Giovanni Bazzana
· Frothingham Professor of the History of Religion and Professor of New Testament and Early Christian StudiesHarvard University · Faculty of Divinity
Active 2000–2025
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About
Giovanni Bazzana is the Frothingham Professor of the History of Religion and Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Studies at Harvard Divinity School. His research and teaching focus chiefly on the critical study of the early Christ movement and early Christianity within the contexts of Second Temple Judaism, ancient Mediterranean history, religions, and material cultures. Bazzana’s work centers on gospels and apocalypses, both canonical and non-canonical, analyzing these texts in relation to broader social, political, and economic developments in the Mediterranean from the Hellenistic period to Late Antiquity. His scholarship emphasizes the influence of present concerns on the understanding of antiquity, aiming to interrogate ancient texts and practices while acknowledging their contemporary relevance. Bazzana has a secondary interest in papyrology, which is reflected in his first book, 'Kingdom of Bureaucracy: The Political Theology of Village Scribes in the Sayings Gospel Q' (2015). His latest book, 'Having the Spirit of Christ: Spirit Possession and Exorcism in the Early Christ Groups' (Yale 2020), explores the role of possession and exorcism in early Christian writings, using a comparative lens that includes ethnographies of possession cross-culturally. His research projects include studies on apocalyptic literature and its influence on contemporary culture and political discourse, as well as an investigation into the economic thought and practices of early…
Research topics
- Sociology
- Art
- Philosophy
- Computer Science
- Mathematics
- Environmental science
- Physics
- Geography
- Thermodynamics
- Epistemology
Selected publications
Having the Spirit of Christ: Spirit Possession and Exorcism in the Early Christ Groups
2020 · 37 citations
1st authorCorrespondingA provocative reinterpretation of accounts of spirit possession and exorcism in early Christianity The earliest Christian writings are filled with stories of possession and exorcism, which were crucial for the activity of the historical Jesus and for the practice of his earliest followers. Possession, besides being a harmful event that should be exorcized, can also have a positive role in many cultures. Often it helps individuals and groups to reflect on and reshape their identity, to plan their…
Yale University Press eBooks · 2020 · 6 citations
1st authorCorrespondingThe earliest Christian writings are filled with stories of spirit possession and exorcism, which were crucial for the activity of the historical Jesus and for the practice of his earliest followers. Possession, besides being a harmful event that should be exorcized, can also have a positive role in many cultures. Often it helps individuals and groups to reflect on and reshape their identity, to plan their moral actions, and to remember in a most vivid way their past. This book illustrates some o…
Negotiating the Experience of Possession in Hermas’s Shepherd
2022-05-23 · 1 citations
book-chapter1st authorCorresponding23 The Universality of Spirit Possession Revisited
McGill-Queen's University Press eBooks · 2025-04-07
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingJesus Remembered in the Fourth Gospel and Second-Century Traditions A:
SBL Press eBooks · 2024-10-04
book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
Frequent coauthors
- 355 shared
David Hempton
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
- 355 shared
Mayra Rivera
Edmonds Community College
- 355 shared
Faye Bodley-Dangelo
New York University Press
- 355 shared
Francis X. Clooney
Episcopal Divinity School
- 309 shared
Matthew Hass
Cambridge University Press
- 302 shared
James Given
British Horseracing Authority
- 259 shared
Jon Levenson
- 249 shared
Thomas Whittaker
Harvard University Press
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