `The Immovable Race’: A Gnostic Designation and the Theme of Stability in Late Antiquity, Nag Hammadi Studies 29 (Leiden, Brill:  1985).
    • Co-editor, with Collett Cox and Martin Jaffee, Innovation in Religious Traditions: Essays in the Interpretation of Religious Change, Religion and Society (Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1992)
    • Rethinking “Gnosticism”: An Argument for Dismantling a Problematic Category (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996; paperback edition, 1999)
  1. Articles and Chapters
    • “Realized Eschatology in the Gospel of Philip,” Restoration Quarterly 14 (1971): 1-17.
    • “Stability as a Soteriological Theme in Gnosticism,” in The Rediscovery of Gnosticism, ed. Bentley Layton, Vol. 2, Studies in the History of Religions (Supplements to NUMEN) (Leiden:  Brill, 1981), pp. 819-29.
    • “The Life of Antony and the Domestication of Charismatic Wisdom,” in Charisma and Sacred Biography (see above), pp. 23-45.
    • “Uses of Gender Imagery in Ancient Gnostic Texts,” in Gender and Religion: on the Complexity of Symbols, ed. Caroline Bynum, Stevan Harrell, and Paula Richman (Boston: Beacon Press, 1986), pp. 196-227.
    • “The Scribes of the Nag Hammadi Codices,” preliminary report on research in Egypt, summer 1987, Newsletter of the American Research Center in Egypt 139 (1987): 1-7.
    • “Variety in Gnostic Perspectives on Gender,” in Images of the Feminine in Gnosticism, ed. Karen L. King, Studies in Antiquity and Christianity 3 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988), pp. 2-22.
    • “Divine Image — Prison of Flesh: Perspectives on the Body in Ancient Gnosticism,” in Fragments for a History of the Human Body, ed. Michel Feher, Ramona Naddaff and Nadia Tazi, Zone 3/1 (1989): 129-47.
    • “Higher Providence, Lower Providences and Fate in Gnosticism and Middle Platonism,” in Neoplatonism and Gnosticism, ed. Richard T. Wallis and Jay Bregman, Studies in Neoplatonism: Ancient and Modern 6 (New York: SUNY Press, 1992), 483-507.
    • “Codex Brucianus,” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. D. N. Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992)
    • “Religious Innovation: An Introductory Essay,” in Innovation in Religious Traditions: Essays in the Interpretation of Religious Change, ed. Michael A. Williams, Collett Cox and Martin S. Jaffee, Religion and Society (Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1992), 1-17.
    • “The Demonizing of the Demiurge: The Innovation of Gnostic Myth,” in Innovation in Religious Traditions: Essays in the Interpretation of Religious Change, ed. Michael A. Williams, Collett Cox and Martin S. Jaffee, Religion and Society (Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1992), 73-107.
    • “The Scribes of the Nag Hammadi Codices IV, V, VI, VIII and IX,” in Actes du IVe Congrès Copte, Louvain-la-Neuve, 5-10 Septembre, 1988, vol. 2: De la Linguistique au Gnosticisme, ed. Marguerite Rassart-Debergh and Luien Ries, Publications de l’Institut Orientaliste de Louvain 41.  Louvain-la-Neuve: Université Catholique de Louvain, Institut Orientaliste, 1992, 334-42.
    • “Interpreting the Nag Hammadi Library as ‘Collection(s)’ in the History of ’Gnosticism(s)’”  in Les textes de Nag Hammadi et le problème de leur classification: Actes du colloque tenu à Québec du 15 Au-19 Septembre 1993, ed. Louis Painchaud and Anne Pasquier, Bibliothèque Copte de Nag Hammadi, Section “Études” (Québec, Louvain and Paris: Les presses de l’Université Laval and Éditions Peeters, 1995), pp. 3-50.
    • “The Harvest of Hellenism and the Category ‘Gnosticism,’” Syllecta Classica 6 (1995): 87-104.
    • “Gnosticism,” in Dictionary of Ethics, Society and Theology, ed. Andrew Linzey and Paul A.Clarke.  London: Routledge, 1996.
    • “Negative Theologies and Demiurgical Myths in Late Antiquity,” 1997 SBL Seminar Papers.  Scholars Press, pp. 20-46.
    • Response to papers by Karen King, Frederik Wisse, Michael Waldstein and Sergio La Porta, in The Nag Hammadi Library After Fifty Years: Proceedings of the 1995 Society of Biblical Literature Commemoration. Edited by John D. Turner and Anne McGuire. NHMS 44. (Leiden-New York-Koln: Brill, 1997), 208-222.
    • “Secrecy, Revelation, and Late Antique Demiurgical Myths,” in Rending the Veil: Concealment and Secrecy in the History of Religions.  Edited by Elliot R. Wolfson.  (Chappaqua, NY: Seven Bridges Press, 1998), pp. 31-58.
    • “Negative Theologies and Demiurgical Myths in Late Antiquity,” Pp. 277-302 in Gnosticism & Later Platonism: Themes, Figures, and Texts. SBL Symposium Series, 12.  Ed. Ruth Majercik and John D. Turner.  Atlanta: Scholars Press, 2000
    • “Nag Hammadi Codices and Related Texts,” Pp. 485-490 in Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt.  Ed. Donald B. Redford.  New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
    • “Was there a Gnostic Religion?  Strategies for a Clearer Analysis.”  P. 5-29 in Was There a Gnostic Religion?  Ed. Antti Marjanen. Helsinki: Finnish Exegetical Society; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2005.
    • “Sethianism.” Pp. 32-63 in A Companion to Second-Century Christian “Heretics.” Ed. Antti Marjanen and Petri Luomanen. Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 76. (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2005).
    • “Inside the Covers of Codex VI.” Co-authored with my student Lance Jenott. Pp. 1025-1052 in Coptica, Gnostica, Manichaica: Mélanges offerts à Wolf-Peter Funk, edited by Louis Painchaud and Paul-Hubert Poirier. Québec: Les presses de l’Université Laval, 2006.
    • Articles on “Gnosticism”; “Nag Hammadi Codices”; “Apocryphon of John,” in: Patte, Daniel, ed. The Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity. Cambridge et al.: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
    • Primary contributor to: “gnosticism,” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/236343/Gnosticism>
    • “Life and Happiness in the ‘Platonic Underworld,’” Pp. 497-523 in: Gnosticism, Platonism and the Late Ancient World: Essays in Honour of John D. Turner. Edited by Kevin Corrigan and Tuomas Rasimus, in collaboration with Dylan M. Burns, Lance Jenott and Zeke Mazur. Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 82. (Leiden: Brill, 2013.
    • “Did Plotinus’s ‘Friends’ Still Go to Church?: Communal Rituals and Ascent Apocalypses,” Pp. 495-522 in: Practicing Gnosis: Ritual, Magic, Theurgy, and Liturgy in Nag Hammadi, Manichaean and Other Late Antique Literature: Essays in Honor of Birger A. Pearson. Edited by April DeConick, Gregory Shaw, John Turner, Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies (Leiden: Brill, 2013).
    • “A Life Full of Meaning and Purpose: Demiurgical Myths and Social Implications,” Pp. 19-59 in: Beyond the Gnostic Gospels: Studies Building on the Work of Elaine Pagels. Edited by Eduard Iricinschi, Lance Jenott, Nicola Denzey Lewis, and Philippa Townsend. Studies and Texts in Antiquity and Christianity (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013).
    • “‘Are you, or have you ever been, a gnostic?’ Caricatures, Blacklists, and Understanding the Aspirations and Lives of Real People.” Forum Third Series 5,1 (2016): 63-80.
    • “Gnosticism Emergent: The Beginning of the Study of Gnosticism in the Academy.” Pages 3-22 in Religion: Secret Religion. Edited by April D. DeConick. Farmington Hills, MI: Macmillan Reference USA, 2016.
    • “‘Wisdom, Our Innocent Sister’: Reflections on a Mytheme.” Pages 253-90 in Women and Knowledge in Early Christianity. Edited by Ulla Tervahauta, Ivan Miroshnikov, Outi Lehtipuu, and Ismo Dunderberg. Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 144. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2017.
    • Co-authored article with David Coblentz, “A Reexamination of the Articulation Marks in Nag Hammadi Codices II and XIII.” Pages 427-456 in The Nag Hammadi Codices and Late Antique Egypt. Edited by Hugo Lundhaug and Lance Jenott. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2018.
    • “On Ancient ‘Gnosticism’ as a Problematic Category,” in The Gnostic World, ed. Gunner Mikkelsen, Garry W. Trompf, Jay Johnston (Routledge, October 2018).
    • “Irenaeus and His Opponents on Creator, Creation and the Apostle.” In Irenaeus & Paul, edited by Todd D. Still and David E. Wilhite. Pauline and Patristic Scholars in Debate (Book 3), 15-54. Edinburgh, UK: T & T Clark, 2020.
    • “Gnosticism.” In T&T Clark Companion to the Doctrine of Creation, edited by Jason Goroncy. T&T Clark, forthcoming in 2021?
    • “Gnosticism.” In Cambridge Companion to Christian Heresy, edited by Richard Flower. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming in 2021?
  1. Book Reviews
    • Review of:  James M. Robinson, ed., The Nag Hammadi Library in English (New York:  Harper & Row, 1977), in  Journal of Biblical Literature 97 (1978): 610-12.
    • Review of:  Divine Man or Magician; Celsus and Origen on Jesus, by Eugene V. Gallagher, Journal of Biblical Literature 103 (l984): 677f
    • Review of:  The Letter of Peter to Philip:  Text, Translation and Commentary, by Marvin W. Meyer, Journal of Biblical Literature 103 (1984): 675-77.
    • Review of:  La soteriologia dei culti orientali nell’ Impero Romano:  Atti del Colloquio Internazionale su la Soteriologia dei Culti orientali nell’ Impero Romano, Roma, 24-28 Septembre 1979, ed.  Ugo Bianchi and Maarten J. Vermaseren, Etudes preliminaires aux religions orientales dans l’empire romain 92, Journal of the American Academy of Religion 54 (1986): 369f.
    • Review of: The Name of God and the Angel of the Lord: Samaritan and Jewish Concepts of Intermediation and the Origin of Gnosticism, by Jarl E. Fossum, Journal of Biblical Literature 107 (1988): 153-56.
    • Review of: Female Fault and Fulfillment in Gnosticism, by Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley, Journal of the American Academy of Religion 56 (1988): 767-70.
    • Review of: The Economic and Social Origins of Gnosticism, by Henry Green, Second Century 7 (1989-90): 104-106.
    • Review of: Against the Protestant Gnostics, by Philip J. Lee, Christian Scholars Review 19,3 (1990): 317-18.
    • Review of: A Separate God: The Christian Origins of Gnosticism, by Simone Pétrement, Critical Review of Books in Religion 5 (1992): 300-303.
    • Review of: Nag Hammadi Codex VIII, ed. John H. Sieber, Nag Hammadi Studies 31, Journal of Biblical Literature 112 (1993): 546-49.
    • Review of: From Christianity to Gnosis and from Gnosis to Christianity, by Jean Magne, for IOUDAIOS 4.010 (May 1994).
    • Review of: The Teachings of Sylvanus, by Jan Zandee, for Journal of Biblical Literature 113 (1994): 356-58.
    • Review of: Savoir et salut: Traditions juives et tentations dualistes dans le christianisme ancien, by Gedaliahu Guy Stroumsa, for History of Religions 34 (1994): 97-99.
    • Review of: Gnosticism and the New Testament, by Pheme Perkins, for The Journal of Religion 75 (1995): 555-57.
    • Review of: The Woman Jesus Loved: Mary Magdalene in the Nag Hammadi Library & Related Documents, by Antti Marjanen, for the Review of Biblical Literature 1 (1998).
    • Review of: Jesus in the Nag Hammadi Writings, by Majella Franzmann, for The Journal of Religion 78,3 (1998): 431-32.
    • Review of: Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times, ed. Roelof van den Broek and Wouter J. Hanegraaff, for Church History 68,3 (1999): 675.
    • Review of: Richard Smith, A Concise Coptic-English Lexicon, Second edition.  SBL Sources for Biblical Study, 35.  Atlanta, Scholars Press.  For Review of Biblical Literature.
    • Review of: Riemer Roukema, Gnosis and Faith in Early Christianity, for Interpretation 55,1 (2001): 96-98.
    • Review of Thomas Zöckler, Jesu Lehren im Thomasevangelium, NHMS series, for Journal of Religion 81,3 (2001): 457-459.
    • Review of Silke Petersen, ‘Zerstört die Werke der Weiblichkeit!’: Maria Magdalena, Salome & andere Jüngerinnen Jesu in christlich-gnostischen Schriften, NHMS series, for Journal of Religion 81,3 (2001): 452-454.
    • Review of Christoph Markschies, Gnosis: An Introduction, trans. John Bowden. London and New York: T. & T. Clark, 2003.  Review of Biblical Literature (online 09/2004)
    • Review of Einar Thomassen, The Spiritual Seed: The Church of the “Valentinians,” Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 60 (Leiden/Boston: Brill 2006), for the journal NUMEN 53,3 (2006): 396-401.
    • Review of Rodolphe Kasser, M. Meyer and G. Wurst, The Gospel of Judas (National Geographic Society, 2006), for the Journal of Early Christian Studies 15,1 (2007): 110-112.
    • Review of: Buell, Denise K. Why This New Race? Ethnic Reasoning in Early Christianity (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005), or the Journal of Religion 87,2 (2007): 271-272.
    • Review of: Logan, Alastair H. B. The Gnostics: Identifying an Early Christian Cult, Forward by the Archbishop Rowan Williams. London and New York: T & T Clark, 2006. For Theology 111 (2008): 122-123.
    • Review of Karen King, The Secret Revelation of John, for the Journal of the American Academy of Religion 76 (2008): 243-246.
    • Review of David Brakke, The Gnostics: Myth, Ritual, and Diversity in Early Christianity (Harvard U. Press, 2010), for the Journal of Early Christian Studies 19,3 (2011): 479-80.
    • Review of Nicola Denzey Lewis, Introduction to “Gnosticism”: Ancient Voices, Christian Worlds. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. For the journal Church History and Religious Culture 94 (2014): 77-80.
    • Review of Lundhaug, Hugo and Lance Jenott. The Monastic Origins of the Nag Hammadi Codices. Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum/Studies and Texts in Antiquity and Christianity 97. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015. Journal of Theological Studies 67.2 (2016): 801-803.
    • Review of April D. DeConick, The Gnostic New Age: How a Countercultural Spirituality Revolutionized Religion from Antiquity to Today (New York: Columbia University Press. 2016). The Catholic Historical Review 103 (2017): 321-323.

PAPERS AND INVITED LECTURES:

    • “Stability as a Soteriological Theme in Gnosticism,” International Conference on Gnosticism, Yale University, New Haven, Conn., March 28-3l, l978
    • “`Let Him who thinks he stands. . . ‘(l Cor 10:12): A Technical term from Hellenistic-Jewish Wisdom?”  Northwest regional meeting, American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature, Portland, Oregon, April 20-22, l978.
    • “Asceticism in the Nag Hammadi Codices,” Annual meeting, American Research Center in Egypt, San Francisco, California, April 13-l5, 1980.
    • “Gnostic Asceticism and the Early Church,”. Northwest regional meeting, American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature, Spokane, Wash., April 17-19, 1980.
    • “Critique of Martin Hengel, Acts and the History of Early Christianity,”  Northwest regional meeting, AAR/SBL, San Francisco, December 19-22, 1981.
    • “Conversion to Chosen Races in Gnostic Literature,” paper for section on “Conversion in Greco-Roman Antiquity,” national meetings, AAR/SBL, San Francisco, December 19-22, 1981.
    • “The Immovable Race:  Variations on a Gnostic Theologumenon,” paper for Nag Hammadi section, AAR/SBL, New York, December 19-22, 1982.
    • “Higher Providence, Lower Providences and Fate in Gnosticism and Middle Platonism,” for the International Conference on Neoplatonism and Gnosticism, Sixth Annual Conference on the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies, March 18-2l, 1984, University of Oklahoma.
    • “Providence, Fate and Free Will in the Apocryphon of John,” annual meetings, AAR/SBL, Chicago, December 8-12, 1984.
    • “Variety in Gnostic Perspectives on Gender,” for Research Conference on Images of the Feminine in Gnosticism, sponsored by Department of Religious Studies at Occidental College, the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity at the Claremont Graduate School, and the Society of Biblical Literature; Claremont and Anaheim, CA, November 19-26, 1985.
    • “Our Bodies, Our Cells and Our Selves: Gnostic and Hellenistic-Roman Perceptions of the Body,” Pacific Northwest AAR-SBL, Spokane, April 14-16, 1988.
    • “The Scribes of Nag Hammadi Codices IV, V, VI, VIII and IX,” 4th International Congress of Coptic Studies, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, September 5-10, 1988.
    • “Gnostic Kinship Imagery and Social Reality,” Social History of Early Christianity Group, AAR/SBL, Chicago, November 19-22, 1988.
    • “Religious Innovation and Gnostic Origins,” Pacific Northwest AAR-SBL, Portland, May 3-5, 1990.
    • “Gnosticism as Religious Innovation,” XVIth Congress of the International Association of the History of Religions, Rome, September 3-8, 1990
    • “Psychê’s Voice: Gnostic Perceptions of Body and Soul,” joint session of SBL Nag Hammadi Section and AAR Platonism and Neoplatonism Group, National meetings of AAR/SBL, Kansas City, November 23-26, 1991
    • “Freedom by Abuse or Freedom by Non-use = Gnostic Ethics?” Female and Male in Gnosticism Group, AAR/SBL, San Francisco, November 21-24, 1992.
    • “Interpreting the Nag Hammadi Library as ‘Collection(s)’ in the History of ’Gnosticism(s)’”  Invited contribution for conference on “Les textes de Nag Hammadi et le problème de leur classification,” Université Laval, Québec, September, 1993.
    • “Should We Replace Gnosticism as a Category?” second session of Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism Section, AAR/SBL, Washington, November 20-23, 1993.
    • “Breaking Off the Front End: Do Doctrines About Demiurges Denote Dropouts?” Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism Section, AAR/SBL, Chicago, November 18-22, 1994.
    • “Doing without `Gnosticism’ as a Category” New Testament and Hellenistic Religions Section, Pacific Northwest AAR-SBL,  Great Falls, MT, May 2-4, 1996.
    • “Secrecy, Revelation, and Late Antique Demiurgical Myths.”  Paper for conference on “Rending the Veil: Concealment and Revelation of Secrets in the History of Religions” New York University, April 6-7, 1997.
    • “Misreading Other Peoples’ Myths: How Wrong Have We been About ‘Gnosticism’?”  Lecture at Reed College, April 16, 1997.
    • “Negative Theologies and Demiurgical Myths in Late Antiquity.” Paper for the Gnosticism and Later Platonism Seminar, AAR/SBL, San Francisco, November 22-25, 1997.  (Published in the 1997 SBL Seminar Papersvolume.)
    • “Codices and the Canonizing Process:  Two Case Studies from Ancient Christianity.”  Lecture at the Divinity School, University of Chicago, March 4, 1998.
    • “Stories and Secrets, Books and Canons in Ancient Christianity.”  Presidential Address, Pacific Northwest Regional meetings of the AAR/SBL, May 8-10, 1998.
    • “Was There a Gnostic Religion? Strategies for a Clearer Analysis.” International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, Helsinki, Finland and St. Petersburg, Russia. July 17-25, 1999.
    • “Pillars of Utopia: Jerusalem in Early Christian History and Imagination.”  November 17, 1999.  Lecture in series on Jerusalem in Western Religious Traditions, October 1999- February 2000.  Celebrating 25th anniversary of the Comparative Religion Program, University of Washington.
    • “Design in Codex Composition: The Case of Bodmer P72.”  Paper for Consultation on Papyrology and Early Christian Studies, AAR/SBL, Boston, November 20-23, 1999.
    • “Living with Lesser Gods: Heterodox Cosmological Myths and Social Implications in late Antiquity.”  Plenary address at May 27-29, 2004 annual meeting of the North American Patristics Society, Chicago, IL.
    • “Could Manichaeans Be Happy? Cosmology and the Appreciation of Daily Life in Manichaean Communities.”  Invited lecture at Princeton University, October 15, 2009
    • “Gnosticism in Greco-Roman Egypt”; one of three featured lecturers in an intensive summer program presented by the Spiritual Life Institute (SLI), St. Martin’s University, Lacey, Washington, June 24-28, 2013.
    • One of the featured speakers at Westar Institute Seminar on November 21, 2014, at the annual meetings of the American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature in San Diego, Nov. 21-25, 2014.

OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY:

    • Editorial Board, Journal of Biblical Literature, 1990-1995.
    • International Advisory Board member, Catholic University of America Studies in Early Christianity series. 2004-2015
    • Chair, Consultation on “Charisma and Sacred Biography,” National meetings of AAR/SBL, San Francisco, December 19-22, 1981.
    • Chair, New Testament Section, Pacific Northwest annual regional meetings of the AAR/SBL. 1981-83.
    • Chair, Nag Hammadi Section, SBL (national), 1990-92.
    • Steering Committee, Social History of Formative Judaism and Christianity Section, SBL, 1983-91.
    • Steering Committee, Female and Male in Gnosticism Group, SBL, 1985-92.
    • Steering Committee, Nag Hammadi Section, SBL, 1986-1997.
    • Steering Committee, Seminar on Gnosticism and Later Platonism, SBL, 1993-1998.
    • Executive Committee and Nominating Committee, Pacific Northwest Regional AAR/SBL, 1998-99.
    • Presiding, panel on “Life Story and Anecdote:  Uses of Narrative in Sacred Biography,” Comparative Studies in Religion section, national meetings of AAR/SBL, New York, December 19-22, 1982.
    • Panel, Consultation on Sacred Biography, annual meetings, AAR/SBL, Dallas, December 19-22, 1983.
    • Panel, Female and Male in Gnosticism Group (topic: “Myth and Marriage in the Gospel of Philip“), AAR-SBL, Chicago, November 19-22, 1988.
    • Presiding and panel participant, Gnosticism and Platonism, Nag Hammadi Section, National meetings of AAR/SBL, Anaheim, November 1989
    • Presiding, Nag Hammadi Section, National meetings of AAR/SBL, Boston, December 5-8, 1987
    • Presiding, joint session of SBL Nag Hammadi Section and AAR Platonism and Neoplatonism Group, National meetings of AAR/SBL, New Orleans, November 1990
    • Presiding, session of the Social History of Formative Judaism and Christianity Section, National meetings of AAR/SBL, Kansas City, November 23-26, 1991
    • Presiding, session of Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism Section, AAR/SBL, Washington, November 20-23, 1993.
    • Presiding and respondent for panel of authors of books on the Gospel of Judas, AAR/SBL, November 17-20, 2007, San Diego.
    • Respondent, joint session of Nag Hammadi Section and Social History of Early Christianity Group, AAR/SBL, Atlanta, November 22-25, 1986.
    • Respondent, Nag Hammadi Section, AAR/SBL, November 22-25, 1996, New Orleans.
    • Respondent to papers in section on “Challenges to Orthodoxy in the Patristic Age,” American Catholic Historical Association, annual meetings, Seattle, WA, January 9-11, 1998.
    • Respondent to papers by Marvin Meyer, Nicole Denzey and Catherine Burris in the symposium Prayer, Magic, and the Stars in the Ancient & Late Antique World.  University of Washington, Seattle, March 3-5, 2000.
    • Respondent on panel for Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism Group, AAR/SBL, November 23-26, 2002, Toronto.
    • Respondent to five papers in session on “Gnosticism and Platonism,” at annual meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature, November 21-25, 2008, Boston.
    • Critique of: Rasimus, Tuomas. Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence. Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 68. Leiden: Brill, 2009; at the 2014 annual meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature/American Academy of Religion, November 2014, San Diego, CA.
    • Panel member, Society of Biblical Literature, Annual Meeting, 2019, San Diego, CA; discussing Gardner, Iain, Jason D. Beduhn, and Paul Dilley, eds. The Chapters of the Wisdom of My Lord Mani, Part III: Pages 343-442 (Chapters 321-347), Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies, vol. 92. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2018.

GRANTS, AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS, HONORS:

    • 1966-68           National Merit Scholarships, Abilene Christian University
    • 1968-69           Graduate Assistantship, Miami University
    • 1971-74           Harvard University Scholarship
    • 1974-75           Arthur Darby Nock Teaching Fellowship, Harvard
    • 1979                Summer research grant, Graduate School Research Fund, University of Washington
    • 1987                Fellowship, American Research Center in Egypt, June-August
    • 1988                Travel grant to Coptic Conference, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, Graduate School Research Fund, University of Washington
    • 1990                ACLS travel grant to XVIth Congress of the International Association of the History of Religions, Rome, September 3-8, 1990
    • 1990-               Golden Key National Honor Society, honorary member
    • 1990-91           College of Arts and Sciences Liberal Arts Professor for 1990-91 (distinguished teaching award), University of Washington
    • 1991                Professeur-Chercheur Invité, Projet Nag Hammadi, l’Université Laval, Québec, (September-October, 1991)
    • 1992                Eliot Lecture in Religion, Reed College (March 23, 1992)
    • 1992                Summer research grant, Graduate School Research Fund, University of Washington
    • 1996-97           Vice President/President-Elect, Pacific Northwest Regional of the American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature
    • 1997-98           President, Pacific Northwest Regional of the American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature
    • 2000-2001       Senior Scholar, Walter Simpson Humanities Center, Society of Scholars, University of Washington
    • 2003-2005       Principal Investigator, Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Educational Partnerships Grant ($1 M; 3 years) on “Cultural and Comparative Religious Studies”; University of Washington partnership with five institutions of higher education in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.