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Candace Buckner Ducharme

Candace Buckner, Assistant Professor

Candace Buckner, Assistant Professor, stands in front of a bookshelf in a portrait photo
Candace Buckner, Assistant Professor

Department of Religion and Culture

204 Major Williams Hall

220 Stanger Street, Blacksburg, VA 24016

540-231-6080 | cbuckner@vt.edu

Dr. Candace Buckner's research focuses on the biographies of early Christian saints, especially those composed between the fourth- and eighth-centuries. These works were written for widely diverse audiences, translated into many languages, and were disseminated across the ancient world. She asks how these texts reveal aspects of ancient culture, including ancient perceptions of space, race, ethnicity, and disability. Her recent courses center on the perception of bodies in the ancient world and the importance of the holy man in early Christian thought.

  • Early Christian Literature
  • Ancient Biography
  • Spatial Theory
  • Race and Ethnicity in the Ancient World
  • Disability Theory
  • Ph.D. in Ancient Mediterranean Religions, Department of Religious Studies, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 2020
  • M.A. in Classical and Near Eastern Studies, University of Minnesota–Twin Cities, 2012
  • Post-Baccalaureate Studies in Classics, Georgetown University, 2010
  • B.A. in Classics and College of Letters, Wesleyan University, 2009
  • 2018-2020 North American Patristics Society (NAPS) Student-Member-at-Large, Organized teleconference meetings, voice graduate student concerns to NAPS board, help to design graduate student survey, and organize graduate student events.
  • 2018-2019 IME Writing Group Coach, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Organized weekly writing informational sessions, created and organized writing workshops, lead discussions on writings, helped to connect graduate students to writing resources on campus, and organized writing group/s.
  • 2016-2017 RAMP Mentor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Responsible for scheduling bi-weekly meetings with mentee, helping connect to resources on and off campus, aiding in researching future graduate education opportunities, and offering guidance in personal and academic life. 
  • 2018: North American Patristics Society (NAPS) Graduate Student Paper Prize
  • 2017: Chancellor’s Doctoral Candidacy Award                                         
  • 2012-2016: Caroline H. and Thomas S. Royster Fellowship

Journal Articles

2020: “A Healing Vision: Elements of the Greco-Roman Miraculous Healing Tradition in the Coptic Life of Onnophrius,” Studia Patristica, Forthcoming.

2019: “Made in an Imperfect Image: Ethnicity, Disability, and Infirmity in the Life of Aphou,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 87 (2): 483–511. doi:10.1093/jaarel/lfz003

Other Creative Works

Book Note | Christianizing Egypt: Syncretism and Local Worlds in Late Antiquity,” Ancient Jew Review, March 9, 2020

Book Note | The Red Monastery Church: Beauty and Asceticism,” Ancient Jew Review, April 2, 2018

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