Dr. Kathryn Phillips's interdisciplinary research brings together the fields of Religious Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and History. Her research focuses on early Christian saints from the 2nd through 8th century CE. She enjoys teaching on a wide range of topics within Religious Studies. Being the Krieger Visiting Scholar in Religious Studies, she holds many different events on various topics. Some have included: an annual Hanukkah event, visiting speakers on religion and gender, and various events for Black History Month and Hispanic Heritage Month. She is the Advisor for DC Pride, the student organization for LGBTQ+ students and allies. 

 

PUBLICATIONS

Invited book chapter on Queer and Transgender Christian Histories in Palgrave Handbook of
Queer and Transgender Studies in Religion, expected publication 2025 (Under review)

“You Are Correctly Called a Man, Because You Act Manfully”: Transmasculinity in Christian
Late Antiquity (In Preparation)

“Power as Gender: Power Dynamics and Gender Embodiment in the Life of St. Matrona,”
Studies in Late Antiquity (In Preparation)

“Cis-picious Readings: Gender Variance in Early Christianity and the Implications for
Transgender Studies,” Transgender Studies Quarterly (In Preparation)

Book Review for White Christian Privilege: The Illusion of Religious Equality in America, by
Khyati Joshi, Religious Studies Review, (Forthcoming).

Book Review for The Oxford Handbook of New Testament, Gender, and Sexuality, edited by
Benjamin H. Dunning, Religious Studies Review, 46:4, January 2021, 531-532.

Book Review for Rabbinic Tales of Destruction: Gender, Sex, and Disability in the Ruins of
Jerusalem, by Julie Watts Belser, Religious Studies Review, 46:2, July 2020, 213.

Book Review for Resurrecting Parts: Early Christians on Desire, Reproduction, and Sexual
Difference (Routledge Studies in the Early Christian World), by Taylor Petrey, Reading
Religion, May 2020.

Book Review for Melania: Early Christianity Through the Life of One Family, edited by
Catherine M. Chin and Caroline T. Shroeder, Religious Studies Review, 46:1, April 2020, 66-67.

Book Review for Joan of Arc: A History, by Helen Castor, Reading Religion, August 2018.

"Buck v Bell and Eugenic Sterilization in the United States," Cornerstone: An Undergraduate
Historical Journal, No. 34, June 2013, 39-46.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

“‘You Are Correctly Called a Man, Because You Act Manfully’: A Transgender Studies
Approach to Gender-Crossing Saints in Late Antiquity,” McMaster Symposium and Academic
Colloquium, Defiance, OH, April 2022 (Invited Speaker)

Graduate Student Professional Development Roundtable Panelist, “Reframing Graduate Student
‘Professional Development:’ Movements Toward Equity, Social Justice, and Mercy,” American
Academy of Religion Western Regional Conference, Las Vegas, NV, March 2022 (Invited
Panelist)

“Transmasculine Embodiment and Authority in the Life of St. Matrona,” Queer and Transgender
Studies in Religion Conference, Riverside, CA, February 2022

“Power as Gender: Embodied Gender and Authority in the Life of St Matrona,” Society for
Classical Studies Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA, January 2022

Presider of the Status of Women in the Profession committee panel “Self-Promotion, Collective
Promotion,” American Academy of Religion National Conference, November 2020

“The Disguised Saint: A Transgender Studies Approach to Matrona's Gender Presentation as a
Eunuch” American Academy of Religion National Conference, San Diego, CA, November 2019

“Holy Gender Variance: Gender Presentation of Thecla, a Queer and Transgender Studies
Approach,” Queer and Transgender Studies in Religion Conference, Riverside, CA, February
2019

Panel moderator. Queer and Transgender Studies in Religion Conference, Riverside, CA,
February 2019

“Impudent Woman or Holy Virgin: Gendered Readings of Thecla,” American Academy of
Religion Western Regional Conference, Berkeley, CA, March 2018

Panel respondent. Sikh Studies Conference, Riverside, CA, May 2017

“The Performance of Early Christian Resistance and Submission.” American Academy of
Religion Western Regional Conference, Tucson, AZ, March, 2016

“Christian or Roman: Performance and Identity Formation,” Borderlands International Graduate
Student Conference, Santa Barbara, CA, March 2016

AWARDS, RECOGNITION & FELLOWSHIPS

2022-23 McMaster School for Advancing Humanity Fellow, Defiance College
2020 Honorable Mention, Holstein Graduate Prize in Religion and Social Justice, University of
California, Riverside
2020 Dissertation Year Program Award, University of California, Riverside
2019-20 Holstein Dissertation Fellowship, University of California, Riverside
2019 Graduate Education Research and Activity Grant, Department of Religious Studies,
University of California, Riverside
2019 Graduate Education Research and Activity Grant, Department of Religious Studies,
University of California, Riverside
2018-19 Pre-doctoral internship, inaugural Queer and Transgender Studies in Religion
Conference, UC Riverside
2018 The Religious Studies Service Award, Department of Religious Studies, University of
California, Riverside
2017 June O’Connor Teaching Award, Department of Religious Studies, University of
California, Riverside
2017 Outstanding Teaching Assistant, University of California, Riverside

 

ACADEMIC DEGREES

Ph.D. in Religious Studies at University of California at Riverside (2020)
M.A. in Religious Studies at University of California at Riverside (2018)
B.A. in History at University of California at Riverside (2014)
A.A. in Liberal Arts at Mount San Jacinto College (2010)