Professor Burrus specializes in the literary and cultural history of Christianity in late antiquity. Her interests include: gender, sexuality, and the body; martyrdom and asceticism; ancient novels and hagiography; constructions of orthodoxy and heresy; histories of theology and historical theologies.

The Bishop W. Earl Ledden Professor of Religion, Syracuse University, 2013-present
Director of Graduate Studies, Syracuse University, 2016-present
Chair of the Graduate Division of Religion, Drew University, 2009-2013
Professor of Early Church History, Drew University, 2003-2013
Associate Professor of Early Church History, Drew University, 1996-2003
Assistant Professor of Early Church History, Drew University, 1991-1996

"Desiring Women: Xanthippe, Polyxena, Rebecca," in Reading and Teaching Ancient Fiction: Jewish, Christian, and Greco-Roman Narratives, edited by Sara Johnson, Rubén R. Dupertuis, andn Christine Shea. Writings from the Greco-Roman World Supplements. Atlanta: Society for Biblical Literature Press, 2018. Pages 9-27.

“Socrates, the Rabbis and the Virgin: The Dialogic Imagination in Late Antiquity,” in Talmudic Transgressions: Engaging the Work of Daniel Boyarin, edited by Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert, Ishay Rosen-Zvi, Aharon Shemesh, Moulie Vidas, in collaboration with James Redfield (Leiden: Brill, 2017). Pages 457-474.

“Torture, Truth, and the Witnessing Body: Reading Christian Martyrdom with Page duBois,” in Torture, Truth, and Slavery: Engaging the Work of Page duBois, edited by Albert Harrill, Special issue of Biblical Interpretation: A Journal of Contemporary Issues, 25.1 (2017) 5-18.

“Reading the Bride of Christ in Late Antiquity, and Now: Slippages and Subversions,” in Braut Christi: Familienformen in Europa im Spiegel der sponsa, edited by Susanna Elm and Barbara Vinken (Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 2016). Pages 53-64.

“Torture, Truth, and the Witnessing Body: Reading Christian Martyrdom with Page duBois,” in Torture, Truth, and Slavery: Engaging the Work of Page duBois, ed. Albert Harrill, Special issue of Biblical Interpretation: A Journal of Contemporary Issues, 25.1 (2017).

“Between Fragment and Compilation: A Virgin’s Vision of the Afterlife,” Sacris Erudiri 54 (2015) 201-224. With Marco Conti.

“‘Nec sanabatur vulnus illud meum’ (Conf. 6.15): Trauma, Time, and Voice in Augustine’s Confessions,” Trauma and Traumatization in Individual and Collective Dimensions: Insights from Biblical Studies and Beyond, ed. Eve-Marie Becker, Jan Dochhorn, and Else Holt (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2014), 100-110.

“History, Theology, Orthodoxy, Polydoxy.” Modern Theology 30 (2014) 7-16.

“Gender, Eros, and Pedagogy: Macrina’s Pious Household.” Ascetic Culture, edited by Blake Leyerle and Robin Darling Young. University of Notre Dame Press, 2013. Pages 167-81.

“Seducing Theology.” Theology and Sexuality 18:2 (2013).

“Augustine, Rosenzweig, and the Possibility of Experiencing Miracle.” Material Spirit, edited by Carl Good, Manuel Asensi, and Gregory Stallings. New York: Fordham University Press, 2013. Pages 94-110

“Nothing is Not One: Revisiting the ex nihilo.” Modern Theology 29.2 (2013): 33-48.

“‘Honor the Fathers’: Exegesis and Authority in the Life of Saint Helia.” Asceticism and Exegesis in Early Christianity: The Reception of New Testament Texts in Ancient Ascetic Discourses, edited by Hans-Ulrich Wiedemann. Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 2013. Pages 445-57.

“‘The Passover Still Takes Place Today’: Exegesis, Asceticism, Judaism, and Origen’s On Passover.” Asceticism and Exegesis in Early Christianity: The Reception of New Testament Texts in Ancient Ascetic Discourses, edited by Hans-Ulrich Wiedemann. Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 2013. Pages 235-45.

“Bodies, Desires, Confessions: Shame in Plotinus, Antony, and Augustine.” Shame Between Penance and Punishment, edited by Bénédicte Sère and Jörg Wettlaufer. Florence: SISMEL-Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2013. Pages 23-48.

“Augustine’s Bible.” Ideology, Culture, and Translation, edited by Scott Elliott and Roland Boer. Semeia Studies. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2012. Pages 69-82.

"Wyschogrod's Hand: Saints, Animality, and the Labor of Love." Philosophy Today (Winter 2011): 412-421.

“Seeing God in Bodies: Augustine, Rosenzweig, Wolfson.” Reading Forwards and Backwards: Postmodern Readings of Ancient Christian Texts, edited by Scot Douglass and Morwenna Ludlow. London: T&T Clark, 2011. Pages 44-59.

“2010 NAPS Presidential Address: ‘Fleeing the Uxorious Kingdom’: Augustine’s Queer Theology of Marriage.” Journal of Early Christian Studies 19 (2011): 1-20.

“A Saint of One’s Own: Emmanuel Levinas, Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, and Eulalia of Mérida.” L'Esprit Créateur 50 (2010): 6-20. Special issue on “Sanctity,” edited by Cary Howie.

“Carnal Excess: Flesh at the Limits of Imagination.” Journal of Early Christian Studies 17 (2009): 247-265.

“Dionysius’s Imaginary Library.” Conference on Epitome: From fragmentation to recomposition (and back). Academia Belgica, Rome, June 2018.

“The Bible As Writing Machine: Reflections on a Late Ancient Theory of Literature.” Workshop on Origins and Original Moments in Late Latin Literature. Fordham University, New York City, April 2018.

“The Life of Constantina: Texts, Buildings, and the Making of a Saint.” SUNY Buffalo, March 2018.

“Hagiography without Humans.” Conference on Man, machine, animal and monster: The Post-human in ancient Greek literature. Humboldt-Universitaet, Berlin, October 2016.

"Biblical Media and the Writing Subject in a Late Ancient Christian Letter: Erotics and Performativity." Keynote speaker, conference on Evolving Textualities. Hebrew University, Jerusalem, June 2016.

“Queering Creation: Ecocritical Readings of Ancient Saints’ Lives.” Keynote speaker, Medieval Now conference. Tel Aviv University, April 2016.

“The Life of Constantina: Performativity, Pedagogy, Eros.” Conference on Holy Hero(in)es. Literary Constructions of Heroism in Late Antique and Early Medieval Hagiography. Ghent University, February 2016.

“Late Ancient Hagiography and the Dialogical Imagination: The Life of Saint Helia.” Ghent University, June 2015.

“Take the Life of Saint Helia, For Example: Hagiography, Exemplarity, and Gender.” Students, Followers, and Disciples: Aemulatio and Imitatio of Role Models in the Ancient Mediterranean. University of Cologne, June 2015.

“Queering Creation: Ecocritical Readings of Ancient Saints’ Lives.” University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, March 2015.

“Desiring Women: Female Homoeroticism in an Ancient Christian Novel.” Cornell University, October 2014.

“Gender, Genre, and Biblical Exemplarity in the Life of Saint Helia.” Praise and the Construction of Character in Late Antiquity. Maynooth, Ireland, May 2013.

“Female Voice in Ancient Christian Texts.” Medieval Studies Interdisciplinary Working Group and Seminar. University of Notre Dame, January 2013.

“St. Helia Talks Back: Christianity and the Feminization of Rhetorical Voice.” Yale Divinity School, September 2012.

“‘Nec sanabatur vulnus illud meum’ (Conf. 6:15): Trauma, Time, and Voice in Augustine’s Confessions.” Trauma and Traumatization in and Beyond Biblical Literature. Aarhus University, Denmark, June 2012.

“Desiring Women: Xanthippe, Polyxena, Rebecca.” Sex and the Sacred. Kings College, London, May 2012.

“St. Helia Talks Back: Christianity and the Feminization of Rhetorical Voice.” Weltin Lecture in Early Christianity. Washington University in St. Louis, April 2012.

“St. Helia Talks Back: Christianity and the Feminization of Rhetorical Voice.” Gender and Women’s Studies Lecturer. LeMoyne College, Syracuse, March 2012.

“Exegesis and Rhetorical Performance in the Life of St. Helia.” Asceticism and New Testament Exegesis in Early Christianity. Universität Siegen, Germany, October 2011.

“Hispania and Its Hidden Heretics: Is the Life of Helia a Priscillianist Work?” Corpus Christi Late Roman Seminar. Oxford, October 2011.

“Helia, Girl Sophist: Christianity and the Feminization of Rhetorical Voice.” Oxford Center for Late Antiquity, Special Lecture, with the Corpus Christi Classical Seminars “God’s Sophists.” Oxford, October 2011.

“Saints and Other Animals: The Limits of Humanity.” Marginal Persons and the Margins of Personhood. Keynote Address. Fordham University, April 2011.

“Wyschogrod’s Hand: Sainthood, Animality, and the Labor of Love.” Conference in Memory of Edith Wyschogrod. Rice University, Houston, March 2011.

“Augustine’s Queer Theology of Marriage.” State University of New York at New Paltz, April 2011.

“Saints and the Doctrine of the Ex Nihilo: Jewish or Christian Things?” Philadelphia Seminar on Christian Origins. University of Pennsylvania, February 2011.

“Bodies, Desires, Confessions: Shame in Plotinus, Antony, Augustine.” Shame between punishment and penance: The social usages of shame in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times. Paris Ouest Nanterre and German Historical Institute of Paris, October 2010.

“‘Fleeing the Uxorious Kingdom’: Augustine’s Queer Theology of Marriage.” North American Patristics Society Presidential Address. Chicago, May 2010.

“Nothing Is Not One: Revisiting the Ex Nihilo.” Polydoxy: Theologies of the Manifold: Drew Transdisciplinary Theological Colloquium IX, October 2009.

“Augustine, Rosenzweig, Wolfson.” Reading Forwards and Backwards: An International Symposium on Postmodern Approaches to Early Christian Texts. University of Colorado at Boulder, May 2009.

“What’s Queer about Christian Couples? Engaging Augustine’s Theology of Marriage.” John E. Boswell Lecture. Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies, Pacific School of Religion, April 2009.

“‘Desire Prays’: Augustinian Seductions.” Co-lecturer with Karmen MacKendrick. Syracuse University, March 2009.

“Fleeing the Kingdom of Uxoriousness: Friendship, Sex, and Scripture in Augustine’s Confessions.” Medieval Sexuality. UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Ahmanson, March 2009.

“Seducing Augustine.” Co-lecturer with Karmen MacKendrick. Villanova University, February 2009.