Sara Ronis, Ph.D.

• Ph.D., Yale University
• M.A., Columbia University
• B.A., Brandeis University

Sara Ronis, Ph.D., studies rabbinic literature in the broader cultural context of Late Antiquity, including ancient Judaism, early Christianity, and the religions of Late Antique Iran.

Her research focuses on demons and magic, gender and sexuality, and the construction of identity in ancient Judaism. Her first book, Demons in the Details: Demonic Discourse and Rabbinic Culture in Late Antique Babylonia came out in 2022. She is currently on sabbatical working on her next research project.

“Sons of the Covenant? The Rabbinic Body and the Covenant with God.” Berit—Diatheke—Foedus—Covenant—Bund (Mohr Siebeck, forthcoming), 368–386.

“‘Place it Under the Stars Overnight’: Exposing Rabbinic Attitudes to Exposed Water,” Medicine in Bible and Talmud, edited by Lennart Lehmhaus and Markham J. Geller (Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, forthcoming).

Imagining the Other: The Magical Arab in Rabbinic Literature,” Prooftexts: A Journal of Jewish Literary History 39.1(2021): 1–28.

It’s a Roman…It’s a Persian… it’s Rabbi Meir! Secret Identities and the Rabbinic Self in the Babylonian Talmud,” Journal of Jewish Identities 14:1 (January 2021): 93–110.

With Travis Proctor (Wittenberg University). “The Past, Present, and Religious Studies Future of Civic Engagement in American Higher Education” in Wabash Center Journal on Teaching (August 2020).

“A Seven-Headed Demon in the House of Study: Understanding a Rabbinic Demon in Light of Zoroastrian, Christian, and Babylonian Textual Traditions,” Association of Jewish Studies Review 43:1 (April 2019), 125–142.

“A Demonic Servant in Rav Papa’s Household: Demons as Subjects in the Mesopotamian Talmud,” The Aggada of the Babylonian Talmud and its Cultural World, edited by Geoffrey Herman and Jeffrey Rubenstein (Providence, RI: Brown Judaic Studies, 2018), 3–21.

“Space, Place, and the Race for Power: Rabbis, Demons, and the Construction of Babylonia,” Harvard Theological Review 110:4 (2017): 588–603.

With Caryn Tamber-Rosenau (University of Houston). “Reacting to the Past Together: Classroom Symposia and Pedagogical Collaboration in South Texas.” Annual Meeting of the Academic Teaching and Biblical Studies Unit of the Society for Biblical Literature, Denver, CO, November 2022.

“Everything is Enumerated: A Theology of Counting in the Babylonian Talmud.” Annual Conference of the Association for Jewish Studies, Chicago, December 2021.

“Producing Children of the Covenant: Aphrahat’s Sixth Demonstration and the Babylonian Talmud.” Annual Meeting of the Traditions of Eastern Late Antiquity Unit at the American Academy of Religion, virtual, November 2020 (accepted, delayed due to covid-19).

Discussant. “Jewish Studies at Catholic Universities: Teaching, Research, Service.” Annual Conference of the Association for Jewish Studies, San Diego, CA December 2019.

“Covenants, Enslaved Individuals, and Jewish Identity in the Babylonian Talmud.” Texas Jewish Studies Research Triangle Biannual Conference, College Station, TX, December 2019.