Moss was born on 26 November 1978 inLondon, England. She is the daughter of journalist, political speech writer, and authorRobert Moss.[5] Moss's mother, Katrina Elizabeth Wise, died in 2005.[6]
Moss has specialized in the study ofmartyrdom, ancient medicine and the New Testament, early Christian ideas about the resurrection of Jesus's physical body, and enslaved literate workers in the ancient world.[14]
Moss has written three books on martyrdom. Her writing on this subject has been praised for its "readability, clarity...creativity, thoughtfulness, and wit."[15] She was the recipient of the John Templeton Award of Theological Promise in 2011, which cited her 2010OUP book,The Other Christs: Imitating Jesus in Ancient Christian Ideologies of Martyrdom.[16] Her 2012 book,Ancient Christian Martyrdom, argued that post-Enlightenment bias against martyrdom had led scholars to think of martyrdom as a phenomenon that spread from one region of the Roman empire to another; against this, Moss argues that martyrdom developed differently in different contexts.[17] Her controversial 2013 book,The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom, argues that the stories of early Christian martyrdom "have been altered ... edited and shaped by later generations of Christians" and none of them are "completely historically accurate";[18] she additionally maintains that the Roman authorities did not actively seek out or target Christians and that in the first three centuries of Christian history, Christians were only prosecuted by order of aRoman emperor for a brief period (no more than twelve years).[19] In a review published in 2013 focusing on her first two books, Edinburgh classicistLucy Grig wrote that "Candida Moss has swiftly established herself as one of the most interesting and original scholars working on early Christian martyrdom."[3] However,The Myth of Persecution has received negative reviews from conservative Christian scholars who question both the methodology and the conclusions of the book.
Moss is one of the first scholars to study the role and relevance of disability and ancient medicine in the New Testament.[citation needed] In 2011 she co-editedDisability Studies and Biblical Studies with Jeremy Schipper and, in 2015, co-authoredReconciling Infertility: Biblical Perspectives on Procreation and Childlessness withYale Divinity School professor of Hebrew Bible Joel Baden. The latter was shortlisted by theAmerican Academy of Religion for its Book Prize for Textual Studies.[20] Her 2019 bookDivine Bodies: Resurrecting Perfection in the New Testament and Early Christianity argued that disability might be preserved in the resurrection.[citation needed]
In 2017, Moss and Baden collaborated on a second book onBible Nation: The United States of Hobby Lobby, which examined the efforts of the Green family, the owners ofHobby Lobby to influence religion and politics in America. The book grew out of their role exposing antiquities trafficking and theHobby Lobby smuggling scandal.The New Republic described the book as "Exhaustively reported and scrupulously fair".[21]The Washington Post called it a "remarkable fusion of biblical studies and investigative journalism."[22] It was named one ofPublishers Weekly's 2017 Best Books in Religion.[23]
In 2024, Moss publishedGod's Ghostwriters: Enslaved Christians and the Making of the Bible withLittle, Brown and Company. The focus of this work is onSlavery in Ancient Rome and the ways in which enslaved secretaries, scribes, readers, and copyists contributed to the writing of the New Testament and the dissemination of early Christianity. The work was based on a number of previously published peer-reviewed articles in theStudies in Late Antiquity, theJournal of Theological Studies, andNew Testament Studies, receiving widespread attention as a paradigm-shifting work.The Irish Independent called it ""A tour de force" and "an intellectual triumph."[24]
The Spectator wrote that Moss's "massive achievement is to shift the paradigm and tell the early Christian story (as far as is possible) from the perspective of the enslaved."[25]
TheWall Street Journal described it as "by far the best account we have of the roles by enslaved people in supporting the high literary culture of the ancient world more broadly."[27] It added that "No one can possibly doubt, after reading this vigorous and provocative book, that the whole texture of Christian thought would have looked very different without them." At the same time, some reviewers took issue with Moss's use ofSaidiya Hartman's methods of critical fabulation and criticized the speculative nature of some of her arguments. The book was distinctive as the first work of ancient history written for the general public to be published with a companion website containing thousands of additional endnotes and references.[28]
In his 2024 endorsement forGod's Ghostwriters, New York Times bestselling-authorReza Aslan described Moss as "the most compelling voice in Biblical Scholarship".[29]
On his blog Variant Readings, Manuscript expert Brent Nongbri described it as "probably the most important book in New Testament studies written in the last half century."[30]
In January 2015, Moss and her coauthor Joel Baden were the first to reveal theHobby Lobby smuggling scandal to the public when they wrote about the company's import of illicitly obtained cuneiform tablets for the Daily Beast.[40]
Moss is an advocate for public academic scholarship. In a 2022 article for data-based website Academic Influence, Moss topped the list of the ten most influential women in religious studies in that last ten years.[47] Following a unanimous recommendation from their Outreach Prizes Committee, theSociety for Classical Studies awarded Moss the 2024 Mary-Kay Gamel Public Outreach Award for her public scholarship.[48]
Moss's first marriage to options trader Kevin McCarthy ended in divorce.[59][5]
In April 2018, she married Justin Foa, the president and CEO of Foa & Son, an internationalinsurance brokerage firm established in 1861.[5] Moss's brother-in-law isBarrett Foa, a singer, dancer, and actor who portrayed Eric Beale on the military police proceduralNCIS: Los Angeles.[60] Moss has two stepsons, Max and Luke. In an article published on Mother's Day 2022 Moss said of them that she "did not think anyone could love any child more than I love the boys."[61]
Moss, Candida (2008).Gods, Lords and Kings: the characterization of the martyrs in the early Christian Acta Martyrum (PhD). Yale University.OCLC272271965.
Moss, Candida (2010).The Other Christs: Imitating Jesus in Ancient Christian Ideologies of Martyrdom. Oxford & New York:Oxford University Press.ISBN9780199739875.
———; Nicklas, Tobias; Verheyden, Joseph;Tuckett, Christopher M., eds. (2017).The Other Side: Apocryphal Perspectives on Ancient Christian "Orthodoxies". Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.ISBN9783525540589.
———; Coogan, Jeremiah; Howley, Joseph, eds. (2025).Writing, Enslavement and Power in the Roman Mediterranean, 100 BCE-300 CE. Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN9780197769966.
"The Secretary: Enslaved Workers, Stenography, and the Production of Early Christian Literature,"The Journal of Theological Studies 74 (2023): 20-56.
Co-authored with Meghan R. Henning. "Pulling Apart and Piecing Together: Wholeness and Fragnentation in Early Christian Visions of the Afterlife,"Journal of the American Academy of Religion 90 (2022):973-986.
"Reading Between the Lines: Looking for the Contributions of Enslaved Literate Laborers in a Second Century Text,"Studies in Late Antiquity 5 (2021): 432–52
"Infant Exposure and the Rhetoric of Cannibalism, Incest, and Martyrdom in the Early Church,"Journal of Early Christian Studies 29:3 (2021): 341-396.
"Fashioning Mark: Early Christian Discussions about the Scribe and Status of the Second Gospel,”New Testament Studies 67:2 (2021): 181-204.
Co-authored with Liane M. Feldman. "The New Jerusalem: Wealth, Ancient Building Projects, and Revelation 21-22,”New Testament Studies 66:3 (2020): 351-66.
“Dying to Live Forever: Identity and Virtue in the Resurrection of the Bodies of the Martyrs,”Irish Theological Quarterly 84:2 (2019): 155-174.
"The Marks of the Nails: Scars, Wounds, and the Resurrection of Jesus in John,”Early Christianity 8:1 (2017): 48–68
"Nailing Down and Tying Up: Lessons in Intertextual Impossibility from the Martyrdom of Polycarp,”Vigiliae Christianae 67:2 (2013): 117-136.
“Christly Possession and Weakened Bodies: A Reconsideration of the Function of Paul's Thorn in the Flesh (2 Cor. 12:7-10),”Journal of Religion Disability and Health 16:4 (2012): 319-333.
“The Discourse of Voluntary Martyrdom: Ancient and Modern,”Church History 81:3 (2012): 531-551.
Co-Authopred with Jeffrey Stackert “The Devastation of Darkness: Disability in Exodus 10:21-23, 27, and the Intensification of the Plagues,”Journal of Religion 92:3 (2012): 362-372.
Co-authored with Joel S. Baden. “1 Thess 4:13-18 in Rabbinic Perspective,”New Testament Studies 58 (2012): 1-16.
“Blurred Vision and Ethical Confusion: The Rhetorical Function of Matt 6:22-23,”Catholic Biblical Quarterly 73:4 (2011): 757-76.
Co-authored with Joel S. Baden. “The Origin and Interpretation of sara ‘at in Leviticus 13-14,”Journal of Biblical Literature 130:4 (2011): 643-661.
^abGrig, Lucy (2013)."Review: [Untitled]"(book review).The Journal of Religion.93 (3):413–416.doi:10.1086/670277.JSTOR10.1086/670277.Reviewed Works: The Other Christs: Imitating Jesus in Ancient Christian Ideologies of Martyrdom by Moss, Candida; Ancient Christian Martyrdom: Diverse Practices, Theologies, and Traditions by Moss, Candida.
^Moss, Candida & UND Staff (19 July 2017)."Candida R. Moss [people/faculty profile page]".Theology.ND.edu. South Bend, IN: University of Notre Dame (UND), Department of Theology. Archived fromthe original on 19 July 2017. Retrieved2 October 2013.Candida R. Moss... Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity/Biblical Studies/Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity/History of Christianity/Education/ 2008 Ph.D., Yale University (New Testament) / 2004 M.A., M.Phil., Yale University (New Testament) / 2002 M.A.R., Yale Divinity School (Biblical Studies) / 2000 B.A. University of Oxford (Theology).
^"Candida R. Moss".Times Higher Education (THE). 12 February 2016. Retrieved3 May 2023.
^Baden, Joel and Candida Moss (January 30, 2017). "Exclusive: Feds Investigate Hobby Lobby Boss for Illicit Artifacts". The Daily Beast. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
^Moss, Candida (9 June 2022),"The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom",MythVision Podcast, event occurs at 2:52, retrieved25 January 2024,Myth of Persecution I wrote when I taught at the University of Notre Dame, which as you know is a very Catholic institution, and it was written during the Obama years and at the time I was hearing a lot from my fellow Catholics at Notre Dame about how Christians were under attack in the United States just like they always had been since the beginning.
