Teresa Morgan is an English

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

and

cleric Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

, best known as the author of ''Literate Education in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds'' and ''Roman Faith and Christian Faith''.

Early life and education

Teresa Morgan was born on May 30, 1968. She discovered Homer's ''Iliad'' and Plato's ''Republic'' when she was only nine or ten years of age. Jumping at the chance to learn Latin and Greek at school, she was soon reading the works of Horace, Cicero, Euripides and Plato in their original form. Morgan attended Oxford High School before studying the violin at the Hochschule für Musik, Cologne. She studied as an undergraduate and graduate student at

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

, and as a postgraduate student at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

. She was a research fellow of

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

and

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sid ...

, fellow of

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the univer ...

, and has been a fellow of Oriel College since 2000.Jesus College entry
She holds a master's degree (

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

) and doctorate (

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

) from Cambridge, Dip. R.A.M., L.R.A.M., and a master's degree (M.A.) from Oxford.

Academic career

Morgan is best known as the author of ''Literate Education in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds''. Her research interests lie in the study of ancient

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

early Christianity Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish ...

and contemporary

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

. Her books address the relationship between

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

and

society A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Socie ...

antiquity Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to: Historical objects or periods Artifacts *Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures Eras Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...

, cultural and intellectual history and early Christian history and theology. She broadcasts regularly on radio and television and writes for ''The Tablet'', the ''Church Times'' and ''The Times Literary Supplement''. She is an elected international honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Morgan is Professor of Graeco-Roman History in the

Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford The Faculty of Classics, previously the Faculty of Literae Humaniores, is a subdivision of the University of Oxford concerned with the teaching and research of classics. The teaching of classics at Oxford has been going on for 900 years, and was ...

, and Nancy Bissell Turpin

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

and

Tutor TUTOR, also known as PLATO Author Language, is a programming language developed for use on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign beginning in roughly 1965. TUTOR was initially designed by Paul Tenczar for use in co ...

Ancient History Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, wh ...

. She has served as University Assessor, as an elected member of the governing council of Oxford University, as Associate Head of the Humanities Division of the university, chair of the Faculty of Classics, Chair of several university committees and working groups, and as a trustee of the

Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies The Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies (OCIS) was founded in 1985. It is a centre for the advanced study of Islam and Muslim societies located in Oxford, England, and a registered educational charity. Its Patron is The Prince of Wales. In 2012 it ...

. Morgan is joining

Yale Divinity School Yale Divinity School (YDS) is one of the twelve graduate and professional schools of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Congregationalist theological education was the motivation at the founding of Yale, and the professional school has ...

faculty beginning in 2022 as a McDonald-Agape Professor-elect of New Testament and Early Christianity.

''Roman Faith and Christian Faith''

''Roman Faith and Christian Faith'' (2015) is a much discussed study of how early Christians understood and practised 'faith' (''pistis'', ''fides'' in the languages which dominate early sources). Locating Christian understandings of ''pistis/fides'' in their contexts in Hellenistic Judaism and Graeco-Roman society, the book argues that for early Christians, trust and faithfulness, rather than belief in doctrines or non-rational fideism, were salvific and central to life in a Christian community. Belief and orthodoxy become central to later Christianity through contact with Greek philosophy and religion. In 2017 Morgan received a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship to write a sequel to ''Roman Faith and Christian Faith'', investigating the evolution of Christian faith between the second and fifth centuries CE.

''Literate Education in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds''

Morgan's most cited book, ''Literate Education in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds'' (1998), examines

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

and

Roman education Education in ancient Rome progressed from an informal, familial system of education in the early Republic to a tuition-based system during the late Republic and the Empire. The Roman education system was based on the Greek system – and many of ...

and reinterprets the function of literature, grammar and rhetoric in education, as well as looking at Hellenistic and Roman theories of

cognitive development Cognitive development is a field of study in neuroscience and psychology focusing on a child's development in terms of information processing, conceptual resources, perceptual skill, language learning, and other aspects of the developed adult bra ...

.Cambridge University Press entry for ''Literate Education in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds''
/ref> The book is on the reading lists of many university courses and modules in the UK and the United States.

Ordained ministry

Morgan was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

as a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

in 2002 and as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

in 2003. Since 2002, she has been a

non-stipendiary minister Self-supporting ministers (SSMs), previously called non-stipendiary ministers or non-stipendiary priests (NSMs), are religious ministers who do not receive a stipend (i.e. payment) for their services and therefore financially support their own mi ...

of the

Church of St Mary and St Nicholas, Littlemore The Church of St Mary and St Nicholas is a Church of England parish church in Littlemore, Oxford, Oxfordshire. The church is a grade II* listed building. The church was founded by John Henry Newman, later Cardinal Newman of the Roman Catholic Chur ...

, and the Church of St Andrew, Sandford-on-Thames, in the

Diocese of Oxford The Diocese of Oxford is a Church of England diocese that forms part of the Province of Canterbury. The diocese is led by the Bishop of Oxford (currently Steven Croft), and the bishop's seat is at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. It contains m ...

Selected works

* ''Literate Education in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds''

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, 1998. * ''Popular morality in the early Roman Empire''

, 2007. * ''Seasons of the Spirit: A Community's Journey Through the Christian Year'' The Bible Reading Fellowship, 2010. * ''Every-Person Ministry'' SPCK, 2011. * ''Roman Faith and Christian Faith''

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2015. * ''Being "In Christ" in the Letters of Paul: Saved Through Christ and In His Hands'' Mohr Siebeck Press, Tübingen, 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, Teresa Fellows of Oriel College, Oxford English classical scholars Women classical scholars Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music People educated at Oxford High School, England Church of England priests 21st-century English Anglican priests Women Anglican clergy