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CURRICULUM VITAE
Joel Thomas Walker
Department of History Office phone: (206) 616-1972
University of Washington FAX: (206) 543-9451
Smith Hall 314 / Box 353560 E-mail: jwalker@u.washington.edu
Seattle, Washington 98195
Citizenship: American (born Mobile, AL 11/14/68).
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
2006-present: Associate Professor, History Department, University of Washington, Seattle
Adjunct Professor, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization
Voting Member of the University’s Comparative Religion Program.
1998-2006: Assistant Professor, University of Washington, Seattle.
1997-1998: Acting Assistant Professor, University of Washington, Seattle.
Visiting appointments:
Summer, 2007 Medieval Institute, Notre Dame University, South Bend, Indiana.
Spring, 2006 Institute of History, Uzbek Academy of Sciences, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
1997-1998 Institute of Archaeology, Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Macedonia.
EDUCATION
Princeton University, Ph.D., Department of History, June, 1998; Certificate: Program in the Ancient World; Dissertation title: “Hagiography and Christian Community in Late Antique Iraq (500-700 A.D.),” supervised by Professor Peter R. L. Brown.
M.A., Department of History, March, 1994, with honors.
Oxford University, Oriental Institute, visiting researcher, 1994-95.
Rice University, B.A., double major in Ancient Mediterranean Civilizations and English, June, 1991, cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.
Stanford University, Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome, Jan.-May, 1989.
Publications
Books (Monographs and edited volumes)
The Legend of Mar Qardagh: Narrative and Christian Heroism in Late Antique Iraq. Transformation of the Classical Heritage 40. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 2006.
Editor, with Scott Noegel and Brannon Wheeler, Prayer, Magic, and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World. Magic in History series. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003. Co-author of introduction (1-17).
Articles (in journals and conference publications)
“Hagiography as History in Late Antique Iraq: The History of St. George of Izla (†614) by Babai the Great.” In “Writing true stories”: Historians and Hagiographers in the Late Antique and Medieval Near East, edited by Arietta Papaconstantinou and Muriel Debié (Brepols, forthcoming).
“The Legacy of Mesopotamia in Late Antique Iraq: The Christian Martyr Shrine at Melqi (Neo-Assyrian Milqia,” ARAM: The Journal of Syro-Mesopotamian Studies 18-19 (2006-2007): 471-96.
“Against the Eternity of the Stars: Disputation and Christian Philosophy in Late Antique Iraq,” in La Persia e Bizanzio, ed. G. Gnoli et A. Panaino (Rome: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 2004), 518-35.
“The Tahirler Report (Beypazari Province): Preliminary Report for 2001 Season,” Arastirma Sonuçalari Toplantisi 21 (2003): 101-10.
“The Limits of Late Antiquity: Philosophy between Rome and Iran,” Ancient World 33 (2002): 45-69.
Review articles
“Iran and its Neighbors in Late Antiquity: The Art of the Sasanian Empire, 224-642 C.E.” American Journal of Archaeology 11 (2007): 795-801.
Major work in progress
From Heaven and the Sea: Pearls in the Arts, Imagination, and Economy of Late Antiquity.
A monograph integrating literary, art historical, and archaeological evidence to examine the role of pearls as objects of adornment and spirituality in the Roman Empire, early Christianity, Byzantium, the Sasanian Empire, and early Islam.
Witness to the Mongols: The Empire of Genghis Khan and his Successors through the Eyes of their Contemporaries, in preparation for Hackett Publishing. Witness to the Mongols will trace the rise of the Mongol Empire through primary sources with brief introductions and annotations.
Translation, historical introduction, and commentary on the Life of George of Izla by Babai the Great (†628 C.E.), the political and spiritual leader of the Church of the East on the eve of the Islamic conquest of Iraq. In preparation for new series of translations to be published by Gorgias Press (Hackensack, New Jersey), edited by Adam Becker and Scott McDonough.
Ascetic Literacy: Books and Readers in the Christian Middle East, ca. 500-1286 C.E.
A monograph exploring the diverse uses of books, manuscript production and distribution, libraries, and theories of reading in the monastic communities of the Syrian Christian world extending from Egypt to Central Asia.
Encyclopedia articles and other short pieces
“Anastasiopolis (Dikmen Hüyük),” in The Encyclopedia of Early Christian Archaeology, ed. P. C. Finney (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdsmanns, forthcoming). Submitted December, 2001.
“The Acts of Mar Qardagh,” in Readings in Late Antiquity: A Sourcebook, ed. Michael Maas (New York: Routledge, 2000), pp. 136-37.
“The Nestorians,” in Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World, ed. Glen Bowersock, Oleg Grabar, and Peter Brown (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999), pp. 602-3.
“The Anachronism of Orthodoxy: A Response to ‘The Knowability of God in Gregory of Nyssa’s Answer to the Second Book of Eunomius,’ Koinonia, The Princeton Theological Seminary Graduate Forum VII.2 (Fall, 1995): 187-90.
Book reviews
Gabriele Puschnigg, Ceramics of the Merv Oasis: Recycling the City (Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2006).” forthcoming in the Journal of American Archaeology 12 (2008).
Wilhelm Baum and Dietmar W. Winkler, The Church of the East: A Concise History (London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003), forthcoming in Hugoye: The Journal of Syriac Studies 10, no. 3 (Autumn, 2007).
Nadia Maria el Cheikh, Byzantium Viewed by the Arabs (Cambridge, Mass. and London: Harvard University Press, 2004), in Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies 82, no. 1 (January, 2007): 179-181.
Konstantinos Sp. Staikos. The History of the Library in Western Civilization: From Constantine the Great to Cardinal Bessarion (New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2007), in SHARP News (Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing), forthcoming, 2008.
Nadia Maria el Cheikh, Byzantium Viewed by the Arabs (Cambridge, Mass. and London: Harvard University Press, 2004), in Speculum: Journal of Medieval History, forthcoming, 2006.
Kevin Butcher, Roman Syria and the Near East (Los Angeles: Getty Publications; London: British Museum Press, 2003), in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2006.06.21 (6 pages).
The Chronicle of Pseudo-Joshua the Stylite, trans. Frank R. Trombley and John Watt (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2000), in The International Journal of Ancient Iranian Studies 2.2 (2002-2003): 105-8.
John Joseph, The Modern Assyrians of the Middle East: Encounters with Western Christian Missions, Archaeologists, and Colonial Powers (Leiden: Brill, 2002), in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies63, no.2 (2004): 122-23.
Molly Greene, A Shared World: Christians and Muslims in the Early Modern Mediterranean (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000) in Religious Studies Review 27 no. 4 (2001): 426-27.
Chase Robinson, Empire and Elites after the Muslim Conquest: The Transformation of Northern Mesopotamia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), in History: A Review of New Books 29.4 (2001): 177.
Mark Vessey and William Klingshirn (eds.), The Limits of Early Christianity: Essays in Honor of Robert H. Markus, in The Medieval Review01.04.04 (6 pages).
Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History, trans. F. C. Cruse (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998) in the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 3 (2000/2001) (2 pages).
Ray Kamoo, Ancient and Modern Chaldean History: A Comprehensive Bibliography of Sources (Lanham, Maryland and London: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1999), in Religious Studies Review 26, no. 4 (2000): 366.
A Treatise on the Veneration of Icons by Theodore Abu Qurrah, Bishop of Harran (C. 755-C. 830 A.D.), trans. Sidney Griffith (Louvain: Peeters, 1997), in Religious Studies Review 26, no. 4 (2000): 385.
Book reviews in preparation for The Historian, Religious Studies Review, and Hugoye: The Journal of Syriac Studies.
Awards and fellowships SINCE Graduate School
2007 NEH Summer Seminar Fellowship ($4200): For six-week seminar entitled “The Middle East between Rome and Persia: Early Christianity on the Path to Islam” Notre Dame University, June 18 - July 27, 2007.
2003 J. William Fulbright Scholarship (Lecturing) ($19,000) Renewal and extension of 2002 Fulbright Lecturing fellowship for Skopje, Macedonia.
2002 J. William Fulbright Scholarship (Lecturing) ($24,300), to teach Byzantine history and archaeology at SS. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia, January-July, 2003.
2001 Collaborative Research Project Grant, ($30,000), Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities, University of Washington. Co-organizer with Daniel Waugh (History) and Cynthea Bogel (Art History). Full funding for the Silk Road Seattle Project.
2001 Teaching Release and Grant ($17,000), Royalty Research Foundation, University of Washington, Spring, 2001, for project entitled “In Search of St. Theodore: Archaeology and History of Late Roman Anatolia.”
2000 Teaching Release Fellowship, Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities, University of Washington, Spring, 2000, to co-teach graduate course on “Heresy, Orthodoxy, and Religious Coercion in Late Antiquity.”
1999 Conference Grant, Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities, University of Washington, for “Prayer, Magic, and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World,” March 4-6, 2000.
1999 Collaborative Research Project Grant, Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities, University of Washington, to support creation of the Colloquium for the Study of Late Antiquity, Spring, 1999.
Undergraduate Teaching
Undergraduate lecture courses:
Western Civilizations to the “Fall of Rome” Typical enrollment: 200-250
The World of Late Antiquity, ca. 150-ca. 750 C.E. Typical enrollment: 60
The Byzantine Empire, 527-1453 C.E. Typical enrollment: 60
Jerusalem: From King David to the Dome of the Rock Last offered in 2001
Undergraduate seminars:
Religion, Art, and Politics in the Age of Constantine the Great Capped enrollment: 25
Archaeology and History of Late Roman Anatolia Last offered in 2002
Undergraduate mentoring:
Director for six Mary Gates Undergraduate Research Fellows:
Brendan Haug (Classics), 1-12, 2003 (Roman law in the age of Justinian)
Wade Neal (History), 4-12, 2002 (Data-base for the Tahirler Project)
Richard Peterson (History), 9/2001-3/2002 (Late Roman and Byzantine cities)
Monica Meadows (History), 4-12, 2001 (Roman roads and administration)
Greg Civay (Anthropology), 4-8/2001 (Historical maps of Byzantine Anatolia)
Bryan Averbuch (Near Eastern Studies), 1-6, 2001 (Sasanian archaeology)
graduate Teaching
Graduate seminars:
The Mongols: co-taught with colleague in Central Asian history (winter, 2008).
Introduction to the Roman Near East (spring, 2007; spring, 2005)
Books, Readers, and Literacy in the World of Late Antiquity (autumn, 2006)
The World of Late Antiquity: An Introduction to the Historiography (2001, 2003)
Warfare, Diplomacy, and Empire in the Age of Justinian (autumn, 2002)
The Holy Land in Late Antiquity and Early Islam (winter, 2002)
Heresy, Orthodoxy, and Religious Coercion in Early Christianity (spring, 2000)
Asceticism and Monastic Biography in Late Antiquity (autumn, 1998)
Current Ph.D. students:
Elizabeth Campbell (History): Christian monasteries of medieval Syria and Iraq
Thomas Cramer (History): The double monastery in Anglo-Saxon England
Joseph Creamer (History): Bishops and their biographers in thirteenth-century England
Jason Shattuck (History): Roman history
Stefan Kamola (History): Central Asian history
Ph.D. students who have defended:
Richard Tada (History): Hellenism and historiography in the early Parthian Empire. February, 2008.
Elliott Ohannes, (Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Near and Middle Eastern Studies):
Sir William Ramsay: an intellectual biography; March, 2007.
Byron Nakamura (History): Images of Diocletian in the Later Roman Empire; May, 2001.
Current M.A. students:
Nicholas Grossenbacher (History): Christianity in the Middle East
Ben Nickodemus (Comparative Religion): early Christian art
Lee Beaudoen (Museology): Byzantine archaeology and Turkish museums
M.A. students who completed exams with me:
Four of my Ph.D. students: Campbell, Cramer, Shattuck, and Tada; plus:
Adam Larson (Comparative Religion): Syriac Christianity, 2005
Bryan Averbuch (NELC): Late Antiquity and early Islam, 2005
- now in Ph.D. program in Middle Eastern history at Harvard
Deana DeLorenzo, (Comparative Religion): Early Christianity and Islam, 2002
Juliet Crawford (Comparative Religion): Early Christianity, 2001
- now in Religious Studies Ph.D. program at the University of Virginia
Eric Scherbensky (Comparative Religion): Early Christianity, M.A., 2001
- now in Religious Studies Ph.D. program at the University of North Carolina
Jennifer Dean (History): Late Antiquity (North Africa), M.A., 2000
Organization of Conferences and Lecture Series
Silk Road Seattle:
Multi-year lecture series co-organized with Daniel Waugh (Russian history), Florian Schwarz (Islamic history), and other University of Washington faculty in Art History, Comparative Religion, and Near Eastern Languages and Civilization.
2006-2007: The Silk Road in the Mongol Era (4 lectures)
2004-2005: Buddhism on the Silk Road (4 lectures)
Spring, 2002: Art and Religion on the Silk Road (5 lectures; photography exhibit)
Prayer, Magic, and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World
International symposium, March 3-5, 2000, at the University of Washington, Seattle. Co-organized with Profs. S. Noegel and B. Wheeler of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization.
Jerusalem in the Western Religious Tradition
A six-part public lecture series in 1999-2000 to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the University of Washington’s Comparative Religion Program. The lecture series was the central event of a long-range initiative for outreach and fund-raising. Co-organized with Professors Wheeler and Noegel.
Archaeological Field Work
Field director, The Tahirler Project (1997-98, 2000-2003)
This project, initiated by my dissertation director, Peter Brown, investigated the history and archaeology of the Roman/Byzantine province of Galatia, focusing on sites along the Roman highway connecting Constantinople to Ankara and the eastern frontier. Three short seasons of field survey with a team of 4-7 members allowed us to identify a series of rural, late Roman and Byzantine sites and to link some of these sites to the career of the early Byzantine “holy man” St. Theodore of Sykeon (†613 C.E). A major Website and database documenting the results of the project will be re-launched in summer, 2008.
Trench supervisor, Aqaba, Jordan, May-June, 1994, North Carolina State Roman Aqaba Project. Excavated mud-brick domestic complex of early Byzantine period.
Excavator, Bliesbrück, Lorraine, France, July, 1993. Excavation of a Gallo-Roman town under sponsorship of the French Ministry of Culture.
Archaeology intern, Malheur National Wildlife Reserve, Princeton, Oregon, USA, June-August, 1991. Survey and excavation of Northern Paiute village site.
Archaeology Field School, University of Texas at Austin Metaponto Project, Crotone, Italy, June-August, 1990. Excavation of Neolithic agricultural site.
Excavator, Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Würtemberg, Tübingen, Germany, July, 1989. Excavation of pit houses from an early medieval village.
Independent travel and study of archaeological sites, especially Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic in Europe (1989-93), Tunisia and Morocco (1992), Jordan and Syria (1994), Turkey (1994, 1996-2002), the former Yugoslavia (2003-04), Uzbekistan (2006), and China (2006-2008).
Papers at Academic Conferences since 1998
“Remembering St. Theodore of Sykeon: Hagiography and Topography in Late Roman Anatolia,” for conference Landscapes of the Saints: Hagiography, Land, and Social Change in Europe and the Near East, ca. 500-1000. Princeton University.
March 28-29, 2008.
“Hazarowai becomes Maria: Narratives of Female Conversion to Christianity in the Late Sasanian Empire.” For conference: Images and Lives of Women in Ancient Iran. California State University, Fullerton. April 21, 2007. Santa Ana, California.
“‘A Race Far Superior to That of Men’: Christian Women at the Mongol Court.” Second International Conference on Issues in Comparative Religious Studies in Central Asia. University of Washington. April, 15, 2007. Seattle, Washington.
“Remembering the Martyrs: Performance and Hagiography in Late Antique Iraq,” for the Thirty-Sixth Annual Medieval Workshop, University of British Columbia: The Performance of the Past: History and Histrionics in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, 27-28 October, 2006. Vancouver, Canada.
“Hagiography as History in Late Antique Iraq: The Contribution of Babai the Great.” Invited paper for panel entitled “‘Writing true stories’: Historians and Hagiographers in the Late Antique and Medieval Near East,” at the Twenty-First International Congress of Byzantine Studies. August 21-26, 2006. London, England.
“The Festival at Melqi: A Late Antique Martyr Shrine in Adiabene (Northern Iraq),” for the Twenty-first International ARAM Conference on Pilgrimages and Shrines in the Syrian World. Oxford University. July 6-8, 2005. Oxford, England.
“Books and Readers in East-Syrian Monastic Tradition,” Invited paper for panel organized by Professor Andrea Sterk for the Association of Church Historians. Meeting held jointly with the American Historical Association, January 4-5, 2005. Seattle, WA.
“Against the Eternity of the Stars: Disputation and Christian Philosophy in Late Antique Iraq” Invited paper for La Persia e Bisanzio; international conference hosted by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and the Istituto Italiano per L’Africa e L’Oriente. October 14-18, 2002. Rome, Italy.
“The Politics of Conversion: Christians and Zoroastrians in Late Sasanian Iraq,” paper for panel entitled “New Light on Late Sasanian History,” MESA 2000: Thirty-Fourth Annual Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association, November 17-19, 2000, Orlando, Florida.
“Syriac Christianity and the Assyrian Past,” invited paper for the Third Annual Meeting of the Assyrian and Babylonian Intellectual Heritage Project, October 27-31, 2000. Chicago, Illinois.
“Religious Disputation in Early Byzantium and Late Antique Iraq,” The Pious and the Profane: Religion and Public Culture, Nineteenth Annual Western Humanities Alliance Conference, October 12-14, 2000, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
“The Shrine of Mar Qardagh of Arbela: The Transformation of Sacred Space in Late Antique Iraq,” for a panel I organized on Sasanian history for the Third Biennial Conference on Iranian Studies, May 25-28, 2000, Washington, D.C.
“Children of Mar Abraham: The Desert Fathers of Late Antique Iraq,” invited paper for conference entitled Out of the Desert: Dry Places in History and Imagination, February 24-26, 2000; Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, California.
“East of Byzantium: The Sasanian Empire and the Limits of Late Antiquity,” invited paper for a panel hosted by the Association of Ancient Historians, January 8-9, 2000 at the 114th Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, Chicago, Illinois.
“The Tahirler Project: Archaeological Reconnaissance in Western Galatia,” Twenty-First International Symposium of Excavations, Surveys, and Archaeometry; National Library, May 24-28, 1999. Ankara, Turkey.
“In Search of St. Theodore in Central Anatolia: Archaeological Survey of late Roman Galatia,” Twenty-fourth Annual Byzantine Studies Conference, October 20-22, 1998. Lexington, Kentucky.
“Family Conflict in the Legends of the Sasanian Martyrs,” Fourth World Syriac Studies Conference, September 6-12, 1998. Kottayam, Kerala, India.
“‘Your Heroic Deeds Give Us Pleasure!’: Christianity and the Persian Epic Tradition,” for conference entitled Iran: Continuity, Change, and Transition, University of California at Los Angeles, February 8-9, 1997.
“Crosses and Fire Altars: Sasanian Seals as Evidence for Christianity in the Persian Aristocracy,” Twenty-Second Annual Byzantine Studies Conference, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. October 24-27, 1996.
“Women and Christianity in late Sasanian Iraq,” Fifth Annual JUSUR Graduate Student Conference on the Middle East, April 26-7, 1996, University of California, Los Angeles, California.
“History and Hagiography in late Sasanian Iraq: The Acts of Mar Qardagh the Assyrian,” Syriac Studies Conference. Catholic University. Washington, DC, August, 1995.
“Mission Narrative and Ethnography in the Ecclesiastical History of Philostorgius the Cappodocian († 439 A.D.),” Twentieth Annual Byzantine Studies Conference, University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, Michigan, October 20-23, 1994.
PUblic Lectures at Universities And REsearch Institutes
“The Monks of Kublai Khan: Christianity under the Mongols”
1. Silk Road Seattle, University of Washington, 3 April, 2007. Seattle, Washington.
2. Center for the Preservation of Ancient Religious Traditions, Brigham Young University, scheduled for September 11, 2008.
“Books and Readers in the Christian Middle East”
1. Al-Biruni Institute. Tashkent, Uzbekistan. June 30, 2006.
2. Center for the Study of Early Christianity, Catholic University. Washington, D.C. February 3, 2006.
3. Late Antiquity Study Group, University of California, Berkeley. Dec. 5, 2005.
“Narrative and Christian Heroism in Late Antique Iraq: The Legend of St. Qardagh”
1. Institute of History, Uzbek Academy of Arts and Sciences. June 26, 2006.
2. Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, October 18, 2006.
3. Center for the Study of Early Christianity, Catholic University, Feb. 2, 2006
4. Department of Religion, Duke University, February 7-9, 2000.
“In Search of St. Theodore: History and Archaeology of Early Byzantine Anatolia,”
1. First Annual Lecture on Classical Culture, sponsored by the Department of Classics and the American Institute of Archaeology. University of Washington. February, 17, 2000,
2. Saints Cyril and Methodios University, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. Department of History and Institute for Art History and Archaeology; May 14, 2003.
3. University of British Columbia,. For interdepartmental series: “Saints and their Afterlives,” March 7, 2002.
4. Portland State University. Portland chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America; January 18, 2001.
“Christianity and Local Culture in the Kingdom of Aksum (Ethiopia)”
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. February 7-9, 2000.
PUBLIC LECTURES FOR COMMUNITY GROUPS
“Teaching Stobi in America: Instructional Methodologies at an American Research University,” American Cultural Center, Bitola, Macedonia, April 20, 2004.
“The Jewish and Christian Communities of Northern Iraq,” Temple Beth Am, Seattle, April 21, 2002.
“The Suriyane Christians of Southeastern Turkey,” for the Seattle chapter of the Turkish-American Association, January 19, 2002.
“Early Christian Pilgrims in the Holy Land” St. James Episcopal Church, Seattle, Washington, March 18, 2000.
Languages
Reading: German, French, Italian, Latin, Greek, and Syriac (Christian Aramaic).
Speaking: German (comfortable), conversational French and Turkish, elementary Russian
Professional Affiliations
Byzantine Studies Society of North America
American Research Center in Egypt, president, NW chapter, 2006 -
Fulbright Association, lifetime member, 2005 -
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