Naomi Reiss teaches and researches in the field of New Testament and Christian origins, especially Pauline studies, critical approaches to the New Testament, and the social history of Christianity in the Roman Empire. She received her doctorate in New Testament and Christian Origins from the University of Edinburgh, having previously studied Modern and Medieval Languages at the University of Cambridge.
Research Interests
Naomi’s research focuses on incarceration in the New Testament and other early Christian literature, exploring the history and archaeology of prisons as well as the variety of early Christian responses to the experience of imprisonment. Naomi is also interested in themes of gender, the body, and ecology in biblical and early Christian texts.
Current Projects
Current projects include a monograph provisionally titled Prison Writing and Early Christianity, and a co-edited volume titled The Materiality of Incarceration.
Courses Taught
Paul and Pauline Tradition (3102)
Why Race, Gender and Empire Matter for New Testament Interpretation (3111)
Educational Background
PhD, New Testament and Christian Origins, University of Edinburgh. Supervisors: Dr Philippa Townsend and Prof Matthew Novenson
MSc, Biblical Studies, University of Edinburgh
MA (Cantab), Modern and Medieval Languages, University of Cambridge
Recent Publications
‘Christ the Jailer: Paul’s Carceral Theology’, New Testament Studies (FirstView) https://doi.org/10.1017/S0028688525000074
'Materiality of Incarceration in Mediterranean Antiquity: The Prison Project (2023-2026)’, Early Christianity 15:4 (2025): 545–65 (co-authored), https://doi.org/10.1628/ec-2024-0034
‘Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My: Imprisoned Animals and Humans in the Acts of Paul’, Biblical Interpretation 31 (2023): 623–634, https://doi.org/10.1163/15685152-31050007
