Krista N. Dalton 

I am a cultural historian of religion, working primarily with the texts and traditions of ancient Judaism within the Mediterranean context.  

In 2019 I received my Ph.D. in Religion from Columbia University in the City of New York, where I specialized in ancient Judaism. I am currently Associate Professor of Religious and Jewish Studies at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. I am an Editor-in-Chief of the digital journal Ancient Jew Review and on the board of directors for the Association for Jewish Studies.

My first book entitled How Rabbis Became Experts (Princeton University Press, 2025) analyzes the process by which the rabbis of late ancient Roman Palestine became seen as religious experts in Jewish communities. My second and current book project, entitled The Rabbi: a Cultural History (Princeton University Press), offers a broad survey of the profession of rabbis from antiquity to modernity. I am also co-editing The Oxford Handbook of Rabbinic Literature.