I am Assistant Professor of Christianity at the University of Denver. Prior to joining the faculty at DU, I taught undergraduates at Wingate University in North Carolina. My primary research focus is the New Testament and Early Christian literature. Research interests include: Slavery in the Bible and the Greco-Roman world, Feminist Hermeneutics, Gender and Sexuality, and Ancient Narratives. I serve on the editorial board of the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion and am currently co-chair of the Ancient Fiction section of the Society of Biblical Literature.
In the Acts of Andrew, an enslaved woman named Euclia is sexually exploited, harassed, raped, mut... more In the Acts of Andrew, an enslaved woman named Euclia is sexually exploited, harassed, raped, mutilated, and then left to die. The sexual violence enacted upon Euclia is planned, coordinated, and implemented by Maximilla, an elite Christian female enslaver who functions as the text's protagonist. Euclia's story is horrific. In this volume filled with numerous examples from early Christian literature of sexual violence, rape, and abuse, Euclia's narrative is quite possibly the worst, especially as one considers the way in which the text attempts to blame Euclia for her own abuse while uplifting Maximilla as the heroine of the narrative. After Euclia's gruesome death, which lingers in the reader's imagination, the text simply erases her from the narrative and she is not mentioned again. In this essay, I read Euclia's story as an example of premeditated sexual assault, rape, and murder. I argue that Maximilla, as Euclia's enslaver, intentionally coordinated the sexual harassment that led to Euclia's murder. Then, using Sara Ahmed's theory of willful subjects, I offer a reading of Euclia's story as an example of Ahmed's willfulness. While the narrative intentionally depicts Euclia in negative ways (rebellious, greedy, sensual, etc.), it is this aspect of Euclia's character that reveals her willfulness, her refusal to submit to authority. Euclia's will is a tension in the narrative that Maximilla must overcome in order to attain her own sexual purity. Yet, Euclia's willfulness is also subtle resistance to power. As Ahmed puts it, willfulness is an "inheritance" and is affective in its effect upon us.
Journal for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies, 2022
This essay explores the meaning of the word glōssa, the tongue, in Acts. The focus of my study wi... more This essay explores the meaning of the word glōssa, the tongue, in Acts. The focus of my study will be Acts 2:1-13, the Pentecost narrative, where the reader first interacts with tongues of fire and with the experience of glossolalia, speaking in tongues. I read this passage exegetically (but playfully) while I consider the meaning and usage of the tongue through the theoretical lenses of poststructuralism and postcolonialism. This reading enables me to highlight the sensory elements of the tongue within Acts. How does it shift our view of Acts if we consider the meaning of glōssa to include the physical tongue, the home of our sense of taste? In doing so, I turn to the work of Jacques Derrida in order to suggest that glōssa functions within Acts as a new concept, one of Derrida's "undecidable" terms. Finally, I will utilise postcolonial theory in order to suggest that glōssa spreads throughout the narrative and counters the major voices within the text. In this way, glōssa functions as an undecidable concept, a tongue that glides throughout the text of Acts, refusing to allow only the main voices to speak and thwarting the domination of the empire.
In biblical narratives that involve food, women and enslaved domestic workers were very involved ... more In biblical narratives that involve food, women and enslaved domestic workers were very involved in the planning, preparation, and the partaking of meals, even though they are mostly invisible in biblical texts. To make these women and enslaved workers visible, I closely examine the narrative of the Last Supper, or Passover, in the Gospel of Luke (22.7–38). In this gospel, women are present as followers of Jesus and are present with Jesus throughout his ministry, thus their presence at the Last Supper would be expected. In addition, enslaved characters fill the Gospel of Luke as a part of parables as well as within the narrative. In the conclusion of this article, I reimagine the scene of Luke’s Last Supper as it might have happened historically, with women and enslaved persons made visible in the preparations and during the meal itself.
In this learning design, the book of Ruth is read closely and critically in order to foster dialo... more In this learning design, the book of Ruth is read closely and critically in order to foster dialogue about political issues in the classroom. Using bell hooks’ model of engaged pedagogy, political issues such as feminism, immigration, gender, sex, and consent are carefully addressed through the pedagogical strategies described. Teachers may use all of the strategies in a full unit on Ruth, or they may choose one or two to implement in a single class. Cobb suggests the use of polling, creative expression through drawing, videos, small group discussions, and maps to incite thoughtful conversation about relevant political issues and the book of Ruth.
Reading and Teaching Ancient Fiction: Jewish, Christian, and Greco-Roman Narratives, 2018
This essay explores the literary motif of lovesickness with in the Acts of Andrew, a second centu... more This essay explores the literary motif of lovesickness with in the Acts of Andrew, a second century Christian apocryphal text. I argued that lovesickness is used within this ascetic narrative to portray the erotic connection between two male characters: the apostle Andrew and his disciple Stratocles. I read the Acts of Andrew alongside two Greek novels, Achilles Tatius' Leucippe and Clitophon and Xenophon's An Ephesian Tale, both of which contain male homoerotic relationships where one or both of the male partners exhibit symptoms of lovesickness specifically occurring when the love of the partner is threatened or lost. I suggest the portrayal of the character as physically sick is an intentional narrative strategy functioning to show the depth of the love experienced between two men.
This is the final version after peer-review that was published in the journal Biblical Interpreta... more This is the final version after peer-review that was published in the journal Biblical Interpretation 25 (2017) 19-38.
This essay explores the representation of Euclia, a female slave whose story is found within the narrative of Acts of Andrew. I read this early Christian text alongside Page duBois' Torture and Truth and Slaves and Other Objects and, through a focus on Euclia's story, analyze the relationship among slavery, gender, torture, and truth as represented in this text. In order to explore these issues, I compare the representations of the bodies of Euclia, the slave, with Maximilla, the free elite woman. In doing so I argue that Maximilla's body is undeniably "untouchable" while Euclia's body is vulnerable to sexual abuse and torture. Additionally, I track the "truth" within the narrative as presented by various characters in the text; I argue that both the gender and status of the character shape the view of "truth" found in each characterization. Through this reading I suggest that the truth is hidden within the female body of the slave, Euclia. This application of duBois' scholarship to an early Christian narrative illuminates the intricate relationship between slavery and gender as well as truth and torture.
This book examines slavery and gender through a feminist reading of narratives including female s... more This book examines slavery and gender through a feminist reading of narratives including female slaves in the Gospel of Luke, the Acts of the Apostles, and early Christian texts. Through the literary theory of Mikhail Bakhtin, the voices of three enslaved female characters—the female slave who questions Peter in Luke 22, Rhoda in Acts 12, and the prophesying slave of Acts 16—are placed into dialogue with female slaves found in the Apocryphal Acts, ancient novels, classical texts, and images of enslaved women on funerary monuments. Although ancients typically distrusted the words of slaves, Christy Cobb argues that female slaves in Luke-Acts speak truth to power, even though their gender and status suggest that they cannot. In this Bakhtinian reading, female slaves become truth-tellers and their words confirm aspects of Lukan theology. This exegetical, theoretical, and interdisciplinary book is a substantial contribution to conversations about women and slaves in Luke-Acts and early Christian literature.
In the Acts of Andrew, an enslaved woman named Euclia is sexually exploited, harassed, raped, mut... more In the Acts of Andrew, an enslaved woman named Euclia is sexually exploited, harassed, raped, mutilated, and then left to die. The sexual violence enacted upon Euclia is planned, coordinated, and implemented by Maximilla, an elite Christian female enslaver who functions as the text's protagonist. Euclia's story is horrific. In this volume filled with numerous examples from early Christian literature of sexual violence, rape, and abuse, Euclia's narrative is quite possibly the worst, especially as one considers the way in which the text attempts to blame Euclia for her own abuse while uplifting Maximilla as the heroine of the narrative. After Euclia's gruesome death, which lingers in the reader's imagination, the text simply erases her from the narrative and she is not mentioned again. In this essay, I read Euclia's story as an example of premeditated sexual assault, rape, and murder. I argue that Maximilla, as Euclia's enslaver, intentionally coordinated the sexual harassment that led to Euclia's murder. Then, using Sara Ahmed's theory of willful subjects, I offer a reading of Euclia's story as an example of Ahmed's willfulness. While the narrative intentionally depicts Euclia in negative ways (rebellious, greedy, sensual, etc.), it is this aspect of Euclia's character that reveals her willfulness, her refusal to submit to authority. Euclia's will is a tension in the narrative that Maximilla must overcome in order to attain her own sexual purity. Yet, Euclia's willfulness is also subtle resistance to power. As Ahmed puts it, willfulness is an "inheritance" and is affective in its effect upon us.
Journal for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies, 2022
This essay explores the meaning of the word glōssa, the tongue, in Acts. The focus of my study wi... more This essay explores the meaning of the word glōssa, the tongue, in Acts. The focus of my study will be Acts 2:1-13, the Pentecost narrative, where the reader first interacts with tongues of fire and with the experience of glossolalia, speaking in tongues. I read this passage exegetically (but playfully) while I consider the meaning and usage of the tongue through the theoretical lenses of poststructuralism and postcolonialism. This reading enables me to highlight the sensory elements of the tongue within Acts. How does it shift our view of Acts if we consider the meaning of glōssa to include the physical tongue, the home of our sense of taste? In doing so, I turn to the work of Jacques Derrida in order to suggest that glōssa functions within Acts as a new concept, one of Derrida's "undecidable" terms. Finally, I will utilise postcolonial theory in order to suggest that glōssa spreads throughout the narrative and counters the major voices within the text. In this way, glōssa functions as an undecidable concept, a tongue that glides throughout the text of Acts, refusing to allow only the main voices to speak and thwarting the domination of the empire.
In biblical narratives that involve food, women and enslaved domestic workers were very involved ... more In biblical narratives that involve food, women and enslaved domestic workers were very involved in the planning, preparation, and the partaking of meals, even though they are mostly invisible in biblical texts. To make these women and enslaved workers visible, I closely examine the narrative of the Last Supper, or Passover, in the Gospel of Luke (22.7–38). In this gospel, women are present as followers of Jesus and are present with Jesus throughout his ministry, thus their presence at the Last Supper would be expected. In addition, enslaved characters fill the Gospel of Luke as a part of parables as well as within the narrative. In the conclusion of this article, I reimagine the scene of Luke’s Last Supper as it might have happened historically, with women and enslaved persons made visible in the preparations and during the meal itself.
In this learning design, the book of Ruth is read closely and critically in order to foster dialo... more In this learning design, the book of Ruth is read closely and critically in order to foster dialogue about political issues in the classroom. Using bell hooks’ model of engaged pedagogy, political issues such as feminism, immigration, gender, sex, and consent are carefully addressed through the pedagogical strategies described. Teachers may use all of the strategies in a full unit on Ruth, or they may choose one or two to implement in a single class. Cobb suggests the use of polling, creative expression through drawing, videos, small group discussions, and maps to incite thoughtful conversation about relevant political issues and the book of Ruth.
Reading and Teaching Ancient Fiction: Jewish, Christian, and Greco-Roman Narratives, 2018
This essay explores the literary motif of lovesickness with in the Acts of Andrew, a second centu... more This essay explores the literary motif of lovesickness with in the Acts of Andrew, a second century Christian apocryphal text. I argued that lovesickness is used within this ascetic narrative to portray the erotic connection between two male characters: the apostle Andrew and his disciple Stratocles. I read the Acts of Andrew alongside two Greek novels, Achilles Tatius' Leucippe and Clitophon and Xenophon's An Ephesian Tale, both of which contain male homoerotic relationships where one or both of the male partners exhibit symptoms of lovesickness specifically occurring when the love of the partner is threatened or lost. I suggest the portrayal of the character as physically sick is an intentional narrative strategy functioning to show the depth of the love experienced between two men.
This is the final version after peer-review that was published in the journal Biblical Interpreta... more This is the final version after peer-review that was published in the journal Biblical Interpretation 25 (2017) 19-38.
This essay explores the representation of Euclia, a female slave whose story is found within the narrative of Acts of Andrew. I read this early Christian text alongside Page duBois' Torture and Truth and Slaves and Other Objects and, through a focus on Euclia's story, analyze the relationship among slavery, gender, torture, and truth as represented in this text. In order to explore these issues, I compare the representations of the bodies of Euclia, the slave, with Maximilla, the free elite woman. In doing so I argue that Maximilla's body is undeniably "untouchable" while Euclia's body is vulnerable to sexual abuse and torture. Additionally, I track the "truth" within the narrative as presented by various characters in the text; I argue that both the gender and status of the character shape the view of "truth" found in each characterization. Through this reading I suggest that the truth is hidden within the female body of the slave, Euclia. This application of duBois' scholarship to an early Christian narrative illuminates the intricate relationship between slavery and gender as well as truth and torture.
This book examines slavery and gender through a feminist reading of narratives including female s... more This book examines slavery and gender through a feminist reading of narratives including female slaves in the Gospel of Luke, the Acts of the Apostles, and early Christian texts. Through the literary theory of Mikhail Bakhtin, the voices of three enslaved female characters—the female slave who questions Peter in Luke 22, Rhoda in Acts 12, and the prophesying slave of Acts 16—are placed into dialogue with female slaves found in the Apocryphal Acts, ancient novels, classical texts, and images of enslaved women on funerary monuments. Although ancients typically distrusted the words of slaves, Christy Cobb argues that female slaves in Luke-Acts speak truth to power, even though their gender and status suggest that they cannot. In this Bakhtinian reading, female slaves become truth-tellers and their words confirm aspects of Lukan theology. This exegetical, theoretical, and interdisciplinary book is a substantial contribution to conversations about women and slaves in Luke-Acts and early Christian literature.
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This essay explores the representation of Euclia, a female slave whose story is found within the narrative of Acts of Andrew. I read this early Christian text alongside Page duBois' Torture and Truth and Slaves and Other Objects and, through a focus on Euclia's story, analyze the relationship among slavery, gender, torture, and truth as represented in this text. In order to explore these issues, I compare the representations of the bodies of Euclia, the slave, with Maximilla, the free elite woman. In doing so I argue that Maximilla's body is undeniably "untouchable" while Euclia's body is vulnerable to sexual abuse and torture. Additionally, I track the "truth" within the narrative as presented by various characters in the text; I argue that both the gender and status of the character shape the view of "truth" found in each characterization. Through this reading I suggest that the truth is hidden within the female body of the slave, Euclia. This application of duBois' scholarship to an early Christian narrative illuminates the intricate relationship between slavery and gender as well as truth and torture.
Books by Christy Cobb
Book Reviews by Christy Cobb
This essay explores the representation of Euclia, a female slave whose story is found within the narrative of Acts of Andrew. I read this early Christian text alongside Page duBois' Torture and Truth and Slaves and Other Objects and, through a focus on Euclia's story, analyze the relationship among slavery, gender, torture, and truth as represented in this text. In order to explore these issues, I compare the representations of the bodies of Euclia, the slave, with Maximilla, the free elite woman. In doing so I argue that Maximilla's body is undeniably "untouchable" while Euclia's body is vulnerable to sexual abuse and torture. Additionally, I track the "truth" within the narrative as presented by various characters in the text; I argue that both the gender and status of the character shape the view of "truth" found in each characterization. Through this reading I suggest that the truth is hidden within the female body of the slave, Euclia. This application of duBois' scholarship to an early Christian narrative illuminates the intricate relationship between slavery and gender as well as truth and torture.