Aneilya Barnes, assistant professor of history at Coastal Carolina University, will give a lecture entitled “Reconstructing Women’s History in Early Christianity” at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 30 in room 248 of the Thomas W. and Robin W. College of Humanities and Fine Arts. The event is free and open to the public.

Barnes will discuss how scholars often present the history of the early Church through the narrow lens of textual sources written by men, which omit the crucial roles women had in the establishment of the Church in Rome, outside of their roles as martyrs and ascetics. She will discuss the built environment of ancient Rome, including catacombs, house churches and Christian basilicas, and how they demonstrate that women were highly influential as patrons and participants in the development of the early Church.

Barnes, who joined the University faculty in 2007, earned a bachelor’s degree in history and journalism and a master’s degree in history from Arkansas Tech University. She earned a doctorate in history from the University of Arkansas. She has published on gender and the early church, and her research focuses on the Christianization of ancient Rome, particularly through the lens of early Christian architecture.

Barnes’s expertise includes the history of early Christianity, imperial Rome and the early Islamic world.

For more information, contact Julinna Oxley, director of women’s and gender studies, at 843-349-6548 or joxley@coastal.edu.