Project Summary

My recent research project on embodied readings of ancient texts is focused on the early Christian apocalypse known as the Shepherd of Hermas, one of the most widely read books in the early Church. I use integrative approaches from the fields of cognitive literary theory and cross-cultural anthropology. My most recent monograph, An Embodied Reading of the Shepherd of Hermas: The Book of Visions and its Role in Moral Formation, is published in the Studies in Ancient Religion & Culture series by Equinox Press in summer 2023. In addition to this book, I co-edited the volume Experiencing the Shepherd of Hermas (De Gruyter, 2022), with Harry O. Maier. This volume offers fresh insights on the Shepherd by today’s leading scholars. 

Publications

Books

Harkins, Angela Kim. An Embodied Reading of the Shepherd of Hermas: The Book of Visions and its Role in Moral Formation. Studies in Ancient Religion & Culture. Sheffield: Equinox, 2023.

Harkins, Angela Kim and Harry O. Maier (ed.). Experiencing the Shepherd of Hermas. Ekstasis 10. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2022.

Essays

Harkins, Angela Kim. “Entering the Narrative World of Hermas’s Visions.” Pages 117-36 in Experiencing the Shepherd of Hermas. Ekstasis 10. Edited by Angela Kim Harkins and Harry O. Maier. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2022.

Harkins, Angela Kim. Looking at the Shepherd of Hermas through the Experience of Lived Religion.” Pages 49-70 in Lived Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World: Approaching Religious Transformations from Archaeology, History and Classics. Edited by Valentino Gasparini, Maik Patzelt, Rubina Raja, Anna-Katharina Rieger, Jörg Rüpke, Emiliano Urciuoli. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020 (open access).

Presentations

2022    “The Shepherd of Hermas: New Research on the Oldest Non-Canonical Christian Text.” Department of Classical Studies at Brandeis University. Dec. 1.

2021    “Entering into the ‘Possible Narrative World’ of Hermas’s Visions.” Centro Italiano di Studi

Superiori sulle Religioni (CISSR). 7^th Annual Meeting on Christian Origins. Virtual Bertinoro, Italy Meeting. Oct. 2.

2021    “A New Look at Hermas’s Book of Visions.” Simultaneous Session. Catholic Biblical Association, July 31.

2021    “An Enactive Re-reading of Hermas’s Vision of Rhoda.” Presidential Address at the New England and Eastern Canada Regional Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. March 5-6.

2021    “Seeing through the Eyes of Hermas,” Biblical and Early Christian Studies online Virtual Seminar. Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry. Australian Catholic University. February 24.

2019    “Experiencing the Journey: Spaces in the Book of Visions of the Shepherd of Hermas.” Boston Area Patristics Group, Cambridge, MA. January 24.

2018    “Emotions and Visionary Experiences in the Shepherd of Hermas.” SBL Annual Meeting. Denver, CO.  November 16-20.

2018    “Experiencing the Journey: Spaces in the Book of Visions of the Shepherd of Hermas.” Centro Italiano di Studi Superiori sulle Religioni. Annual Meeting on Christian Origins. Bertinoro. 27-29 September, 2018.

2017    “Looking at Individual Experiences of Lived Religion in the Past as More than the Cultivation of the Self.” Lived Religion in Antiquity. Eisenach, Germany. April. Flight and accommodations funded by the ERC Advanced Grant.