Caroline T. Schroeder
As a scholar of early Christianity, I explore the ways in which Christianity evolved in contact and conflict with other religious traditions and communities. Both my research and my courses engage questions about the roles of orthodoxy, politics, social status, gender, and sexuality in the religions of the Roman and early Medieval/Byzantine worlds. Religious studies and ancient studies are dynamic and exciting fields in which to be a scholar and a student. I urge my students to bring to the classroom the same questions and approaches that I bring to my own research. In that spirit, my courses:
Are multidisciplinary, because the study of religion is inherently multidisciplinary. Courses draw on literary, historical, anthropological analyses of ancient texts as well as an examination of material culture.
Deeply engage primary sources in order to provide a critical, analytical, and historical study of religion.
Require attention to different theoretical approaches to religious studies, because there are many ways to understand how religion "works" in culture and history.
Empower students to be not merely consumers of information but also producers of knowledge, by incorporating student-initiated projects, activities, and assignments.
Address the challenges of understanding antiquity in a world oriented to the present by exploring historical continuities between the past and the present, as well as by interrogating modern concepts (such as religion, ritual, gender, government, social class, race, etc.) by examining the differences of the past.
For more information, please visit my Webpage
Caroline (Carrie) T. Schroeder
Associate Professor of Religious and Classical Studies
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