Paul Dilley
Assistant Professor
- Office: 311 Eisenhower Hall
- E-Mail: pdilley@ksu.edu
- Phone: (785) 532-0370
I am a historian of the ancient Mediterranean world, with a focus on the Near East, including Iran. My specialty is the history of religion from Alexander the Great to the Early Islamic Period. In particular, I study early Christianity, especially its relationship to the older cultural and religious traditions of the Jews, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Syrians, and others. My book manuscript, "Care of the Other in Ancient Monasticism: A Cultural History of Ascetic Guidance," examines the training of disciples in ancient Christian monasteries, a complex process with significant influence on modern Western culture. Another research interest is how Jews, Christians, and Muslims formed distinctive identities around controversial topics such as revelation, sexuality, martyrdom, holy violence, and pilgrimage. Here as elsewhere the relationship between belief and practice is crucial to my work. At Kansas State, I teach courses on the history and culture of Greece, Rome, and the ancient Near East; ancient monotheism; the New Testament; Christianity in Late Antiquity; and a graduate seminar on theories of religion.
Select Publications
"Talking About the Soul and its Ascent in the Dialogue of the Savior," in Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Coptic Studies, Leiden, 27 August–2 September 2000, ed. Mat Immerzeel and Jacques van der Vliet (Leuven: Peeters, 2004)
"Dipinti in Late Antiquity and Shenoute’s Monastic Federation: Text and Image in the Paintings of the Red Monastery,” in Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 165 (2008): 1–18
Analysis of slides of the Great Altar of Pergamon in Helmut Koester, The Cities of Paul: Images and Interpretations from the Harvard New Testament Archaeology Project (Fortress, CD-ROM, 2004)
Courses
HIST 565: History and Culture of Greece
HIST 565: History and Culture of Rome
HIST 597: Ancient Monotheism
HIST 598: Ancient Egypt
HIST 920: Theories of Religion