Professor Edwards specializes in ancient Mediterranean religions, literatures, and cultures with
particular focus on Judaism. At New College, he teaches courses on: theories, methods, and
approaches to the academic study of religion; Jewish history, scriptures, communities, and
traditions; and the Great Books curriculum from antiquity to the Middle Ages. His research
primarily engages Early Judaism at the intersection of the Greco-Roman and Early Christian
worlds, and especially the ancient Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, publishing to date a book
and a dozen or so articles and essays on the latter and on a few related topics. His current
projects include: a research monograph on Josephus which draws on the material contexts and
methods of reading, writing, and composition in Mediterranean antiquity; an orientation
monograph aimed at outlining best practices for the use of Josephus’ writings as a background
resources within Biblical Studies; annotated translations of five volumes in the Josephus corpus
for a new English edition; and producing (as editor) the Oxford Critical Guide to Josephus.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT?
Be ready to pursue learning for its own sake; true learning, at least concerning topics of any real
importance, is difficult and painful insofar as it involves admitting our own deficiencies and
embarking on reorientations of knowledge and/or practice, but it is more rewarding and
worthwhile than almost any other endeavor.
WHAT MAKES NEW COLLEGE OF
FLORIDA SO UNIQUE?
You get extensive and intensive time with your professors and will leave with analytical and
critical thinking skills which few colleges or universities today are able to cultivate in their
graduates, but which are ever more valuable in a world in which so much is increasingly but
unreliably outsourced to digital technology.
What made you decide to teach at New College of Florida?
The ability to engage students individually and deeply.