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Fitzgerald Katharine, Ph.D. Student, Biblical Field

photo of Katharine Fitzgerald

Katharine Fitzgerald

Ph.D. Student, Biblical Field

PhD Students
Department of Religious Studies

Area(s) of Interest:

Biography

Katharine is currently working on her dissertation, titled "Women in Greco-Roman Jewish Novels (300 BCE-100CE)," in which she examines the representation of women in Greek Esther, Judith, Susanna and the Elders, and Joseph and Aseneth. More broadly speaking, her work examines how the portrayal of female characters are utilized to define, maintain, and negotiate Jewish identity in the Hellenistic period. Katharine's other areas of interest include the themes of food, sexuality, healthcare, sickness, and trauma in early Jewish literature.

Education

  • Saint Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry, M.A. in Theological Studies, 2015
  • Nazareth College, B.A., 2012

Teaching

     Instructor:

  • 2021 Images of the Divine Feminine, 2BB3 Winter Term.
  • 2020 Approaches to the Study of Religion, 3F03 Fall Term.

     Teaching Assistantships:

  • 2020 Death and Dying, 2M03 Winter Term. Instructor: Jeremy Cohen.
  • 2019 Approaches to the Study of Religion, 3F03 Fall Term. Instructor: Dr. Philippa Carter.
  • 2019 What on Earth is Religion?, 1B03 Winter Term. Instructor: Dr. Philippa Carter.
  • 2018 Approaches to the Study of Religion, 3F03 Fall Term. Instructor: Dr. Philippa Carter.
  • 2018 What on Earth is Religion?, 1B03 Winter Term. Instructor: Dr. Philippa Carter.
  • 2017 Women in the Biblical Tradition, 2B03 Fall Term. Instructor: Dr. Hanna Tervanotko.
  • 2016-2017 What on Earth is Religion?, 1B06 Fall-Winter Terms. Instructor: Dr. Philippa Carter.

Research

     Publications

Hanna Tervanotko & Katharine Fitzgerald, “Ordinary and Ritualistic: Illness and Food in Ancient Jewish Texts” in The Conversation Canada (Dec 2020).

Review of Jessica M. Keady, Vulnerability and Valour: A Gendered Analysis of Everyday Life in the Dead Sea Scrolls Communities, Library of Second Temple Studies 91 (London/New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2017) in Biblische Notizen 181 (2019); pages 116-119.

 

     Awards: Scholarships and Fellowships

Research Assistant for Dr. Hanna Tervanotko. “Rituals and Illness in Early Jewish Texts.” (2021-present).
Mitacs Research Training Award (2020).
McMaster University Religious Studies Department Travel Grant (2020).
McMaster University Religious Studies Department Travel Grant (2019).
Graduate Student Association Travel Award, McMaster University (2019).
The Abby Goldblatt Memorial Scholarship (for excellence in the study of Early Judaism), McMaster University (2019).
Septuagint Summer School, Universitӓt Salzburg, under Dr. Kristin De Troyer (Jul 2019).

 

     Presentations and Conference Activities

"Judith and the Health Crisis in Bethulia: An Examination of Ritual in Judith 9-10." Society of Biblical Literature International Meeting, Salzburg, Austria (July 2022).
"Food, Seduction, and Deception: The use of Food in Judith." Canadian Society of Biblical Studies Annual Meeting, Virtual (May 2022).

“Trapped: Beauty and Sexual Violence in Susanna and the Elders.” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, USA (Dec 2020).

“Sexuality and the Female Ideal: Representations of Women in the Jewish Novels.” Canadian Society of Biblical Studies Annual Meeting, London, ON, Canada (Jun 2020; Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic).

“The Guise of Judith: From Insider to Outsider and Back Again.” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, USA (Nov 2019).

“The Guise of Judith: From Insider to Outsider and Back Again.” Biblical Field Seminar Meeting, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada (Oct 2019).

“Priestly Colors: Representations of Aseneth as a Cultic Figure.” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, USA (Nov 2018).

“The Function of Aseneth: Her Transformation from an Egyptian Priestess to an Israelite Cultic Figure.” Biblical Field Seminar Meeting, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada (Oct. 2018).

Panelist in panel review of Matthew Thiessen, Paul and the Gentile Problem (Oxford: OUP, 2016). McMaster Ancient Judaism and Ancient Christianity Seminar, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada (Jan 2017).

"’But Who Do You Say That I Am?’: The Evolution of Jesus the Jew to Christ the God of Christianity.” Phi Alpha Theta Conference, Syracuse, New York, USA (Apr 2011).

 

     Affiliations

Canadian Society of Biblical Studies
Society of Biblical Literature
Bible and Religions of the Ancient Near East (BRANE) Collective