>At the archaeological site of the Ancient Agora in Athens, Greece, during a field study course on the topography of ancient Athens.
Hello, I’m Isaac Watkins.
I’m an undergraduate student and Morehead-Cain Scholar at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, double majoring in Religious Studies and Classics (concentration in Greek). My academic focus is on religion in the ancient Mediterranean world.
My interests include Biblical studies, early Christian texts, Christian mysticism, and the history of interpretation. I’m particularly fascinated by how modern philosophy can help us rethink the influence of Greek philosophy on certain religions of the ancient Near East.
In my recent research, I examined modern assumptions behind how translators and readers interpret kărdĭ́ā (‘heart’) in the Gospel of Luke. My paper, “Luke’s Broken Heart: Examining Alternative Interpretations of Kărdĭ́ā in the Gospel of Luke,” explored how kărdĭ́ā has been forced to align with modern ideas of mind. This paper received the 2024-2025 Halperin-Schütz Undergraduate Essay Award.
So far, my studies have taken me abroad for extended periods in France (2 months), Greece (4 months), Egypt (3 weeks), and Thailand (6 months). In each place, I engaged in field study, language work, and cultural immersion.
After graduation, I plan to continue my education by pursuing graduate study in religious studies, but of course, I’m still figuring out what exactly this all means.
Outside of academics, when I’m not pretending to be smarter than I actually am, I enjoy traveling, hiking, making coffee, and playing guitar.
Feel free to reach out to me for more information at icwATicwatkinsDOTcom.