Steven J. Friesen

Steven Friesen is the Louise Farmer Boyer Chair in Biblical Studies. He holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University, an M.Div. from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a B.A. from Fresno Pacific College. Prior to arriving at UT-Austin, he taught at the the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he served as Chair of the Department of Religious Studies. He also held a three-year fellowship in the Cultural Studies Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu.

Friesen's research field is early Christianity, with particular interests in the book of Revelation, poverty in the Roman Empire, and archaeology of religion in the eastern Mediterranean. His publcations include Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse of John: Reading Revelation in the Ruins and Twice Neokoros: Ephesus, Asia, and the Cult of the Flavian Imperial Family. His current research examines the economic ideas and practices of the apostle Paul and his communities.

Dr. Friesen teaches undergraduate courses on New Testament and Biblical Studies, as well as theory and method in the study of religion. These include "Introduction to the New Testament," "Revelation and Apocalyptic Literature," and "What is Religion?"