Emilie Nordhues

Emilie Nordhues is a third-year graduate student in the Near Eastern Languages and Cultures department at UCLA. Her research interests are in the Achaemenid period Levant, exploring how the context of imperial control is shaping expressions of Jewish identity and religion at that time.

In thinking about religion in the ancient world, Emilie considers it important to hold to the mindset that people in the past believed and cared about these things and that their views were rich and coherent — this attention to multi religious ancient contexts has made her curious to know and explore more about the multi-religious modern context. She was raised attending a Baptist church and is currently a member of a Presbyterian church.

As a member of the Academy, Emilie appreciates thinking about both the academic and social aspects of the Abrahamic religions, as well as their historicity.