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Dr. Lily C. Vuong
Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies
Departmental Area: Religious Studies
Research Areas: Women and Gender in Early Christianity, Literary and Feminist Approaches to Ancient Writings, Formation of Jewish and Christian Identities in Late Antiquity, and the Place and Function of Non-canonical Literature
Contact Information
Phone: (229) 249-4959
Address: Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies; 1500 N. Patterson Street; Valdosta State University; Valdosta, GA 31698-0050
Office: Ashley Hall 104
Email: lcvuong@valdosta.edu
Office Hours: By Appointment
Curriculum Vitae
Website
Background
B.A. (Honours) – University of Toronto (Western Religions)
M.A. – Wilfrid Laurier University (Religion and Culture; Christian Origins, Women and Gender)
Ph.D. – McMaster University (Early Judaism; Early Christianity)
Lily C. Vuong teaches courses in ancient Judaism and Christianity in the department of Philosophy and Religious Studies and the Center for Women and Gender Studies. Before joining the faculty at VSU, she spent time as a Visiting Scholar at Claremont Graduate University’s School of Religion, Institute for Antiquity and Christianity and the Women’s Studies in Religion Program and served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at UCLA’s Center for the Study of Religion. Her area of study is in Early Christianity with a special interest in New Testament Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphal writings. Gender studies have also played an important role in her research, especially in terms of its construction and interpretation in early Christian literature. Other topics of interest include the relationships between Judaism, Christianity, and Greco-Roman culture, the formation of Jewish and Christian identities in Late Antiquity, the place of non-canonical literature in biblical interpretation, and the representation of women in the ancient world. She is currently working on her book “Raised in the Temple of the Lord: Mary, Purity, and the Protevangelium of James, a reworking of her doctoral dissertation which examines gender and purity in the ancient world and a co-edited volume provisionally entitled, Religious Competition in the Third Century: Jews, Christians, and the Greco-Roman World.
Research Interests
- Apocryphal Literature
- Protevangelium of James
- Jewish-Christian Relations in Antiquity
- Early Christian Martyrdoms
- Religious Competition
- Jewish and Christian identity formation
Selected Publications
- i. Books
- In prep Gender and Purity in the Protevangelium of James, Mohr Siebeck Press, June 2013
- In prep Religious Competition in the Third Century C.E.: Jews, Christians, and the Greco-Roman World, eds. Nathaniel P. DesRosiers, Jordan D. Rosenblum, and Lily C. Vuong, Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht Press, September 2013
- ii. Articles
- “Purity, Piety, and the Purpose(s) of the Protevangelium of James,” Pages 205-221 in “Non-Canonical” Religious Texts in Early Judaism and Early Christianity, ed. James H. Charlesworth and Lee M. McDonald. Jewish and Christian Texts 14. New York: T&T Clark, 2012.
- “‘Let Us Bring Her Up to the Temple of the Lord’: Exploring the Boundaries of Jewish and Christian Relations though the Presentation of Mary in the Protevangelium of James,” Pages 418-432 in Infancy Gospels: Stories and Identities, ed. Claire Clivaz and Jörg Frey. WUNT I Series. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011.
- “The Impact of Social and Economic Status on the Experience of Martyrdom: A Case Study of Perpetua and Felicitas,” in Purity, Holiness, and Identity in Ancient Israel, Judaism, and Christianity: Essays in Memory of Susan Haber, eds. Carl Ehrlich, Anders Runesson, and Eileen Schuller. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, f.c.
Selected Conference Presentations
- “The Temple Persists: Collective Memories of the Jewish Temple in Christian Narrative Imagination,” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A., November 2010.
- “Ritual Purity, Temple Sacrifice, and the Priesthood: Exploring the Boundaries of Jewish and Christian Relations in Christian Apocrypha” International Conference on Infancy Gospels: Stories and Identities, Lausanne-Geneva-Fribourg, Switzerland, October 2010.
- “Mary as Temple Sacrifice in the Protevangelium of James,” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A., November 2009.
- “The Bible in Racial, Ethnic, and Indigenous Communities,” American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Montréal, Québec, Canada, November 2009.
- “Purity, Piety, and the Purpose(s) of the Protevangelium of James,” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A., November 2008.
Current Research Projects
Teaching Specializations
- New Testament
- Hebrew Bible
- Second Temple Literature
- Women and the Bible
- Relationship between Judaism, Christianity, and Greco-Roman Culture in Antiquity
- NT Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha
Dr. Vuong’s Recent Courses
Fall 2011
- 80559 REL 2020 D 3.00 World Religions
- 80560 REL 2020 E 3.00 World Religions
- 80562 REL 3340 A 3.00 Old Testament/Hebrew Bible
- 80569 REL 4700 A 3.00 Varieties of Early Christianity
June 17, 2011