Curriculum Vitae
Scott Fitzgerald Johnson
Research Interests
Byzantine Literary History
Late Antique and Byzantine History of Science / Intellectual History
Medieval Encyclopedism
Travel, Pilgrimage, Cartography
Syriac Language and Literature
Current Professional Appointments
2011–Present: Dumbarton Oaks Teaching Fellow in Postclassical Greek, Georgetown University
2010–Present: Visiting Scholar, Center for the Study of Early Christianity, Catholic University of America
2008–Present: Editorial Board for Publications, Center for Hellenic Studies, Washington, D.C.
Previous Professional Appointments
2007–2011: Assistant Professor of Classics, Washington and Lee University
2006–2007: Visiting Lecturer in Classics, Harvard University
Fellowships
2010–2011: Kluge Fellow, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
2009–2010: Dumbarton Oaks Fellow in Byzantine Studies, Washington, D.C.
2004–2006: Junior Fellow, Harvard Society of Fellows, Cambridge, Mass.
Degrees
2005: D.Phil. in Classics, University of Oxford
2001: M.Phil. in Classics, University of Oxford
1999: B.A. in Classics, Vanderbilt University (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa)
Books Published
The Life and Miracles of Thekla, A Literary Study (Center for Hellenic Studies & Harvard University Press, 2006)
Online version at the Center for Hellenic Studies, Washington, DC
Reviews: BMCR, TMR, JThS (pdf), CR (pdf), VigChrist (pdf), Religious Studies Review (pdf), Byzantinische Zeitschrift (pdf), Journal of Religious History (pdf)
Greek Literature in Late Antiquity: Dynamism, Didacticism, Classicism, editor (Ashgate, 2006)
Online version at the Center for Hellenic Studies, Washington, DC
Reviews: TMR (pdf), JHS (pdf), Medium Aevum (pdf), CR (pdf), Antiquité Tardive (pdf), Studia Humaniora Tartuensia
Miracle Tales From Byzantium, Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 12, translator with Alice-Mary Talbot (Harvard University Press, 2012)
Books in Progress
All the World’s Knowledge: Late Antique and Byzantine Geographical Thought (Monograph In Preparation)
ed., The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity, Oxford University Press (In Press)
ed., Languages and Cultures of Eastern Christianity: Greek, 300–1500, Ashgate (Under Contract)
Articles
“Real and Imaginary Geography in the Long Fifth Century”. In The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila, ed. Michael Maas (forthcoming).
“Christian Apocrypha”. In The Oxford Handbook of the Second Sophistic, ed. William Johnson and Daniel Richter (forthcoming).
“Travel, Cartography, and Cosmology”. In The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity (forthcoming).
“Apostolic Geography: The Origins and Continuity of a Hagiographic Habit”. Dumbarton Oaks Papers 64 (2010) 5–25. (pdf)
“Reviving the Memory of the Apostles: Apocryphal Tradition and Travel Literature in Late Antiquity.” In Revival and Resurgence in Christian History, eds. Kate Cooper and Jeremy Gregory, 1–26. Studies in Church History 44. Woodbridge: Ecclesiastical History Society and Boydell Press, 2008. (pdf)
“Apocrypha and the Literary Past in Late Antiquity.” In From Rome to Constantinople: Studies in Honour of Averil Cameron, eds. Hagit Amirav and Bas ter Haar Romeny, 47–66. Leuven: Peeters, 2007. (pdf)
“Classical Sources for Early Christian Miracle Collections: The Case of the Fifth-Century Life and Miracles of Thecla.” Studia Patristica 39 (2006) 399–407. (Revised as Chapter 4 of The Life and Miracles of Thekla, A Literary Study; see above)
“Late Antique Narrative Fiction: Apocryphal Acta and the Greek Novel in the Fifth-Century Life and Miracles of Thekla.” In Greek Literature in Late Antiquity (Aldershot, 2006) 189–207. (pdf)
“The Sinful Woman: A memra by Jacob of Serugh.” In Sobornost/Eastern Churches Review 24.1 (2002) 58–90. (pdf)
Reviews
Review of Anthony Grafton and Megan Williams, Christianity and the Transformation of the Book (Cambridge, MA., 2006), in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2007.06.41. (BMCR link)
Review of Bernadette Simon, Nonnos de Panopolis: Les Dionysiaques, Tome XVI, Chants XLIV–XLVI (Paris, 2004) in Classical Review 56.1 (2006) 86–87. (pdf)
Review of Gianfranco Agosti, Nonno di Panopoli: Parafrasi del Vangelo di San Giovanni, Canto Quinto (Florence, 2003) in Classical Review 55.2 (2005) 474–476. (pdf)
Review of Tomas Hägg and Philip Rousseau, Greek Biography and Panegyric in Late Antiquity (California, 2000) in Journal of Roman Studies 94 (2004) 274–275. (pdf)
Review of Stephen Davis, The Cult of Saint Thecla (Oxford, 2001), in Heythrop Journal 45 (2004) 80–82. (pdf)
Review of Liz James, Empresses and Power in Early Byzantium (London, 2001), in Classical Review 53 (2003) 186–187. (pdf)
Review of Patricia Cox Miller, The Poetry of Thought in Late Antiquity (Aldershot, 2001), in Heythrop Journal 44 (2003) 506–508. (pdf)
Review of Judith Herrin, Women in Purple: Rulers of Medieval Byzantium (London, 2001), in Journal of Hellenic Studies 122 (2002) 204–205. (pdf)
Encyclopedia Entries
Entries on “Diatessaron”, “Divination, Jewish”, “Ephemerides, historical”, and “Tatian” in the Encyclopedia of Ancient History, ed. Roger Bagnall et al. (forthcoming).
Entry on “Egeria” in The Virgil Encyclopedia, eds. Richard Thomas and Jan Ziolkowski (forthcoming).
Selected Lectures
“Between Paganism and Christianity,” lecture as part of Dumbarton Oaks Teaching Fellows’ Day School “Pagans, Christians and Muslims: Mediterranean Transitions in the Early Medieval World” (March, 2012)
“A Greek-Syriac Roman Empire? Language Use in the Late Antique and Early Byzantine Levant,” invited lecture, Classics Department, University of Pennsylvania (March, 2012); also delivered as an invited lecture for the Center for the Study of Early Christianity, Catholic University of America (February, 2012)
“From Ptolemy to Pilgrimage: Images of Late Antiquity in Geography, Travel, and Cartography,” Kluge Center Public Lecture, Library of Congress (June, 2011)
“Locus amoenus / Loca sancta: Regional and Universal Structures in the Fifth-Century Miracles of Thekla,” invited lecture, Center for the Study of Early Christianity, Catholic University of America (April, 2011)
“The Legacy of Greek in Eastern Christianity: Cities, Schools, and Decline”, invited lecture in the colloquium
“New Directions in the Study of The Christian Near East”, Semitics Dept., Catholic University of America (March, 2011)
“The True Cross in Late Antique and Byzantine Literature”, invited lecture for Dumbarton Oaks Teaching Fellows’ Day School “Cross Talks”, Dumbarton Oaks (March 2011)
“Geography and Empire: The Order of the Kosmos in Byzantium,” invited lecture, Society for the Promotion of the Greek Heritage, Embassy of Greece, Washington, DC (November, 2010); also delivered as an invited lecture for the Center for the Study of Early Christianity, Catholic University of America (December, 2010)
“The Artistry of Accumulation in Late Antique Geography and Cosmology,” invited lecture, Rice University (January, 2010)
“Pilgrimage and Archive in Pausanias and Egeria,” Shifting Frontiers in Late Antiquity VIII, Indiana University (April, 2009)
“Pilgrimage as Hagiography: From Pausanias to Egeria,” Society of Biblical Literature, Corpus Hellenisticum Novi Testamenti Group, Boston (November, 2008)
“Apostolic Geography: The Origins and Continuity of a Hagiographical Habit”, invited lecture in the colloquium, “Landscapes of the Saints: Hagiography and Land in the Near East and Europe, ca. 400–900”, History Dept., Princeton University (March, 2008)
“East and Further East: Syriac Christianity at the End of the Ancient World,” invited Martin Weiner Distinguished Lecture, Brandeis University (October, 2006)
“Wandering with the Apostles: Apocryphal Tradition and Travel Literature in Late Antiquity,” invited lecture, Ecclesiastical History Society Annual Meeting, Cardiff (July, 2006)
“John Bainbridge, Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford: Greek, Syriac, and Arabic texts Post-Copernicus,” History of Science Society, on the panel, “Envisioning New Science, Turning Back in Time: The Role of Near-Eastern Sources in Early-Modern Practices of Science”, Minneapolis (November, 2005)
“Hagiography Killed the Novel? A Case Study on the Fifth-Century Life and Miracles of Thecla,” Society of Biblical Literature Conference, Ancient Fiction Group, Atlanta (November, 2003); extended version delivered at the Oxford Byzantine Seminar, St John’s College (November, 2003)
“Classical Sources for Early Christian Miracle Collections,” Fourteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies, Oxford (August, 2003)
“Cult and Competition: Textual Appropriation in the Fifth-Century Life and Miracles of Thecla,” Byzantine Studies Conference, The Ohio State University (October, 2002)
“Athanasius and the Rhetoric of Exile in Late Antiquity,” International Medieval Congress, Leeds (July, 2002)
“The Remains of Church Buildings at Isaurian Seleucia,” Byzantine Archaeology Seminar, Oxford University (May, 2001)
Grants & Awards
Recipient of Lenfest Grant for Research, Washington and Lee University, 2009
Recipient of Glenn Grant for Research, Washington and Lee University, 2008
Recipient of research grant from William F. Milton Fund, Harvard University, 2006–2007
Elected to a Mellon Fellowship, 1999–2000 (declined)
Courses Taught
The Greek Novel: Ancient, Byzantine, Modern, in translation (Spring 2012, Georgetown)
Byzantine Literature Survey, in translation (Fall 2011, Georgetown)
Medieval Latin Survey (Spring 2011, Georgetown)
Graduate Seminar in Byzantine History (Fall 2010, CUA)
The Hellenic Tradition, Study Abroad to Greece and Istanbul (Spring 2009, W&L)
Aristophanes, Frogs (Winter 2009, W&L)
Introductory Greek, Hansen and Quinn (2007–08, 2008–09, W&L)
Medieval Latin Survey (Fall 2008, W&L)
World of Late Antiquity: Constantine to Muhammad (Spring 2008, W&L)
Longus, Daphnis and Chloe (Winter 2008, W&L)
Augustine, Confessions (Fall 2007, W&L)
Plato, Ion (Fall 2007, Fall 2008, W&L)
Late Antique and Medieval Latin Poetry (Spring 2007, Harvard)
Biography in the Classical Tradition (Spring 2007, Harvard)
Aristophanes, Clouds (Fall 2006, Harvard)
Greek Prose Composition (Fall 2006, Harvard)
(last updated: 17 April, 2012)