Dr. Courtney Friesen specializes in religions in the Greek and Roman world, especially Hellenistic Judaism and early Christianity. His research examines the Bible and its reception and the reception of classical Greek literature.
Dr. Friesen earned his Ph.D. in 2013 from the University of Minnesota in Classical and Near Eastern Studies. Before coming to the University of Arizona, he taught at the University of Oxford, Faculty of Theology and Religion.
Book
Reading Dionysus: Euripides’ Bacchae and the Cultural Contestations of Greeks, Jews, Romans, and Christians. Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015.
Articles
“Getting Samuel Sober: The ‘Plus’ of LXX 1 Sam 1:11 and Its Religious Afterlife in Philo and the Gospel of Luke.” Journal of Theological Studies (forthcoming).
“Translating Misfortune: The Problem of 1 Samuel 1:15 in the MT and the LXX.” Vetus Testamentum (forthcoming).
“Hannah’s ‘Hard Day’ and Hesiod’s ‘Two Roads’: Poetic Wisdom in Philo’s De ebrietate.” Journal for the Study of Judaism 46 (2015): 44–64.
“Dionysus as Jesus: The Incongruity of a Love Feast in Achilles Tatius’s Leucippe and Clitophon 2.2.” Harvard Theological Review 107 (2014): 222–40.
“Extirpating the Dragon: Divine Combat and the Minus of LXX Isaiah 51:9b.” Journal of Ancient Judaism 4 (2013): 334–51.
Recent Scholarly Presentations
“From Metatragedy to Christology: Changing Euripidean Masks in Pseudo-Gregory’s Christus patiens.” Classical Association Annual Conference. Bristol, UK. 2015.
“(En-)Acting Tragedy: Philo on Emperor Gaius’ Theatrical Pretensions.” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting. San Diego, CA. 2014.
“Getting Samuel Sober: A Plus in LXX 1 Sam 1:11 and Its Ethical Afterlife.” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting. San Diego, CA. 2014.
“Drinking Early? Dionysiac Intertexts and Acts 2.” Oxford New Testament Senior Seminar. Oxford, UK. 2014.
“A God Dismembered or Dismembering?: Celsus’ Reading of Pilate and Pentheus.” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting. Baltimore, MD. 2013.
“The Politics of Pentecost: Language as Power in Acts 2.” Canadian Society of Biblical Studies Annual Meeting. Victoria, B.C. 2013.
“‘Have You Imitated Dionysus?’: Religious Ambivalences in Philo of Alexandria’s Embassy to Gaius and On Drunkenness.” Upper Midwest Regional AAR/SBL/ASOR Meeting. St. Paul, MN. 2013.
“Madness or Moderation? Inspired Speech in Euripides’ Bacchae and Acts 26.” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting. Chicago, IL. 2012.