Peter W. Martens, Ph.D.
Professor of Early Christianity
Office Hours
T,Th: 10-12 a.m.
Courses Taught
Theological Foundations, The Bible's First Experts: Alexandrians, Antiochenes, and Beyond
Education
Ph.D., University of Notre Dame, 2004
Research Interests
Martens is a specialist in late antique Christianity. His main interests include the
Bible and its reception, the history of scholarly practices and education, as well
as the programs of innovative and influential scholars, especially Origen of Alexandria
and the so-called Antiochene theologians of the fourth and fifth centuries. He is
also interested in displaced peoples in the modern world (his ancestors have often
been on the move) and university strategy. Professor Martens is a philologist, an
editor and interpreter of texts, which makes him feel at home in a number of humanities
disciplines.
His current project is a book-length study of the roles that scholars adopt towards
texts – postures that range from criticism to enchantment, caution to confidence,
and curation to creativity. The focus is on biblical scholarship from the first millennium,
but the topic and thesis are oriented to modern notions of criticism, contemporary
textual practices in the humanities, deep reading in a technological era, and the
role of philology in the formation of liberal citizens.
Publications and Media Placements
Books
Origen and Scripture: The Contours of the Exegetical Life (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2012; Spanish translation with Editorial Sígueme, 2018.
Adrian's "Introduction to the Divine Scriptures": An Antiochene Handbook for Biblical
Interpretation. Study, Edition and Annotated Translation (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2017).
The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2019).
Select Essays
“Embodiment, Heresy and the Hellenization of Christianity: the Descent of the Soul
in Plato and Origen.” Harvard Theological Review 108 (2015): 594-620.
“Adrian’s Introduction to the Divine Scriptures and Greco-Roman Rhetorical Theory
on Style.” Journal of Religion 93 (2013): 197-217.
Honors and Awards
Martens has received fellowships from the NEH, DAAD, Fulbright Commission and Dumbarton Oaks (Harvard University). He is also a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
Professional Organizations and Associations
- Society of Biblical Literature
- American Academy of Religion
- North American Patristics Society
- History of Human Freedom and Dignity (Innovative Training Network)