Annette Y. Reed: M. Mark and Esther K. Watkins Assistant Professorship in the Humanities

Annette Y. Reed has been named the M. Mark and Esther K. Watkins Assistant Professor in the Humanities in the School of Arts and Sciences. She is a member of the department of religious studies, as well as the Jewish Studies Program and Graduate Group in Ancient History.

Dr. Reed’s research spans Second Temple Judaism, early Christianity, and Jewish/Christian relations in Late Antiquity. Her publications include Fallen Angels and the History of Judaism and Christianity (Cambridge University Press, 2005), Heavenly Realms and Earthly Realities in Late Antique Religions (edited with Ra‘anan S. Boustan; Cambridge University Press, 2004), and The Ways that Never Parted: Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages (edited with Adam H. Becker; Mohr Siebeck, 2003).

Dr. Reed received her doctorate from Princeton University in 2002 and came to Penn in 2007, after teaching for four years at McMaster University. She is a member of the editorial board for the book series Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism, a co-chair of the Society of Biblical Literature’s Hellenistic Judaism Section, and coordinator of the Philadelphia Seminar on Christian Origins.

Mark and Esther Watkins established the Watkins Assistant Professorship through a bequest in 1969.  Their gift supports an accomplished teacher who shows potential as a leader in his or her field.  The holder must demonstrate a breadth of knowledge and accomplishment spanning more than one discipline and, most importantly, have a lively awareness of the role and ramifications of the humanities as they touch upon cultural values, aesthetics, and history.

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