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Mona Tokarek LaFosse
Assistant Professor, Christian Scriptures and Sacred Texts
I completed a PhD at the Centre for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto in 2011 and a Master of Arts in Religion and Culture at Laurier in 2001. I also have an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology (University of Waterloo) and Bachelor of Religious Education in Biblical Studies (Columbia Bible College).
In addition to teaching at Martin Luther University College (formerly Waterloo Lutheran Seminary) and Laurier (Department of Religion and Culture), I have taught courses at the University of Toronto and Huron University College (Western University in London, Ont.) in the areas of New Testament/Early Christianity, religious/sacred texts, New Testament Greek and Religious Studies.
Please feel free to check out my Meet the Prof @LutherWaterloo video.
My area of research is Early Christian Studies, with a focus on the cultural and social context of early Christian communities. In my doctoral work, I examined how an understanding of ancient Mediterranean age structure, intergenerational relationships and the life course illuminates social dynamics among women and men in early Christian texts. I continue to work on age, old age, age and gender, and the idea of generation in early Christian communities.
Research / Areas of Expertise
- Cultural context of early Christian communities.
- Age structure in ancient Mediterranean world.
- New Testament and early Christian literature.
- Four-year Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council doctoral scholarship (2001-2005).
- Governor General’s Academic Gold Medal and Faculty of Arts Gold Medal, MA, Wilfrid Laurier University (2001).
- Student Essay Award, Canadian Society of Patristic Studies (2001).
I am available to supervise students in the areas of New Testament studies, Early Christianity, ancient Mediterranean culture, and reading sacred texts. I am able to provide guidance in social and cultural aspects of age and aging.
- “CSPS/ACÉP: A Small But Stable Society,” in a special edition of Studies in Religion / Sciences Religieuses (Volume 50, Issue 3), celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Canadian Corporation for the Study of Religion. Written with members of the Canadian Society of Patristic Studies/Association Canadienne des Études Patristiques: Eric Crégheur, Maria Dasios, Theodore de Bruyn, Miriam De Cock, Robert Kitchen, Timothy Pettipiece, and Andrius Valevicius. https://doi-org.libproxy.wlu.ca/10.1177/00084298211036452
- Invited book review for Review of Biblical Literature: L. L. Welborn, The Young Against the Old: Generational Conflict in First Clement. Lanham: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2018. (published 2019-10-31)
- “Those Who Hear: The Power of Learners in 1 Timothy.” In Religion and Education in Antiquity: Essays in Honour of Michel Desjardins. Edited by Alexander Damm. Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2019. doi:10.1163/9789004384613_008.
- “Women, Children and House Churches.” In The Early Christian World, edited by Philip F. Esler, 2nd ed., 385–405. London; New York: Routledge, 2017. (An invited chapter in the second edition of a book intended for an undergraduate audience, available online in the Laurier Library)
- “Age hierarchy and social networks among urban women in the Roman East.” In Families in the Ancient Mediterranean, edited by Sabine R. Huebner and Geoffrey Nathan, 204-20. Conference Proceedings at the Max-Planck Institute, Rostock, Germany, June 2012. Chichester, West Sussex: Wylie Blackwell, 2017.
- “Women’s Roles in the Letters to Timothy and Titus.” Women in the Bible issue of Christian Reflection: A Series on Faith and Ethics. Baylor University, 2013. https://www.baylor.edu/ifl/christianreflection/index.php?id=95890