CURRICULUM VITAE
Ronald F. Hock
Professor of Religion
School of Religion
ACB 130
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-1481
(Updated November 2011)
PROFESSIONAL DATA
Education:
B.A.
B.D.
M.Phil.
Ph.D.
1966
1969
1972
1974
Northern Illinois University
Southern Methodist University
Yale University
Yale University (New Testament Studies)
Advisor: Abraham J. Malherbe
Academic Positions:
1974-1975
1975-1981
1981-1995
1995-present
Yale Divinity School, Yale University (Lecturer)
University of Southern California (Assistant Professor of Religion)
University of Southern California (Associate Professor of Religion)
University of Southern California (Professor of Religion)
TEACHING AT USC
Rel. 120
Rel. 121g
Rel. 320
Rel. 325
Rel. 399
Rel. 471
Rel. 474
Rel. 512
GR 222
GR 450
Introduction to the Study of Religion
The World of the New Testament
New Testament Literature and History
Religious Experience in the Greco-Roman World
Seminar in Religious Studies
Jesus
Advanced New Testament Studies
Biblical Ethics: New Testament
Greek III (given through Classics Department)
Readings in Greek Literature (given through Classics Department)
Mortar Board Award for Excellence in Teaching, 1990 and 2006
USC Gamma Sigma Alpha Professor of the Year, 1997
General Education Teaching Award, 2000
Mortar Board Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2006
Professor Appreciation Certificate from Alpha Lambda Delta, 2007
SCHOLARSHIP
Professional Memberships
Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) (since 1969)
Vice-President, SBL Pacific Coast Region (PCR) (1999-2000)
President, SBL PCR (2000-2001)
Past-President, SBL PCR (2001-2002)
Section Chair, Pauline Epistles, SBL PCR (1980-2007)
Steering Committee, SBL Ancient Fiction Section (1990-2007)
Steering Committee, SBL Rhetorical Criticism Section (1995-2004)
Institute for Antiquity and Christianity (since 1975)
Director, Chreia in Ancient Education and Rhetoric Project
Member, Research Council and Editorial Board
Member, Executive Committee
Societas Novi Testamenti Studiorum (elected in 1991)
Ancient Narrative, Advisory Board (appointed in 2000)
Religious Studies Review, Area Editor for Christian Origins (appointed 2003)
PUBLICATIONS
Books: Peer-reviewed
The Social Context of Paul’s Ministry: Tentmaking and Apostleship. Philadelphia: Fortress
Press, 1980.
The Chreia in Ancient Rhetoric. Vol. 1. The Progymnasmata. Edited with Edward N. O’Neil.
SBL Texts and Translations 27; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1986.
The Infancy Gospels of James and Thomas. The Scholars Bible 2; Santa Rosa, CA: Polebridge
Press, 1995.
Ancient Fiction and Early Christian Narrative. Edited with J. Bradley Chance and Judith
Perkins. Symposium Series 6; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1998.
The Chreia and Ancient Rhetoric. Vol. 2. Classroom Exercises. Edited with Edward N. O’Neil.
Writings from the Greco-Roman World 2; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2002;
(hardcover by E. J. Brill, Leiden, 2002).
The Chreia and Ancient Rhetoric. Vol. 3. Byzantine Commentaries. Writings from the GrecoRoman World; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature (forthcoming spring 2012)
Books: Non peer-reviewed
The Early Life of Mary and the Birth of Jesus. The Infancy Gospel of James. Berkeley: Ulysses
Press, 1997.
The Banned Book of Mary: How Her Story Was Suppressed by the Church and Hidden in Art
for Centuries. Berkeley: Ulysses Press, 2004.
Articles: Peer-reviewed:
“Simon the Shoemaker as an Ideal Cynic,” Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 17 (1976) 4153. Reprinted in Die Kyniker in der moderne Forschung: Aufsätze mit Einführung und
Bibliographie. Edited by Margarethe Billerbeck; Bochumer Studien zur Philosophie 15;
Amsterdam: B.R. Grüner, 1991, 259-71.
“The Epistles of Crates,” in The Cynic Epistles: A Study Edition. Edited by Abraham J.
Malherbe; SBL Sources for Biblical Study 12; Missoula: Scholars Press, 1977, 10-13, 53-89.
“Paul’s Tentmaking and the Problem of his Social Class,” Journal of Biblical Literature 97
(1978) 555-64. Reprinted in Tentmaking: Perspectives on Self-Supporting Ministry. Edited by
James M. M. Francis and Leslie J. Francis; Leominster, England: Gracewing, 1998, 4-13.
“The Workshop as a Social Setting for Paul’s Missionary Preaching,” Catholic Biblical
Quarterly 41 (1979) 438-50. Reprinted in Tentmaking: Perspectives on Self-Supporting
Ministry. Edited by James M. M. Francis and Leslie J. Francis; Leominster, England:
Gracewing, 1998, 14-25.
“Lazarus and Micyllus: Greco-Roman Backgrounds to Luke 16:19-31,” Journal of Biblical
Literature 106 (1987) 447-62.
“The Greek Novel,” in Greco-Roman Literature and the New Testament. Edited by David Aune;
SBL Sources for Biblical Studies 21; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988, 127-49.
“A Dog in the Manger: The Cynic Cynulcus among Athenaeus’ Deipnosophists,” in Greeks,
Romans, and Christians: Essays in Honor of Abraham J. Malherbe. Edited by David Balch,
Everitt Ferguson, and Wayne Meeks; Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1990, 27-52.
“By the Gods, It’s my One Desire to See an Actual Stoic: Epictetus’ Relations with Students and
Visitors in his Personal Network,” Semeia 56 (1993) 121-42.
“A Support for his Old Age: Paul’s Plea on Behalf of Onesimus,” in The Social World of the
First Christians: Essays in Honor of Wayne A. Meeks. Edited by L. Michael White and O.
Larry Yarbrough; Minneapolis: Augsburg-Fortress, 1994, 67-83.
“Social Experience and the Beginning of the Gospel of Mark,” in Reimagining Christian
Origins: A Colloquium honoring Burton L. Mack. Edited by Elizabeth Castelli and Hal Taussig;
Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1996, 311-26.
“An Extraordinary Friend in Chariton’s Callirhoe: The Importance of Friendship in the Greek
Romances,” in Greco-Roman Perspectives on Friendship. Edited by John Fitzgerald; SBL
Sources for Biblical Study 34; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997, 145-62.
“The Rhetoric of Romance,” in Handbook of Classical Rhetoric in the Hellenistic Period, 330
B.C.-A.D. 400. Edited by Stanley Porter; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1997, 445-65.
“Cynic Rhetoric,” in Handbook of Classical Rhetoric in the Hellenistic Period, 330 B.C. – A.D.
400. Edited by Stanley Porter; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1997, 755-73.
“Why New Testament Scholars Should Read Ancient Novels,” in Ancient Fiction and Early
Christian Narrative. Edited by Ronald F. Hock, J. Bradley Chance, and Judith Perkins;
Symposium Series 6; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1998, 121-38.
“God’s Will at Thessalonica and Greco-Roman Asceticism,” in Asceticism and the New
Testament. Edited by Leif Vaage; New York: Routledge, 1999, 159-70.
“Recent Scholarship on the Greek Novel and Early Christian Literature,” Petronian Society
Newsletter 30 (2000) 9-11.
“Homer in Greco-Roman Education,” in Mimesis and Intertextuality in Early Christian
Literature. Edited by Dennis R. MacDonald; Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2001,
56-77.
“Romancing the Parables of Jesus,” Perspectives in Religious Studies 29 (2002) 11-37.
“The Chreia in Primary and Secondary Education,” in Alexander’s Revenge: Hellenistic Culture
through the Centuries. Edited by Jon Ma Asgeirsson and Nancy van Deusen; Reykjavik:
University of Iceland Press, 2002, 17-41.
“The Parable of the Foolish Rich Man (Luke 12:16-20) and Graeco-Roman Conventions of
Thought and Behavior,” in Early Christianity and Classical Culture: Comparative Studies in
Honor of Abraham J. Malherbe. Edited by John T. Fitzgerald, Thomas H. Olbricht, and L.
Michael White. Leiden: Brill, 2003, 181-96.
“Paul and Greco-Roman Education,” in Paul in the Greco-Roman World: A Handbook. Edited
by J. Paul Sampley. Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 2003, 198-227.
“Recent Scholarship on the Greek Novel and Early Christian Literature,” Petronian Society
Newsletter, 2004.
“Recent Scholarship on the Greek Novel and Early Christian and Jewish Narrative,” Petronian
Society Newsletter, 2005.
“The Educational Curriculum in Chariton’s Callirhoe,” in Ancient Fiction: The Matrix of Early
Christianity and Jewish Narrative. Edited by Jo-Ann A. Brant, Charles W. Hedrick, and Chris
Shea. Symposium Series 32; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2005, 15-36.
“The Problem of Paul’s Social Class: Further Reflections,” in Paul’s World. Pauline Studies 4;
Edited by Stanley Porter. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2008, 7-18.
“The Greek Novel and Literary Ethnography: The Household in the World of the New
Testament,” in Architecture and Households in the Greco-Roman World: Festschrift for David
L. Balch. Edited by Aliou C. Niang and Carolyn Osiek. Minneapolis: Fortress Press,
forthcoming fall 2011.
“Jesus, the Beloved Disciple, and Greco-Roman Friendship Conventions,” in Christian Origins
and Classical Culture. Edited by Andrew W. Pitts. Leiden: E.J. Brill, forthcoming 2012.
Articles or Chapters in Dictionaries, Commentaries, Study Bibles, etc.
“Economics in New Testament Times,” in Harper’s Bible Dictionary. Edited by Paul
Achtemeier; San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985, 239-42. Revised for second edition of 1996.
Numerous selected spells in The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation. Edited by Hans-Dieter
Betz; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986, passim.
“Philippians,” in Harper’s Bible Commentary. Edited by James L. Mays; San Francisco: Harper
& Row, 1988, 1220-25. Revised for second edition of 2000.
“The Infancy Gospel of James,” in The Complete Gospels. Edited by Robert Miller; Santa Rosa,
CA: Polebridge Press, 1992, 373-89.
“Chreia,” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary. 6 vols. Edited by David N. Freedman; Garden City,
NY: Doubleday, 1992, 1.912-14.
“Cynics,” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, 1.1221-26.
“Lazarus and Dives,” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, 4.266-67.
“Philippians,” in The HarperCollins Study Bible. Edited by Wayne Meeks; San Francisco:
HarperCollins, 1993, 2202-9.
“Philemon,” in The Harper-Collins Study Bible, 2247-49.
“Greek Novel,” in Dictionary of New Testament Background. Edited by Craig Evans;
Westmont, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000, 1008-10.
“The Favored One: How Mary Became the Mother of God,” Bible Review 17 (2001) 12-25.
“Kindheitsevangelien,” in Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart. 4th ed.; Edited by Hans-Dieter
Betz et al. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2001, 4.993.
“Writing in the Greco-Roman World,” SBL Forum May 2004 (available at www.sbl-site.org).
“Philippians (Introduction and Notes),” in The HarperCollins Study Bible. Revised edition
edited by Harry W. Attridge; San Francisco: Harper Collins, forthcoming 2006.
“Aphthonius,” “Apophthegm (Greco-Roman Antiquity),” and “Apophthegm (New Testament)”
in Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception; edited by Hermann Spieckermann et al., Berlin:
Verlag Walter de Gruyter, volume 1, 2009.
“Chreia” and “Chariton” in Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception; edited by Hermann
Spieckermann et al., Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, volume 2, 2009.
Book Reviews:
H. Attridge, First Century Cynicism in the Epistles of Heraclitus, in Journal of Biblical
Literature 97 (1978) 312-13.
C. Holliday, Theios Aner in Hellenistic Judaism, in Reflection (1980) 22-23.
R. Edwards and R. Wild, The Sentences of Sextus, in Second Century 3 (1983) 106-7.
E.N. Lane, Corpus Cultus Iovis Sabazii. Vol. 2. The other Monuments and Literary Evidence, in
Second Century 6 (1986) 58-60.
F. Lyall, Citizens, Slaves, Sons: Legal Metaphors in the Epistles, in Interpretation 41 (1987)
214-16.
M. Kiley, Colossians as Pseudepigraph, in Religious Studies Review 13 (1987) 351.
P. van der Horst, Chaeremon: Egyptian Priest and Stoic Philosopher, in Second Century 6
(1987-88) 119-21.
D.R. MacDonald, There is No Male and Female, and K. Plank, Paul and the Irony of Affliction,
in Interpretation 42 (1988) 322-24.
L. Yarborough, Not Like the Gentiles: Marriage Rules in the Letters of Paul, in Journal of
Biblical Literature 107 (1988) 147-49.
P. Marshall, Enmity in Corinth, in Religious Studies Review 15 (1989) 74.
J. Fitzgerald, Cracks in an Earthen Vessel, in Journal of Biblical Literature 108 (1989) 745-48.
T.H. Tobin, Timaios of Locri, On the Nature of the World and the Soul, in Second Century 7
(1990) 120-21.
L.M. White, Building God’s House in the Roman World, in Critical Review of Books. Edited by
Eldon J. Epp; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1993, 255-57.
E. Ebner, Leidenslisten und Apostelbrief, in Biblica 74 (1993) 423-27.
F. Downing, Cynics and Christian Origins, in Journal of Biblical Literature 113 (1994) 727-31.
P. Hoffmann, Studien zur Jesusüberlieferung in der Logienquelle, in Religious Studies Review 22
(1996) 68.
T. Martin, By Philosophy and Empty Deceit, in Religious Studies Review 23 (1997) 74.
E. Koskenniemi, Apollonius von Tyana in der neutestamentlichen Exegese, in Religious Studies
Review 24 (1998) 98-99.
D.R. MacDonald, The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark, in Bulletin of the Institute for
Antiquity and Christianity 27 (2000) 12-15. (repr. in Review of Biblical Literature 2002 [Marvin
Sweeney, ed.; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2002] 363-67).
H.-D. Betz, Antike und Christentum: Gesammelte Aufsätze IV, in Review of Biblical Literature
2003 (online at www.bookreviews.org).
A.J. Malherbe, The Letters to the Thessalonians, in Religious Studies Review 29 (2003) 43-46.
H.-J. Klauck, Dion von Prusa, Olympische Rede, in Review of Biblical Literature 2003 (online at
www.bookreviews.org).
J. D. Crossan and J.L. Reed, Excavating Jesus, in Review of Biblical Literature 2003 (online at
www.bookreviews.org), printed in Review of Biblical Literature 2003 (M. Sweeney, ed.; Atlanta:
Society of Biblical Literature, 2003) 51-56.
M. D. Given, Paul’s True Rhetoric, in Review of Biblical Literature 2003 (online at
www.bookreviews.org).
Thomas H. Olbricht and Jerry L. Sumney, eds., Paul and Pathos in Review of Biblical Literature
2004 in Review of Biblical Literature (online at www.bookreviews.org).
Invention and Method: Two Rhetorical Treatises from the Hermogenic Corpus, George A.
Kennedy, trans.; Writings from the Greco-Roman World 15; Atlanta: Society of Biblical
Literature, 2005 in Reviews of Biblical Literature 2006 (online at www.bookreviews.org).
Robert H. Gundry, Older is Better: New Testament Essays in Support of Traditional
Interpretations, 2005, in The Bulletin of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, 2007.
PAPERS AT SCHOLARLY MEETINGS (since 1981)
Regional:
“Master-Slave Conventions and the Philippians Hymn,” SBL Pacific Coast Region, Claremont,
1988.
“The Visit of the Householder to his Estate and the Opening of the Gospel of Mark,” SBL
Pacific Coast Region, Santa Clara, 1992.
“Infancy Gospels and the History of the Birth Traditions,” The Jesus Seminar, Santa Rosa, 1994.
“The Infancy Gospel of James as an Encomium,” SBL Pacific Coast Region, Redlands, 1995.
“Romancing the Gospels,” SBL Pacific Coast Region, Berkeley, 1997.
“Homer in Greco-Roman Education,” Mimesis and Intertextuality in Antiquity and Christianity
Conference, Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, Claremont, 1998.
“Ancient Fiction and Early Christian Narrative,” Institute for Antiquity and Christianity Lecture
Series, Claremont, 1999.
“Romancing the Parables,” Philosophical Research Society, Los Angeles, 2000.
“Romancing the Parables of Jesus: Prodigal Son, Unmerciful Slave, and Laborers in the
Vineyard,” Presidential Address, SBL Pacific Coast Region, Claremont, 2001.
“Ancient Education and Moral Instruction,” Philosophical Research Society, Los Angeles, 2001.
Review of J.D. Crossan and J.L. Reed, Excavating Jesus: Beneath the Stones, Behind the Texts,
SBL Pacific Coast Region, St. Mary’s College, 2002.
“The Problem of Paul’s Social Class: Further Reflections,” SBL Pacific Coast Region, Whittier
College, Whittier College, 2004.
National:
“The Will of God and Sexual Morality,” SBL Annual Meeting, New York, 1982.
“The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus and the Nekuia of Menippus,” SBL Annual Meeting,
Dallas, 1983.
“The Plague under Lucius Verus and the Rise of Christianity,” SBL Annual Meeting, Chicago,
1984.
“Epictetus and his Personal Network,” SBL Annual Meeting, Atlanta, 1986.
“Patterns of Persuasion in the Gospels: The Mack-Robbins Hypothesis,” SBL Annual Meeting,
New Orleans, 1990.
“Directions for the Consultation on Ancient Narrative and Early Christianity,” SBL Annual
Meeting, Kansas City, November 1991.
“Friendship in the Greek Romances,” SBL Annual Meeting, Kansas City, November 1991.
“Eros Makes Great Sophists: Education in the Greek Romances,” SBL Annual Meeting, Boston,
November 1999.
“Romancing the Parable of the Prodigal Son,” SBL Annual Meeting, Denver, November 2001.
Review of Mark D. Given, Paul’s True Rhetoric: Ambiguity, Cunning, and Deception in Greece
and Rome, SBL Annual Meeting, Toronto, November 2002.
“Romancing the Gospels: The Parables of Jesus” Department of Classics, University of Texas,
January, 2003.
“Why New Testament Scholars Should Read the Commentators on Aphthonius’
Progymnasmata,” SBL National Meeting, Philadelphia, November 2005.
“Narrative Techniques in the Apocryphal Acts of Peter: A Response to Christine Thomas,” SBL
National Meeting, Philadelphia, November 2005.
“The Opening of the Gospel of Mark and Insights from the Progymnasmata,” SBL National
Meeting, Washington, D.C., November 2006.
“Household Management and the Greek Novel,” SBL National Meeting, San Diego, November
2007.
International:
“Greco-Roman Households and the New Testament,” SBL International Meeting, Melbourne,
Australia, 1992.
“Why New Testament Scholars Should Read Ancient Novels,” SBL International Meeting,
Leuven, Belgium, 1994.
UNIVERSITY RESPONSIBILITIES (2010-2011)
School of Religion
Member, Tenure Committee for Jane Iwamura
Chair, Tenure Committee for Anne Porter
Member, Tenure Committee for Megan Reid