Daniel C. Smith
@dcsmith.bsky.social
Assistant Professor, Whitman College | Writing on religion, disability, and social history in the Roman Empire
Reposted by Daniel C. Smith
Disturbing news out of Auburn University, where the admin is pressuring professors to sign a statement saying they're complying with an "anti-DEI" law and TPUSA is holding a rally and trying to record classes.
I hear faculty are terrified to sign, worried this is a pretense for mass firings.
I hear faculty are terrified to sign, worried this is a pretense for mass firings.
Auburn University requires faculty to review courses to comply with anti-DEI law
Auburn's provost office posted a web site on how to comply with state and federal DEI mandates on Oct. 31.
www.al.com
November 5, 2025 at 12:16 AM
Disturbing news out of Auburn University, where the admin is pressuring professors to sign a statement saying they're complying with an "anti-DEI" law and TPUSA is holding a rally and trying to record classes.
I hear faculty are terrified to sign, worried this is a pretense for mass firings.
I hear faculty are terrified to sign, worried this is a pretense for mass firings.
"We seek early career scholars with a specialization in Religion and Health. The fellow may specialize in any contemporary religious or secular tradition and any methodological approach"
The Department of Religious Studies is seeking to appoint a one-year postdoctoral fellow with a specialization in Religion and Health.
Please visit tinyurl.com/3tf6cftf for the job posting and more information. Review of applications will begin Dec. 1, 2025.
Please visit tinyurl.com/3tf6cftf for the job posting and more information. Review of applications will begin Dec. 1, 2025.
October 29, 2025 at 4:09 PM
"We seek early career scholars with a specialization in Religion and Health. The fellow may specialize in any contemporary religious or secular tradition and any methodological approach"
"a status as patron saints to middle-aged men with emotional impairments" well hey now who are we calling midle aged?
A new story I'm pretty pumped to share. It's about words, and our pastime, and changing your traumas by changing your patterns.
On Matt Berninger, and the baseballs of writing:
On Matt Berninger, and the baseballs of writing:
Matt Berninger traded his notebook for a baseball. And the words kept coming
For The National’s frontman, the way forward was written on rawhide.
www.nytimes.com
October 29, 2025 at 3:14 PM
"a status as patron saints to middle-aged men with emotional impairments" well hey now who are we calling midle aged?
Reposted by Daniel C. Smith
it’s officially book promo time! so, hey, i wrote this book; it comes out in a week! would you mind signal boosting and asking your library to buy it? if you’d like a copy, the code AUFLY30 will get you 30%off.
global.oup.com
October 28, 2025 at 9:44 AM
it’s officially book promo time! so, hey, i wrote this book; it comes out in a week! would you mind signal boosting and asking your library to buy it? if you’d like a copy, the code AUFLY30 will get you 30%off.
Reposted by Daniel C. Smith
In a cautionary rebuke to the governing establishment, Ireland elects a leftist president who campaigned on economic justice at home and fury over the plight of Palestinians in Gaza abroad. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
Ireland elects a leftist who campaigned on economic justice, Gaza
Catherine Connolly, an independent endorsed by Sinn Fein, campaigned on calls for urgent domestic reform with an unflinching critique of Israel’s war in Gaza.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 25, 2025 at 9:45 PM
In a cautionary rebuke to the governing establishment, Ireland elects a leftist president who campaigned on economic justice at home and fury over the plight of Palestinians in Gaza abroad. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
Dan-el Padilla Peralta already said this in his blurb but Maia's book really transformed me. Give yourself over to its lyrical powers!
My book is now officially out - a little early!
And what luck, you can now get it for 50% off (Or for 40% off after this sale ends with code E25KTRST)
#ancientbluesky #classicsbluesky #byzantinebluesky
And what luck, you can now get it for 50% off (Or for 40% off after this sale ends with code E25KTRST)
#ancientbluesky #classicsbluesky #byzantinebluesky
Duke Press sale! 50% off! FALL25! get @maiakotro.bsky.social's book for a steal!
www.dukeupress.edu/after-transf...
www.dukeupress.edu/after-transf...
October 21, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Dan-el Padilla Peralta already said this in his blurb but Maia's book really transformed me. Give yourself over to its lyrical powers!
As a student, professor, and colleague, I have often wanted this website. Eric has done us all a tremendous kindness by compiling into one place all the (often elusive or opaque) information needed to learn or teach several ancient languages using braille and describing the process with clarity.
Today I published a new section of my website with resources for those who wish to learn, study, and/or teach ancient languages using braille. It rests on work we did over the past year to expand screen reader access to these languages through the LibLouis library. Check it out and share around!
New: Braille Resources for Reading Ancient Languages
[Photo by me. Tactile graphic by Crystal Peng.] I recently created a new section of my website, which provides educational resources for anyone who wants to read ancient Middle Eastern and North …
www.blindscholar.com
October 16, 2025 at 10:54 PM
As a student, professor, and colleague, I have often wanted this website. Eric has done us all a tremendous kindness by compiling into one place all the (often elusive or opaque) information needed to learn or teach several ancient languages using braille and describing the process with clarity.
Reposted by Daniel C. Smith
Please reskeet: CFP is open for the North American Patristics Society meeting, May 21-23, 2026 in Chicago
Submit abstracts either for the general call or to a pre-arranged theme, or you can submit a whole planned session!
Deadline is Nov 19th, details at link:
www.patristics.org/annual-meeti...
Submit abstracts either for the general call or to a pre-arranged theme, or you can submit a whole planned session!
Deadline is Nov 19th, details at link:
www.patristics.org/annual-meeti...
Call for Papers – NAPS – The North American Patristics Society
www.patristics.org
October 15, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Please reskeet: CFP is open for the North American Patristics Society meeting, May 21-23, 2026 in Chicago
Submit abstracts either for the general call or to a pre-arranged theme, or you can submit a whole planned session!
Deadline is Nov 19th, details at link:
www.patristics.org/annual-meeti...
Submit abstracts either for the general call or to a pre-arranged theme, or you can submit a whole planned session!
Deadline is Nov 19th, details at link:
www.patristics.org/annual-meeti...
Reposted by Daniel C. Smith
🚨 Postdoc at UT Austin Religious Studies in Religion, Healing, and Magic in Late Antiquity (2 years)! utaustin.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UTstaf...
ISAC Postdoctoral Fellowship in Religion, Healing, and Magic in Late Antiquity
Job Posting Title: ISAC Postdoctoral Fellowship in Religion, Healing, and Magic in Late Antiquity ---- Hiring Department: Department of Religious Studies ---- Position Open To: All Applicants ---- Wee...
utaustin.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
October 13, 2025 at 4:11 PM
🚨 Postdoc at UT Austin Religious Studies in Religion, Healing, and Magic in Late Antiquity (2 years)! utaustin.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UTstaf...
Reposted by Daniel C. Smith
ACLS statement against White House “compact”: THIS IS SOVIET SHIT
October 6, 2025 at 4:10 PM
ACLS statement against White House “compact”: THIS IS SOVIET SHIT
Reposted by Daniel C. Smith
According to eyewitnesses, armed ICE agents dragged kids out of their beds in the middle of the night, zip tied them and put them in rented vans while raiding an * entire apartment building* on the South Side of Chicago.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOXO...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOXO...
‘F--- them kids’: ICE agents drag children out of bed, ransack Chicago building
YouTube video by MSNBC
www.youtube.com
October 3, 2025 at 11:36 AM
According to eyewitnesses, armed ICE agents dragged kids out of their beds in the middle of the night, zip tied them and put them in rented vans while raiding an * entire apartment building* on the South Side of Chicago.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOXO...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOXO...
Reposted by Daniel C. Smith
my book_smoke & mirrors_ is out on oxford scholarship online. i have many feelings, mostly good! this was a difficult write for many reasons.
so i hope you find something useful in it if you read it.
so i hope you find something useful in it if you read it.
Smoke & Mirrors: Discourses of Magic in Early Petrine Traditions
Abstract. Smoke & Mirrors: Discourses of Magic in Early Petrine Traditions is a book about how magic disappears from early Christian texts that feature
academic.oup.com
October 1, 2025 at 9:12 AM
my book_smoke & mirrors_ is out on oxford scholarship online. i have many feelings, mostly good! this was a difficult write for many reasons.
so i hope you find something useful in it if you read it.
so i hope you find something useful in it if you read it.
Five weeks into the semester, and I would like an orchestra of the world's smallest violins to perform for me as I reflect on how difficult it has become to sustain critical thought on anything other than the most immediate task in front of me.
October 1, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Five weeks into the semester, and I would like an orchestra of the world's smallest violins to perform for me as I reflect on how difficult it has become to sustain critical thought on anything other than the most immediate task in front of me.
Got my covid/flu twofer yesterday to avoid turning my post-SBLAAR Thanksgiving plans into a superspreader event.
September 25, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Got my covid/flu twofer yesterday to avoid turning my post-SBLAAR Thanksgiving plans into a superspreader event.
Reposted by Daniel C. Smith
CHOTINER: And you didn’t know this person - what did you call him again?
CELEBRIMBOR GREATEST OF THE ELVEN SMITHS: Right, his name was Annatar but
CHOTINER: And you taught him to create a ring harnessing all his malice and cruelty?
CELEBRIMBOR: Well I mean I was deceived
CHOTINER: So you’ve said
CELEBRIMBOR GREATEST OF THE ELVEN SMITHS: Right, his name was Annatar but
CHOTINER: And you taught him to create a ring harnessing all his malice and cruelty?
CELEBRIMBOR: Well I mean I was deceived
CHOTINER: So you’ve said
September 24, 2025 at 11:02 PM
CHOTINER: And you didn’t know this person - what did you call him again?
CELEBRIMBOR GREATEST OF THE ELVEN SMITHS: Right, his name was Annatar but
CHOTINER: And you taught him to create a ring harnessing all his malice and cruelty?
CELEBRIMBOR: Well I mean I was deceived
CHOTINER: So you’ve said
CELEBRIMBOR GREATEST OF THE ELVEN SMITHS: Right, his name was Annatar but
CHOTINER: And you taught him to create a ring harnessing all his malice and cruelty?
CELEBRIMBOR: Well I mean I was deceived
CHOTINER: So you’ve said
Reposted by Daniel C. Smith
6 years POSTOC in Biblical Studies - Wissenschaftliche*r Mitarbeiter*in (m/w/d) at Humboldt University Berlin
More details here:
haushalt-und-personal.hu-berlin.de/de/personal/...
More details here:
haushalt-und-personal.hu-berlin.de/de/personal/...
Wissenschaftliche*r Mitarbeiter*in (m/w/d) auf dem Gebiet der Biblischen Theologie max. befristet für 6 Jahre gem. WissZeitVG - E 13 TV-L
haushalt-und-personal.hu-berlin.de
September 23, 2025 at 2:53 PM
6 years POSTOC in Biblical Studies - Wissenschaftliche*r Mitarbeiter*in (m/w/d) at Humboldt University Berlin
More details here:
haushalt-und-personal.hu-berlin.de/de/personal/...
More details here:
haushalt-und-personal.hu-berlin.de/de/personal/...
Reposted by Daniel C. Smith
The digital version of God, Slavery, and Early Christianity is officially out! If you're interested in ancient Mediterranean slavery's effects on Christian thought and practice, this is for you.
www.cambridge.org/core/books/g...
www.cambridge.org/core/books/g...
God, Slavery, and Early Christianity
Cambridge Core - History of Religion - God, Slavery, and Early Christianity
www.cambridge.org
September 19, 2025 at 4:17 PM
The digital version of God, Slavery, and Early Christianity is officially out! If you're interested in ancient Mediterranean slavery's effects on Christian thought and practice, this is for you.
www.cambridge.org/core/books/g...
www.cambridge.org/core/books/g...
Reposted by Daniel C. Smith
Duke UP has put the Introduction to my book online! See here: bit.ly/42yhObv
September 15, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Duke UP has put the Introduction to my book online! See here: bit.ly/42yhObv
This review takes a rather...hostile turn, admonishing *checks notes* Judith Butler for furthering binaries, and concluding with a quote from MLK. What a field I work in.
Reading Greek tragedy with Judith Butler – Bryn Mawr Classical Review
bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2025/2025.09...
bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2025/2025.09...
Reading Greek tragedy with Judith Butler – Bryn Mawr Classical Review
bmcr.brynmawr.edu
September 12, 2025 at 7:05 PM
This review takes a rather...hostile turn, admonishing *checks notes* Judith Butler for furthering binaries, and concluding with a quote from MLK. What a field I work in.
Reposted by Daniel C. Smith
SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in a college applicant's file is blatantly unconstitutional
ALSO SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in targeting whom to detain and deport is cool cool cool
ALSO SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in targeting whom to detain and deport is cool cool cool
September 8, 2025 at 4:43 PM
SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in a college applicant's file is blatantly unconstitutional
ALSO SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in targeting whom to detain and deport is cool cool cool
ALSO SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in targeting whom to detain and deport is cool cool cool
Reposted by Daniel C. Smith
beautiful symposium for a beautiful book
don't miss @postrafelite.bsky.social's cartoon about creation - a beautifully meditative way to start the morning
don't miss @postrafelite.bsky.social's cartoon about creation - a beautifully meditative way to start the morning
🐣 Our SBL Review Symposium for Mike Chin’s new monograph “Life” has just been published with Religious Studies Review 51/2. Have a look here, especially if you are interested in ancient natural history or new ways of writing old history:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/17480922...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/17480922...
Religious Studies Review: Vol 51, No 2
Click on the title to browse this issue
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
September 4, 2025 at 3:44 PM
beautiful symposium for a beautiful book
don't miss @postrafelite.bsky.social's cartoon about creation - a beautifully meditative way to start the morning
don't miss @postrafelite.bsky.social's cartoon about creation - a beautifully meditative way to start the morning
There's a new issue of the Journal of Ancient Judaism, in which I discuss palm trees, Smyrna, and the discursive deployments of Judea in the Roman Empire: brill.com/view/journal...
brill.com
September 4, 2025 at 4:34 PM
There's a new issue of the Journal of Ancient Judaism, in which I discuss palm trees, Smyrna, and the discursive deployments of Judea in the Roman Empire: brill.com/view/journal...
Reposted by Daniel C. Smith
“Chicago has long helped to keep alive tiny fields & esoteric areas of humanistic study... Without the univ’s support, & the continued training of grad students who can keep these bodies of kn going, entire spheres of human learning might eventually blink out.” www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...
If the University of Chicago Won’t Defend the Humanities, Who Will?
Why it matters that the University of Chicago is pausing admissions to doctoral programs in literature, philosophy, the arts, and languages
www.theatlantic.com
August 27, 2025 at 12:18 PM
“Chicago has long helped to keep alive tiny fields & esoteric areas of humanistic study... Without the univ’s support, & the continued training of grad students who can keep these bodies of kn going, entire spheres of human learning might eventually blink out.” www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...
The latest issue of Bible and Critical Theory is out: bibleandcriticaltheory.com/issues/volum...
VOLUME 21, NO 1 (2025)
bibleandcriticaltheory.com
August 22, 2025 at 6:24 PM
The latest issue of Bible and Critical Theory is out: bibleandcriticaltheory.com/issues/volum...
Reposted by Daniel C. Smith
The women's and gender studies program at Sonoma State University in northern California has been shut down, blamed on budget trouble. Tenured faculty lost jobs.
If gender studies would be secure anywhere in the country, surely it would be in northern CA. And yet.
If gender studies would be secure anywhere in the country, surely it would be in northern CA. And yet.
Folks are about to learn in real time the cost of retrenchment in state funding for public higher education and it will not be good.
Apropos of this, fuck Gavin Newsom and the bullshit he KEEPS pulling with our education budget. Do not stan him. Do not praise him. He is not a man of honor.
Apropos of this, fuck Gavin Newsom and the bullshit he KEEPS pulling with our education budget. Do not stan him. Do not praise him. He is not a man of honor.
August 21, 2025 at 12:13 PM
The women's and gender studies program at Sonoma State University in northern California has been shut down, blamed on budget trouble. Tenured faculty lost jobs.
If gender studies would be secure anywhere in the country, surely it would be in northern CA. And yet.
If gender studies would be secure anywhere in the country, surely it would be in northern CA. And yet.