Robert M. Royalty Publications and Presentations

“Demonic Symposia in the Apocalypse of John.” Forthcoming, 2016. Journal for the Study of the New Testament.
“Heresy,"“Simon Magus.” Routledge Encyclopedia of Ancient Mediterranean Religion (December, 2015)
“Political Leadership and Gender: Early Church,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Gender Studies 2.44–50 (October, 2014).
“The Emergence of “heresy” in Second Temple Judaism and Early Christianity,” Concilium: International Journal of Theology 2014.2, 37–47. German ed. “Das Aufkommen des Häresiebegriffs im Judentum des Zweiten Tempels und im frühen Christentum,” 131–40. Italian ed. “Il sorgere dell’“eresia”nel giudaismo del secondo Tempio e nel cristianesimo primitive,” 49–62.
“Apocalypticism in Early Christianity,” The Encyclopedia of Ancient History (November, 2012)
Collaborator and contributor to “Conversation : Helping Students Navigate Faith Challenges in the Biblical Studies Classroom.” Teaching Theology and Religion, July 2012

“Theory at Work” Teaching Theology and Religion 14 (2011)
"Justin's Conversion and the Rhetoric of Heresy." Studia Patristica XL (2006) 509-514.
"The Dangers of the Apocalypse," Word and World 25.3 (Summer 2005)
"Etched or Sketched? Inscriptions and Erasures in the Messages to Sardis and Philadelphia," Journal for the Study of the New Testament 27.4 (2005) 447-463
"Don't Touch This Book: Rev 22:18-19 and the Rhetoric of Reading (in) the Apocalypse of John," Biblical Interpretation 12:3 (December 2004), 282-300
"Dwelling on Visions: The Nature of the So-Called 'Colossians Heresy'" Biblica 83:3 (2002) 329-57
"Ancient Cities in Cyberspace: Exploring the Uses of Digital Media in Teaching Early Christianity," Teaching Theology and Religion 5:1 (2002) 42-48
"Teachers, Texts, and Scribes," Reviews in Religion and Theology 8:5 (Nov. 2001) 488-494
The Streets of Heaven: The Ideology of Wealth in the Apocalypse of John. Mercer University Press (1998)

"The Rhetoric of Revelation." Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997): 596-617.
The Streets of Heaven: The Imagery and Ideology of Wealth in the Apocalypse of John. Ph.D. Dissertation, Yale University. December, 1995. Dissertation Director: Professor Susan R. Garrett.
"'Seeds of Better Arts': John Donne and the Ars Moriendi Tradition." Honors Thesis, UNC Department of Religious Studies. May, 1983.

Presentations, Panels, and Invited Lectures:
“Orthodoxy and Heresy Reconsidered.” Panel discussion of Robert M. Royalty, Jr., The Origin of Heresy and Paul Hartog, ed., Orthodoxy and Heresy in Early Christian Contexts. Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Atlanta, November 2015.
“An American New Jerusalem: Biblical Art at the Holy Land Experience.” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Atlanta, November 2015.
“Demonic Symposia in the Apocalypse of John.” Revelation Seminar, British New Testament Society Conference, Manchester, England, September 5th, 2014.
“Staging the Bible: Performing Jesus at the Holy Land Experience.” The Bible in American Life Conference, Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, August 2014.
“Why Heresy Now?” Roundtable discussion at the inaugural conference of the International Society of Heresy Studies, New York University, May 30, 2014.
“Heresy before ‘Heresy.’” International Society of Heresy Studies, New York University, May 30, 2014
“The Origins of Apocalyptic.” Trinity Forum, Trinity Episcopal Church, Bloomington, IN, November 17, 2013.
“Reading the ‘Bible’: What’s in there? What’s not? And Why?” Ember Day Clergy Conference for the Diocese of Indianapolis, February 19, 2013.
“The Glory and the Honor of the Nations” (Rev 21:26): Orlando as the New Jerusalem.” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Chicago, November 20, 2012.
“People of the Book / أهل الكتاب: Historiography as Pedagogy for Bible and Qurʾān.” Panel discussion for “Reading in Tandem: Pedagogical and Hermeneutical Issues in Analyzing Parallel Biblical and Qurʾānic Texts with Lay Persons and Students.” Qurʾān and Biblical Literature Section, SBL Annual Meeting, Chicago, November 18, 2012.
“Jesus in Orlando: Performance at the Holy Land Experience.” Ides of August, Wabash College, August 17, 2012.
"Peter Lied, Jesus Died, Mary Cried, and Judas Laughed: Representations of Power and
Difference in post-Resurrection Narratives." Wabash College Humanities Colloquium, April 4, 2011.
“Helping Students Navigate Faith Challenges in the Biblical Studies Classroom.” Wabash Center and Academic Teaching and Biblical Studies Section, SBL Annual Meeting, November 21, 2010.
“Teaching the Undergraduate Capstone Course.” Wabash Center Lunch Table Teaching Conversation, SBL Annual Meeting, November 20, 2010.
Panel discussion of “Visionary and Apocalyptic Rhetoric.” Rhetoric and the New Testament Section, SBL Annual Meeting, New Orleans, November 21, 2009.
“Scripture as Tradition: Authority and Subversion in 1 Timothy and the Gospel of Mary.” European Association of Biblical Studies, Lincoln, England, July 28, 2009.
“The Invention of Heresy and the Politics of Orthodoxy.” Society of Biblical Literature International Meeting, Rome, Italy, July 1, 2009.
“Faculty/Student Collaborative Research in the Humanities.” Roundtable Session, 3rd National Conference on Innovations in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at Liberal Arts Colleges, Wabash College, March 7, 2009.
“The Rhetoric of Difference and the Appeal to Empire in the Disputed Pauline Epistles.” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, November 22, 2008.
“The True Israel? The Politics of Unity and Difference in Hasmonean Ideology and the Qumran Community.” European Association of Biblical Studies, Lisbon, August 4, 2008.
“The Politics of Orthodoxy and the Invention of Christianity.” Wabash College Humanities Colloquium, December 4, 2007.
“The Shifting Shape of Lost Gospels: A Peak into the Polemics of Earliest Christianity.” Ides of August, Wabash College, August 17, 2007.
“Heresy Before ‘Heresy’: The Discursive Origins of Early Orthodoxy.” Paper presented at the 15th International Patristics Conference, Oxford University, August 8, 2007.
“Episcopal and Anglican Relations: Issues, History, and Responses to the Current Divisions.” Three lectures. St. John’s Episcopal Church, Crawfordsville, Indiana, April 18, 25, and May 2, 2007.
“Difference, Dissidents, and Heresy in the early Roman Empire.” Empires and Cultures Workshop, Department of History, Stanford University, June 1, 2006.
“When Saints Argued: Religious Disagreements among the First Believers.” St. Bede’s Episcopal Church, Menlo Park, CA, May 18, 2006
“The Gospel of Judas—A Revolutionary Text?” With Robert C. Gregg. Stanford Continuing Studies Program and Stanford Humanities Center, May 9, 2006
“The History of Heresy and the Origin of Christianity,” Department of Religious Studies, Stanford University, March 9, 2006
“The History of Heresy and the Origin of Christianity,” Stanford Humanities Center, January 31, 2006
Response to Steve Moyise, “Is the Book of Revelation the Death of Scripture,” (Apocalypse of John and Cultural Contexts Section, Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, November 20, 2005)
“Apocalypse Past, Present and Future: a series of three lectures on the Book of Revelation.” Holy Communion Episcopal Church, Memphis TN, November 18, 19, and 27, 2005
"Immersion Learning: An Alternative Model for Off-Campus and Study-Abroad Programs in Liberal Arts Education."
With V. Daniel Rogers (Wabash College) and Richard E. Berman (Kalamazoo College). Association of American Colleges and Universities Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, January 29, 2005.
"The Origins of Christian Heresy." Wabash Humanities Colloquium, March 23, 2004.
"Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ." DePauw University, February 26, 2004.
"Justin's Conversion and the Rhetoric of Heresy." 14th International Patristics Conference, Oxford University, August 2003.
"Women Enter the Picture: Queen Eleanor's Apocalypse." SBL Annual Meeting, November 2002, Toronto
"Etched or Sketched? Inscriptions and Erasures in the Messages to Sardis and Philadelphia." Midwestern SBL Annual Meeting, Mundelein IL, February 2002.
"'Now Write What You Have Seen': The Envisioned Visionary of the Apocalypse." Wabash Humanities Colloquium, November 2001.
"Satan Takes Over: The Apocalypse and the Visionary Art of Myrtice West." SBL Annual Meeting, Nashville, November 2000.
"Don't Touch This Book! (Rev 22:18-19)." SBL Annual Meeting, Orlando, November 1998.
"‘Dwelling on Visions': The Nature of the So-called ‘Colossians Heresy.'" SBL Annual Meeting, San Francisco, November 1997.
"The Rhetoric of Revelation." SBL Annual Meeting, San Francisco, November 1997.
"Apocalyptic Economics or Economic Apocalypse? The Third Seal and the Mark of the Beast in the Apocalypse of John." SBL Western Regional Meeting, Santa Clara University, CA. March, 1994

Book Reviews
The Social World of Intellectuals in the Roman Empire: Sophists, Philosophers, and Christians, by Kendra Eshelman (Greek Culture in the Roman World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), Church History 2015
Magical Motifs in the Book of Revelation, by Rodney Lawrence Thomas (Library of New Testament Studies 416; London/New York; Clark, 2010), Catholic Biblical Quarterly (forthcoming).
The Lamb Christology of the Apocalypse of John: An Investigation into its Origins and Rhetorical Force, by Loren L. Johns (WUNT II.167; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003) and Spectacles of Empire: Monsters, Martyrs, and the Book of Revelation, by Christopher A. Frilingos (Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion; Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004), Journal of Biblical Literature 124.3 (Fall 2005). Also published online in the Review of Biblical Literature, http://www.bookreviews.org/pdf/4430_5605.pdf.
In God’s Time: The Bible and the Future, by Craig C. Hill. (Grand Rapids and Cambridge : Eerdman’s, 2002), Interpretation 59.3 (July 2005) 310-312
Engaging LARGE Classes: Strategies and Techniques for College Faculty, ed. Christine A. Stanley and M. Erin Porter. (Bolton, MA: Anker, 2002), Teaching Theology and Religion 8:1 (2005)
Parables of War: Reading John's Jewish Apocalypse (Studies in Christianity and Judaism 10. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier Press, 2001), Journal of Biblical Literature 122.3 (Fall 2003) 585-588
Studies in the Book of Revelation, ed. Steve Moyise. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2001 Reviews in Religion and Theology 10:1 (Feb. 2003) 30-32
From Hebrews to Revelation: A Theological Introduction, by Lewis R. Donelson. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001, Review of Biblical Literature (April 5, 2003)
Magic and Paganism in Early Christianity: The World of the Acts of the Apostles, by Hans-Josef Klauck (trans. Brian McMeil; Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2000), Reviews in Religion and Theology 8:4 (Sept. 2001) 406-408
Revelation Down to Earth: Making Sense of the Apocalypse of John, by Edwin Walhout (Grand Rapids: Eerdman's, 2000), Reviews in Religion and Theology 8:4 (Sept. 2001) 451-453
Religious Rivalries and the Struggle for Success in Caesarea Maritima, ed. Terence L. Donaldson (ESCJ 8; Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2000) Review of Biblical Literature (April 3, 2002)
Texts Reading Texts, Sacred and Secular : Two Postmodern Perspectives, by Alison M. Jack (JSNTSup. 179; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999), Review of Biblical Literature, (July 7, 2000)
Christ and Community: A Socio-Historical Study of the Christology of Revelation, by Thomas B. Slater (JSNTSupp 178; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999), Review of Biblical Literature, (July 13, 2000)
The Antecedents of Antichrist: A Traditio-Historical Study of the Earliest Christian Views on Eschatological Opponents, by L. J. Lietaert Peerbolte (Leiden: Brill, 1996), Review of Biblical Literature (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 1999) Vol 1: 421 - 423 (in print).

Robert M. Royalty, Jr., Ph.D.

Publications and Research: