Julia Nations-Quiroz studies ancient Christianities, with a particular focus on the intersections of material, visual, and textual cultures. Her dissertation, “Late Ancient Martyr Iconographies and the Making of a Christian Viewer,” examines the earliest depictions of Christian martyrs. The dissertation uses fourth- and fifth-century art from funerary, domestic, and ecclesiastical contexts alongside contemporary homilies, consolatory literature, and additional texts to show how images habituated Christians into modes of viewing that highlighted the relationship between the individual Christian and the martyr. Her research demonstrates the importance of an integrative and interdisciplinary approach to the study of the history of Christianities, a methodology that also structures her teaching.
