Jennifer Knust is the ACLS/Frederick Burkhardt Residential Fellow in Ancient Studies, an Associate Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins and an Assistant Professor of Religion at Boston University.
What part of the United States did you come from?
Lately I am from Boston, Massachusetts, though I also have roots in Mount Vernon, Maine and New York City. In other words, I come from where it is cold, cold, cold in January. And I don’t miss winter at all!
Why did you apply for the Rome Prize?
I applied for an ACLS/Burkhardt Fellowship, requesting residency at the American Academy, so that I could live and work in Rome, deepening my understanding of the books and practices associated with late antique and early medieval Christians in Rome and elsewhere.
Describe a particularly inspiring moment or location you've experienced in Rome thus far.
I have two and I can’t choose between them:
Thanks to the amazing and intrepid Kim Bowes, every single walk has been breathtaking. I’ve loved all of them, but perhaps my favorite was the trip to the catacomb of San Callisto, not because the catacomb was that great (it wasn’t) but because of the conversation afterwards. Standing outside the exit, the residents and fellows huddled in a group, transfixed as we listened to Kim’s irreverent, thorough, and astonishingly well-informed deconstruction of the pious tour we had just enjoyed.
Trips to the Vatican Library have also been awe inspiring. I’ll never forget opening the Leo Bible (Vat. reg. gr. 1) for the first time. I slowly made my way through this oversized and beautifully executed manuscript, admiring its lovely pearl script, detailed rubrication, and fine brown ink. There is simply no substitute for seeing the thing-in-itself (in this case, the manuscript) and I still swoon every time a “new” one arrives.
To what extent, if any, has your proposed project changed since your arrival?
I wouldn’t say that my proposed project has changed, though I do have a much better sense of the complexity of what I am trying to do. It can be so difficult to place the artifacts, manuscripts and literary sources I am studying that I sometimes feel like Alice in wonderland—I have tumbled down a rabbit hole populated with strange, incomprehensible creatures who follow rules I can’t understand for reasons I have yet to grasp. But, unlike Alice, I do not want to wake up.
Have you had any "eureka!" moments or unanticipated breakthroughs in the course of your work here?
The Academy’s workshop on nutrition and well-being in the Roman world (November 2012) blew my mind. The whole event was fantastic, but I was particularly struck by the discussion of the “osteobiography” of skeletons from the catacomb of Peter and Marcellinus. This talk totally changed my understanding of the catacombs and how they were used. I left the conference resolved never to jump to conclusions again about who was buried where and why, whatever ancient Christians might say about the miraculous properties of martyr bones.
What aspect of your project are you most looking forward to?
I never tire of viewing the manuscripts I am studying. Writing and deadlines have kept me from going to the Vatican Library as often as I would like, but no longer. I have a long list of manuscripts to see this spring and I am looking forward to going through them as carefully, methodically, and slowly as possible. I am just that much of a nerd.
What is your favorite spot at the Academy? or in Rome?
What could be better than the fourth floor terrace on a moonlit night? Or an evening in the salone, listening to music after dinner? Or the Academy library, quiet and hushed, the air thick with the weight of accumulated knowledge, and the shelves packed with the very books I most want to read, even if I don’t know it yet?