Publications


Books

—:   et al., eds. 2024. Studying Religion, Past and Present: Papers in Honor of Panayotis Pachis. London & New York: Bloomsbury.

—:    et al., eds. 2022. Studying the Religious Mind: Methodology in the Cognitive Science of Religion. Sheffield, UK & Bristol, CT: Equinox.

—:    2022. The Study of Greek and Roman Religions: Insularity and Assimilation. London & New York: Bloomsbury.

—:    and Robert A. Segal, eds. 2021. The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to the Study of Religion. Hoboken, NJ & Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, Second Edition.

—:    and Thomas Ryba, eds. 2020. Explanation, Interpretation, and Theorizing Religion and Myth: Contributions in Honor of Robert A. Segal. Leiden & Boston, MA: Brill.

—:    2019. ed. Theorizing 'Religion' in Antiquity, Sheffield, UK & Bristol, CT: Equinox Publ.

—:    2011. Αναζητώντας τους Θεούς: Θρησκεία, Μύθος, Ουτοπία στον Εύημερο τον Μεσσήνιο [Seeking the Gods: Religion, Myth, and Utopia in Euhemerus of Messene], Thessaloniki: Vanias Publications.

Articles in Refereed Journals and Edited Volumes

—:   2024. "Οι Ισλαμικές Σπουδές τον 21ο Αιώνα: Το Έργο του Aaron Hughes και το Χάσμα Μεταξύ Παραδοσιακών και Κριτικών Προσεγγίσεων [Islamic Studies in the 21st Century: Aaron Hughes on the Chasm Between Traditionalist and Critical Approaches]." In: Christos Tsironis, Niki Papageorgious, Stylianos Tsobanidis and Panayotis Pachis, eds. Κοινωνία και Αξίες: Τιμητικό Αφιέρωμα στον Ομότιμο Καθηγητή Ιωάννη Σ. Πέτρου [Society and Values: Essays in Honor of Prof. Emeritus Ioannis S. Petrou]. Thessaloniki: Barbounakis, 423–440.

—:   2024. "Religion as a Costly but Beneficial Evolutionary By-Product: On Scott Atran’s In Gods we Trust (2002)." In: Michael Stausberg, ed. 21st Century Theories of Religion: A Critical Companion. London and New York: Routledge, 105–120.

—:   2024. "On Definition, Theories, and Disciplinary Cooperation: Towards a Modern Study of Ancient Greek and Roman Religion." In: Nickolas P. Roubekas et al., eds., Studying Religion, Past and Present: Papers in Honor of Panayotis Pachis. London and New York: Bloomsbury, 62–72.

—:   2024. "Religious Studies and Greek and Roman Religions: A Work-in-Progress." In: Religious Studies Review 50(2), 285–289.

—:   2023. "Historicizing and Deconstructing 'Religion': A Short Overview of a Persisting Problem". In: Christianz Danz and Jakob Helmut Deibl, eds., Transformation of Religion: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Paderborn: Brill Schöningh, 19-33.

—:   2022. "Asking Old Questions Anew: On the 'History' of 'Religions'." Journal of Religious History, 46 (4): 632–641.

—:   2022. "Doubt’s Polysemy: Atheism, Skepticism, and Theorizing Religion in Greek Antiquity." Archiv für Religionsgeschichte, 23: 47–60.

—:   and Leonardo Ambasciano, 2021. "The Year the World Became a Cognitive Historiographical Lab En Plein Air: Musings on the Covid-19 Pandemic as Two Editors Bid Farewell to the JCH." In: Journal of Cognitive Historiography, 6 (1-2): 5–21.

—:   2021. "Between Reception and Deception: The Perennial Problem with Euhemerism." In: Syrithe Pugh, ed., Euhemerism and Its Uses: The Mortal Gods. London & New York: Routledge, 249–262.

—:    and Leonardo Ambasciano, 2020. "Editorial: Big Data, Cognitive Biases, Horror Tropes, and Think Tanks. The Future of Historiography between Bold Cross-disciplinary Experiments and Scientific Reductionism." In: Journal of Cognitive Historiography, 5.1-2 (2018): 7–17.

—:    2020. "Presocratic Theories of Religion." In: Nickolas P. Roubekas und Thomas Ryba, eds., Explaining, Interpreting, and Theorizing Religion and Myth: Contributions in Honor of Robert A. Segal, Leiden and Boston, MA: Brill, 89–105.

—:    2019. "Thrēskeia: From Etymology to Ideology and the Academic Study of Ancient Greek Religion." In: Journal of Hellenic Religion, 12: 39–59. 

—:    2019. "Whither Shall We Go? Tertullian and Christian Identity Formation." In: Nickolas P. Roubekas, ed. Theorizing 'Religion' in Antiquity, Sheffield, UK and Bristol, CT: Equinox Publ., 289–306.

—:    2019. "Theorizing About (Which?) Origins: Herodotus on the Gods." In: Nickolas Roubekas, ed. Theorizing 'Religion' in Antiquity, Sheffield, UK and Bristol, CT: Equinox Publ., 129–149.

—:    2019. "Unexpected Encounters: Aristides the Philosopher, Friedrich Max Müller, and the Origins of Religion." In: NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion, 73 (1): 1–16.

—:    and Leonardo Ambasciano, 2018. "Editorial: Back in Business." In: Journal of Cognitive Historiography, 4 (1): 5–9.

—:    2018. "Should We Define Our Categories? On Jennifer Larson's Understanding Greek Religion." In: Journal of Cognitive Historiography, 4 (1): 42–46.

—:    2018. "The Insularity of the Study of Ancient Religions and 'Religion.'" In: Bulletin for the Study of Religion, 47 (2): 2–7.

—:    2018. "On Finding Common Ground: A (Very Brief) Reflection on a So What? Question." In: Bulletin for the Study of Religion, 47 (2): 10–11.

—:  2018. "Theory in Distress? On Being 'Critical' with Everything." Method & Theory in the Study of Religion.

—:  2018.  "Response to Thesis 12." In Russell T. McCutcheon, "Religion" in Theory and Practice: Demystifying the Field for Burgeoning Academics. Sheffield, UK and Bristol, CT: Equinox, pp. 199–202.

—:    2017. "Introduction: The Persistence of Comparison." In: Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, 30 (2): 137–140.

—:    2017. "How Did Religion Start?" In: Aaron Hughes and Russell T. McCutcheon, eds., Religion in 5 Minutes, Sheffield, UK and Bristol, CT: Equinox, 43–46.

—:    2014. "Lucius' Lucid Dream: Book 11 of the Metamorphoses and Religious Conversion." Journal of Cognitive Historiography, 1 (2): 171–185.

—:    2014. "Ancient Greek Atheism? A Note on Terminological Anachronisms in the Study of Ancient Greek 'Religion'." Revista Ciências da Religião, 12 (2): 224–241.

—:    2014. "What is Euhemerism? A Brief History of Research and Some Persisting Questions." Bulletin for the Study of Religion, 43 (2): 30–37.

—:    2013. "Whose Theology? The Promise of Cognitive Theories and the Future of a Disputed Field." Religion & Theology, 20 (3/4): 384–402.

—:    2013. "Sigmund Freud's Theory of Religion and the Sacrament of the Eucharist in the Orthodox Church." Ekklesiastikos Pharos, 95: 266–282.

—:    2012. "Post Mortem Makes a Difference: On A Redescription of Euhemerism and its Place in the Study of Divine Kingship." Religion & Theology, 19 (3/4): 319–339.

—:    2012. "Which Euhemerism will you use? Celsus on the Divine Nature of Jesus." Journal of Early Christian History, 2 (2): 80–92.

—:    2010. "From the Indian Ocean to Alexandria: Euhemerus of Messene and the Origin of the Gods." In: Kyriakos Savvopoulos, ed. Proceedings of the 1st Workshop in Hellenistic Studies, Alexandria: Bibliotheca Alexandrina, 18–35.

—:    2007. "Θρησκεία και Επιστήμη [Religion and Science]." Διάβαση, 65: 13–18.

Contributions to Encyclopedias and Handbooks

—:    2010. Entries: Άμμων-Ρα [Amun-Re]; Ανδρομέδα [Andromeda]; Αντιγόνη [Antigone]; Ανιμισμός [Animism]; Αποθέωσις [Apotheosis]; Απόλλων [Apollo]; Απουλήιος [Apuleius]. In: Petros Vasiliades et al., eds. Μεγάλη Ορθόδοξη Εγκυκλοπαίδεια, Volume 1, Athens: Strategic Publications.

Articles in the Print and Internet Media

—:    2017. "What’s in your Religion Syllabus?" Bulletin for the Study of Religion blog: http://bulletin.equinoxpub.com/2017/05/whats-in-your-religion-syllabus-nickolas-p-roubekas/ 

—:    2015. "Russell McCutcheon's Theses on Professionalization: Reply on Thesis No12." Bulletin for the Study of Religion blog: 
http://www.equinoxpub.com/blog/2015/09/theses-on-professionalization-nickolas-roubekas/ 

—:    2014. "Religion, threskeia (θρησκεία) and the Return of the Hellenes: On Brent Nongbri's Before Religion." The Religious Studies Project Online: 
http://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/2014/05/23/religion-threskeia-

—:    2013. "From Content to Location (?): Academic Publishing and the Problem of Authority." Bulletin for the Study of Religion blog:
https://www.equinoxpub.com/blog/2013/05/from-content-to-location-academic-publishing-and-the-problem-of-authority/

Reviews

Donald Wiebe. 2023. The Western Epistemic Tradition and the Scientific Study of Religion. In: Religion 54 (3): 629–631.

Jacob L. Mackay. 2022. Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion. In: Religion & Theology 30 (3-4): 419–422.

Jan N. Bremmer. 2023. Greek Religion, 2nd ed. In: Religious Studies Review 49 (3): 384. 

Theodora Suk Fong Jim. 2023. Saviour Gods and Soteria in Ancient Greece. In: Religious Studies Review 49 (3): 385.

Lindsay A. Mazurek. 2023. Isis in a Global Empire: Greek Identity Through Egyptian Religion in Roman Greece. In: Religious Studies Review 49 (3): 383.

Ian Rutherford. 2023. Hittite Texts and Greek Religion: Contact, Interaction, and Comparison. In: Religious Studies Review 49 (3): 385.

Julie K. Ward. 2023. Searching for the Divine in Plato and Aristotle: Philosophical Theoria and Traditional Practice. In: Religious Studies Review 49 (3): 384.

Michael Lipka. 2022. Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and ‘Reality’ from Homer to Heliodorus. In: Religious Studies Review 48 (2): 263–264. 

Jörg Rüpke and Greg Woolf, eds. 2021. Religion in the Roman Empire. In: Religious Studies Review 48 (2): 263.

M. David Litwa. 2021. Posthuman Transformation in Ancient Mediterranean Thought: Becoming Angels and Demons. In: Religious Studies Review 47 (4): 526.

Sam Gill. 2020. The Proper Study of Religion: Building on Jonathan Z. Smith. In: Religion 51 (4): 646–649.

Kelly E. Shannon-Henderson. 2019. Religion and Memory in Tacitus' Annals. In: Religious Studies Review 47 (2): 224–225.

Catherine Conybeare and Simon Goldhill, eds. 2021. Classical Philology and Theology: Entanglement, Disavowal, and the Godlike Scholar. In: Religious Studies Review 47 (2): 223–224.

Charles W. King. 2020. The Ancient Roman Afterlife: Di Manes, Belief, and the Cult of the Dead. In: Religious Studies Review 47 (1): 89.

Lindsay C. Watson. 2019. Magic in Ancient Greece and Rome. In: Religious Studies Review 46 (4): 539.

Maurizio Bettini and William Michael Short, eds. 2018. The World Through the Roman Eyes: Anthropological Approaches to Ancient Culture. In: Religious Studies Review 46 (4): 538.

Gwynaeth McIntyre. 2019. Imperial Cult. In: Religious Studies Review 46 (3): 403.

Timothy Howe, ed. 2018. Ptolemy I Soter: A Self-Made Man. In: Religious Studies Review 46 (3): 402.

John Heath. 2019. The Bible, Homer, and the Search for Meaning in Ancient Myths: Why We Would Be Better Off With Homer's Gods. In: Religious Studies Review 46 (3): 402.

Rebecca I. Denova. 2019. Greek and Roman Religion. In: Religious Studies Review 46 (1): 81.

Sarah Iles Johnston. 2019. The Story of Myth. In: Religious Studies Review 45 (4): 514.

Martyn Hudson. 2019. Critical Theory and the Classical World. In: Religious Studies Review 45 (4): 514.

Christopher M. Driscoll and Monica R. Miller. 2019. Method as Identity: Manufacturing Distance in the Academic Study of Religion. In: Researcher. European Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences 4 (2): 141–142.

Hugh B. Urban and Greg Johnson (eds.). 2019. Irreverence and the Sacred: Critical Studies in the History of Religions. In: Studies in Religion / Sciences Religieuses 48 (2): 322–324.

William B. Parsons. 2016. Religion: Social Religion. In: Religious Studies Review 45 (2): 135–137.

Jon Stewart. 2018. Hegel's Interpretation of the Religions of the World: The Logic of the Gods. In: Reading Religion.

Peter T. Struck. 2016. Divination and Human Nature: A Cognitive History of Intuition in Classical Antiquity. In: Religious Studies Review 44 (4): 466.

Andrej Petrovic and Ivana Petrovic. 2017. Inner Purity and Pollution in Greek Religion. Volume 1: Early Greek Religion. In: Religious Studies Review 44 (3): 332.

Stefano G. Caneva. 2016. From Alexander to the Theoi Adelphoi: Foundation and Legitimation of a Dynasty. In: Religious Studies Review 44 (3): 331. 

Emily Varto (ed.). 2018. Brill's Companion to Classics and Early Anthropology. In: Reading Religion.

M. David Litwa. 2016. Desiring Divinity: Self-Deification in Early Jewish and Christian Mythmaking. In: Religion.  

Larry W. Hurtado. 2016. Destroyer of the Gods: Early Christian Distinctiveness in the Roman World. In: Religious Studies Review 43 (4): 406–407.

Mary Lefkowitz. 2016. Euripides and the Gods. New York: Oxford University Press. In: Religious Studies Review 43 (4): 397.

John Scheid. 2016. The Gods, the State, and the Individual: Reflections on Civic Religion in Rome. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. In: Religious Studies Review 43 (4): 398–399.

Macrae, Duncan. 2016. Legible Religion: Books, Gods, and Rituals in Roman Culture. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. In: Reading Religion (http://readingreligion.org/books/legible-religion).

Eidinow, Esther and Kindt, Julia, eds. 2015. The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press. In: Revista Clássica, 29 (2), 2016: 221–224.

Smith, Mark S. 2016. Where the Gods Are: Spatial Dimensions of Anthropomorphism in the Biblical World. New Haven: Yale University Press. In: Reading Religion (http://readingreligion.org/books/where-gods-are). 

Barton, Carlin A. and Boyarin, Daniel. 2016. Imagine No Religion: How Modern Abstractions Hide Ancient Realities. New York: Fordham University Press. In: Critical Research on Religion (DOI: 10.1177/2050303217707248).

Berzon, Todd S. 2016. Classifying Christians: Ethnography, Heresiology, and the Limits of Knowledge in Late Antiquity. Oakland, Californa: University of California Press. In: Reading Religion (http://readingreligion.org/books/classifying-christians).

Stroumsa, Guy G. 2015. The Making of Abrahamic Religions in Late Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. In: Religion (DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2016.1276761).

Edwards, Mark. 2015. Religions of the Constantine Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Press. In: Religion (DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2016.1276760).

Hughes, Aaron W. 2014. Theorizing Islam: Disciplinary Deconstruction and Reconstruction. New York: Routledge. In: Contemporary Islam, 10 (1), 2016: 119–121.

Russell T. McCutcheon. 2015. A Modest Proposal on Method: Essaying the Study of Religion. Leiden and Boston, MA: Brill. In: Religion & Theology, 22 (3/4), 2015: 385–390.

Jensen, Jeppe Sinding. 2014. What is Religion? Oxford and New York: Routledge. In: Religion, 45 (3), 2015: 490–493.

Nongbri, Brent. 2013. Before Religion: A History of a Modern Concept. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. In: Relegere, 4 (2), 2014: 261–264.

Schilbrack, Kevin. 2014. Philosophy and the Study of Religions: A Manifesto. Malden, MA and Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. In: Religious Studies Review, 40 (3), 2014: 137–138.

Dowden, Ken, and Livingstone, Nial, eds. 2011. Companion to Greek Mythology. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. In: Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2014.04.49.