Margaret M. Mitchell

Margaret M. Mitchell is a literary historian of ancient Christianity and the Bible. Her research and teaching span a range of topics in New Testament and early Christian writings up through the end of the fourth century. She analyzes how the earliest Christians literally wrote their way into history, developing a literary and religious culture that was deeply embedded in Hellenistic Judaism and the wider Greco-Roman world. Her special interests include the poetics and politics of ancient biblical interpretation, and the intersection of text, image, and artifact in the fashioning of early Christian culture.

Prof. Mitchell is the author of four books: Paul and the Rhetoric of Reconciliation; The Heavenly Trumpet: John Chrysostom and the Art of Pauline Interpretation, The “Belly-Myther” of Endor: Interpretations of 1 Kingdoms 28 in the Early Church and Paul, the Corinthians and the Birth of Christian Hermeneutics. Prof. Mitchell’s research has been supported by grants and fellowships from the Luce, Mellon and Guggenheim foundations.