Elizabeth Schrader Polczer
Elizabeth Schrader Polczer is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Villanova University. She holds a doctorate in Early Christianity from Duke University, with a focus on textual criticism, Mary Magdalene, and the Gospel of John. Her research has been published in the Harvard Theological Review, the Journal of Biblical Literature, TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism, the Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies Bulletin, and the Journal of Early Christian Studies. She is regularly invited to present her peer-reviewed research at churches and conferences internationally.
Presenter at
Bible & Archaeology Fest XXVIII, November 21 thru 23, 2025
Has a New Section of the Gospel of Mary Been Discovered?
A previously unknown Christian text published in the 2023 volume of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri series (Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 5577) preserves an ancient dialogue where a woman named Mary is apparently instructed by Jesus. Although the fragment is brief and fragmentary, it contains several themes which are also prevalent in the surviving portions of the Gospel of Mary. Due to this shared content, as well as narrative sensibility, this study explores the question of whether P.Oxy. 5577 might preserve a portion of Mary’s missing vision from the Gospel of Mary.
BAS Summer Seminar 2025, July 26 – 27, 2025
1. Trash as Treasure: Introduction to the Oxyrhynchus Papyri
2. A Scandal at Oxford: Hobby Lobby and Dirk Obbink
3. Stranger than Fiction: Karen King and the Gospel of Jesus’s Wife
Bible & Archaeology Fest XXVII, November 22 – 24, 2024
The Suppression of Mary Magdalene in the book of John
