
Dayna Kalleres
Associate Professor

- Profile
- In Memoriam
- Publications
- Education
Profile
Early Christianity
Dayna Kalleres received her Ph.D. in the Department of Religious Studies at Brown University, with a specialization in Early Christianity, in May of 2002. Her dissertation was entitled Exorcising the Devil to Silence Christ’s Enemies: Ritualized Speech Practices in Late Antique Christianity. After finishing her doctorate, Dr. Kalleres spent three years as an Andrew Mellon Stanford Humanities Post-Doctoral Fellow; during 2005-06, she held an appointment as a lecturer in the Religious Studies Department at Stanford as well as an Assistant Professor at the University of the Pacific.
Her teaching and research interests included: critical theories of religion; the deployment of the categories of gender, sexuality, and the body in the formation of religious boundaries in late antiquity; the intersection between ritual practice and theological conflict; the relationship between "magical" and religious (Christian, polytheist and Jewish) ritual practice.
Her final book project investigates the interrelationship between of demonology and embodiment in the construction of Christian Subjectivity in the Late Ancient Antioch (Antakya in southeastern Turkey).
In Memoriam
Dear Colleagues,
It is with sadness that I communicate the passing, on March 15, of Dayna Kalleres, beloved Associate Professor in the Department of Literature. With a Ph.D. in History and Religion from Brown University, Dayna joined the Department of Literature in 2006. Before joining us at UCSD, Dayna was a Stanford Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow supported by Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in 2002–2005, which made her an internationally recognized expert in the study of early Christianity. Dayne taught in the Religious Studies Program at UCSD and served as the Director of the program for many years. Recently, Dayna was excited about discussing her current work, including the one that examines films, exorcism, and religious studies. Thank you for your dedication and love to our community, Dayna.
Sincerely,
Daisuke Miyao
Department Chair
Publications
Selected Publications
- City of Demons: Violence, Ritual, and Christian Power in Late Antiquity. Oakland: University of California Press, 2015.
- Daughters of Hecate: Women and Magic in the Ancient World. Ed. Kimberly Stratton with Dayna S. Kalleres (August 2007)
- "Demonology and Divine Illumination: A Consideration of Eight Texts of Gregory of Nazianzus," (Vigiliae Christianae: A Review of Early Christian Life and Language, 2007)
- "Cultivating True Sight at the Center of the World: Cyril of Jerusalem and the Lenten Catechumenate," (Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture, September 2005)
Education
-
Ph.D. in Religious Studies, Brown University, 2002