Dr. Jennifer (Jenny) Knust
Professor of religious studies
Jennifer (Jenny) Knust (she/her/hers) joined the faculty at Duke in 2019. A proud Mainer, she earned her doctorate in Religion at Columbia University and taught at Boston University before moving to Durham.
Her research focuses on embodied beliefs, sacred texts and contexts, and religious theory in the varied and lived religious worlds of the late ancient Mediterranean. As a member of the “What is the Cosmos?” Constellation, she studies ancient interpretations of an enchanted cosmos, filled with singing stars and, as part of the Manuscript Migration Lab and the Religion: Then & Now Undergraduate Research Initiative, she works closely with students and colleagues on tracing the histories of the incredible manuscripts in the Rubenstein Library collections.
Her husband Leonid Tsvetkov (he/him/his), Brock Family Instructor in Studio Arts, earned his MFA at Yale University and is an alumnus of the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. When Jenny and Leonid aren’t hanging out with students at Blackwell, you might find them meandering among the shelves of Duke’s libraries, mixing paints in the studio, reading and writing at the kitchen table, or teaching classes. A bit further afield, you might happen upon them on the top of a mountain, at a museum, or digging in the dirt to plant flowers or uncover some ancient artifact.