I read theology as an undergraduate at Oxford, before moving to the United States to pursue post-graduate work in Biblical Studies at, first Yale Divinity School and, later, Yale Graduate School. In 2008, I moved to the University of Notre Dame to teach classes in the departments of Theology, Classics, and History before coming to Birmingham in 2017. 

While my academic work is primarily historical, I work in the public sphere as s Papal news commentator for CBS news, a cultural commentator and columnist for The Daily Beast, and a religion news commentator and writer for CNN, BBC, National Geographic, Smithsonian, Discovery Channel, History Channel, and others. A great deal of my recent work has focussed on the intersection of religion and politics and the influence of certain religious ideas on international relations, policy making, and education.

My research interests include work on disability, early Christian martyrdom, ancient enslavement and incarceration, Christian views of resurrection of the body, and ancient writing  practices. I have authored seven books and over fifty peer-reviewed articles and essays.