Dr Kylie Crabbe
Senior Research Fellow
Biblical and Early Christian Studies
IRCI Director of Graduate Research Programs
Faculty of Theology and Philosophy Coordinator of Graduate Student Experience
Areas of expertise: New Testament, including gospels and Acts; Second Temple Judaism; non-canonical acts; apocalypses; Greek and Roman historiography; disability studies; intersectional studies of early Jewish and Christian literature including gender; reception history
HDR Supervisor accreditation status: Full
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5223-4138
Phone: +61 3 9230 8397
Email: kylie.crabbe@acu.edu.au
Location: ACU Melbourne Campus
BA, BTheol, AdvDipMin, MTheol, DPhil (Oxon.)
Kylie Crabbe is Senior Research Fellow in Biblical and Early Christian Studies, Director of Graduate Research Programs for the IRCI, and Coordinator of Graduate Student Experience for the Faculty of Theology and Philosophy. She joined ACU in late 2017 from the University of Oxford, where she undertook her doctorate and was Lecturer in Theology at Trinity College (2015-2017), Instructor in New Testament Greek for the Faculty of Theology and Religion (2016), and Assistant Welfare Dean at Trinity College (2017). She is also a Minister of the Word in the Uniting Church in Australia. Kylie has published and taught widely in New Testament studies and Second Temple Judaism, including her 2019 monograph Luke/Acts and the End of History, and 2021, edited with John M.G. Barclay, The Reception of Jewish Tradition in the Social Imagination of the Early Christians. She has particular interests in understandings of time, hope, and eschatology in antiquity, emotions in historical work, and disability and intersectionality in biblical studies and ancient and contemporary settings. She holds a current Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) from the Australian Research Council (2022-2024) for her project 'Inside Others: Early Christian Protagonists and Their Impairments' (DE220101054).
Kylie is available to supervise Honours, Masters, and PhD students, and welcomes inquiries from students wishing to pursue research into the texts of the New Testament, their Graeco-Roman, Jewish, and early Christian literary and material environments, and the texts of Second Temple Judaism, as well as other hermeneutical approaches such as reception history, gender, or disability studies. Her recent and current doctoral students have worked in feminist interpretation of Judges, purity and holiness in Matthew's Gospel, monster theory and the messianic figures in Revelation, early Christian portraits of intimacy between women, and textual criticism of Ephesians. All prospective graduate students are strongly encouraged to contact Kylie by email prior to submitting their application directly to the University.
Kylie is also a member of ACU's Gender and Women's History Research Centre.
Academia profile
Select publications
Books
- Edited with David Lincicum, Divine and Human Love in Jewish and Christian Antiquity. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck (forthcoming).
- Edited with John M.G. Barclay, The Reception of Jewish Tradition in the Social Imagination of the Early Christians. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2021.
- Luke/Acts and the End of History. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 238. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2019.
Journal articles and essays
- 'The Anti-Father and His Silent Sons: Disability, Healing, and Critique in the Acts of John.' Harvard Theological Review (forthcoming).
- 'Who Will Love More? Loving Rightly as Discipleship Response in Luke.' In Divine and Human Love in Jewish and Christian Antiquity. Edited by Kylie Crabbe and David Lincicum. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck (forthcoming).
- 'Oneness, Unity, and Josephus's Theological Politics.' In One God, One People: Oneness, Unity, and Christian Origins. Edited by Stephen C. Barton and Andrew J. Byers. SBLRBS. Atlanta: SBL Press (forthcoming).
- 'Character and Conflict: Who Parts Company in Acts?' Pages 141-73 in Jews and Christians: Parting Ways in the First Two Centuries CE? Reflections on the Gains and Losses of a Model. Edited by Jens Schröter, Benjamin Edsall, and Joseph Verheyden. BZNW 253. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2021.
- "'The Blind and the Lame': An adapted Category in early Christian Communal Self-Understanding." Pages 107-28 in The Reception of Jewish Tradition in the Social Imagination of the Early Christians. Edited by John M.G. Barclay and Kylie Crabbe. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2021.
- 'Gospels and Acts.' Pages 206-32 in The Biblical World. Revd. ed. Edited by Katharine Dell. Routledge, Taylor & Francis, 2021.
- 'The Generation of Iron and the Final Stumbling Block: The Present Time in Hesiod's Works and Days 106-201 and Barnabas 4.' Pages 142-66 in Four Kingdom Motifs before and beyond the Book of Daniel. Edited by Loren Stuckenbruck and Andrew Perrin, with the assistance of Shelby Bennett and Matthew Hama. Themes in Biblical Narrative 28. Leuven: Brill, 2020.
- 'Accepting Prophecy: Paul's Response to Agabus with Insights from Valerius Maximus and Josephus.' Journal for the Study of the New Testament 39.2 (2016): 188-208.
- 'Being Found Fighting Against God: Luke's Gamaliel and Josephus on Human Responses to Divine Providence.' Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 106.1 (2015): 21-39.
- 'A Sinner and A Pharisee: Challenge at Simon's Table in Luke 7:36-50.' Pacifica 24.3 (2011): 247-266.
Encyclopedia entries
- 'Partiality, Impartiality New Testament.' In Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception. Edited by Constance M. Furey, Peter Gemeinhardt, Joel Marcus LeMon, Thomas Chr. Römer, Jens Schröter, Barry Dov Walfish, Eric Ziolkowski. Berlin/Boston: de Gruyter (forthcoming).
- 'Lystra.' Pages 273-76 in Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception. Edited by Allison, Helmer, Schröter, Römer, Seow, Walfish, and Ziolkowski. Berlin/Boston: de Gruyter, 2019; vol. 16.
- 'Lasea.' Page 830 in Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception. Edited by Allison, Helmer, Schröter, Römer, Seow, Walfish, and Ziolkowski. Berlin/Boston: de Gruyter, 2017; vol. 15.
Projects
Australian Research Council funded project
Additional collaborative projects
- 2022-2026, 'Flourishing in Early Christianity,' (partnering with Durham University and the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University, as well as an international reference group). CI in the Strand, 'Health: Being and Feeling Well.'
- 2021-2023, 'The Wakeful Night: Nocturnal Imagination, Encounters, and Emotions in the Late Ancient Mediterranean,' (with the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions).
- 2017-2021, 'Texts, Traditions, and Early Christian Identities,' (with KU Leuven and Durham University).
Accolades and awards
- 2022-2024 ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA)
- 2016 James William Squire Bursary
- 2015 The Revd Alan Stockbridge Award
- 2015 Crewdson Trust Award
- 2012-2015 Clarendon Fund and Keble College Sloane-Robinson Scholarship
Appointments and affiliations
- Senior Research Fellow, Australian Catholic University (2020-present; Research Fellow, 2017-2020)
- Director of Graduate Research Programs, Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, Australian Catholic University (2020-present)
- Coordinator, Graduate Student Experience, Faculty of Theology and Philosophy, Australian Catholic University (2021-present)
- Associate Teacher, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity (2017-present)
- Acting Director, Biblical and Early Christian Studies Program, Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry (Sept 2019-Jan 2020)
- Lecturer in Theology, Trinity College, University of Oxford (2015-2017)
- Assistant Welfare Dean, Trinity College, University of Oxford (2017)
- Instructor in New Testament Greek, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford (maternity cover, 2016)
- Editorial Assistant, Journal of Theological Studies (2013-2016)
- Minister of the Word, Armadale Uniting Church, Synod of Victoria and Tasmania, Uniting Church in Australia (2009-2012)
Professional memberships and select committees
- Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK
- Steering Committee, Gospel of Luke session, Society of Biblical Literature (2018-present, Chairperson 2022-present)
- Chair, Diversity and Inclusion working group, Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, Dianoia Philosophy Institute, and Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University (2019-2021)
- Steering Committee, Centre for Reception History of the Bible, University of Oxford (2016-2017)
- Chair, Review of Education for Ministry, Synod of Victoria and Tasmania, Uniting Church in Australia (2012)
- Member of Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas (elected 2022), the Australasian Women in Ancient World Studies, Australasian Society of Classical Studies, Enoch Seminar, Society of Biblical Literature, Fellowship of Biblical Studies, North American Patristics Society
Editorial roles
- Library of the New Testament Studies Monograph Series Editorial Board (2023-present)
- Journal of Theological Studies Editorial Board member (2021-present)
Grant agency review panel
- Australian Research Council peer reviewer (2021-present)
Public engagement
- 'Updating Modern Audiences for Old Texts,' Eureka Street (29 March 2023).
- 'Early Christian Protagonists and their Impairments with Dr Kylie Crabbe,' Two Cities Podcast guest interview (1 February 2023).
- By the Well podcast (guest since 2019; regular host from 2021).
- With Love to the World, Contribution to women theologians issue, November 2022-February 2023 issue.
- 'Autism and Congregational Life,' video resources guest interview, conducted by Rev Dr Andy Calder, the Disability Inclusion Advocate of the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania, Uniting Church in Australia.
- 'Women's Voices in Ancient Texts and Australian Churches,' ABC Radio National Soul Search (13 October 2023)
- '"Either I'll have you as a wife … or you must die!": How gender-based violence is expressed in an early Christian text and challenged by it,' ABC Religion & Ethics (first published, 3 May 2022)
- Love, Rinse, Repeat podcast guest interview: Luke/Acts and the End of History (10 May 2021)
- Inaugural Board Member, Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy (2020-present)
- Valedictory Address, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity (28 Oct 2021)
- Guest on ABC Breakfast Radio, all local stations nationally, on themes related to Good Friday (2 April 2021)
- Keynote speaker on the bible and disability, Synod of Victoria and Tasmania, Uniting Church in Australia, General meeting (26-28 Feb 2021); released with videos and study resources as 'Discerning the Path Home: An Exploration of the Intersections of Identity, Disability, Social Exclusion, and Healing.'
- 'Reading for Renewal: Revelation, Revolution, and the Reception of the Bible,' ACU Short Course public lecture (2 Dec 2020)
- 'Terror, challenge, and reimagined community in biblical treatments of disability,' Uniting Church in Australia Assembly national reflection piece (Aug 2020)
- Response: Comfort, The emotions of isolation, ARC Centre of Excellence in the History of Emotions (2020)
- 'The unexpected resilient women who came before Jesus: On Matthew's infancy narratives,' Uniting Church in Australia Assembly national reflection piece (Dec 2019).
- 'Discipleship and Hope in Mark,' Short Course in Theology public lecture, ACU Melbourne (7 March 2018)
- Keynote presenter, Clergy Consultation, St George's House, Windsor Castle (3-7 Oct 2016
Find Kylie on Twitter at: @kycrabbe