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Sarah Ruden

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Sarah Ruden
Alma materUniversity of Michigan B.A.
Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, M.A.
Harvard University, Ph.D. (Classical Philology)
Awards1996 Central News Agency Literary Award for book of poems, Other Places
WebsiteSarahRuden.com

Sarah Elizabeth Ruden is an American writer, classics scholar, and translator. She is a visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. She has been described as 'One of our leading interpreters of ancient literature'.[1] Her publications include poetry, essays, and popularizations of Biblical philology, religious criticism and interpretation.[2][3]

Early life and education

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Sarah Ruden was born in Ohio in 1962 and raised in the United Methodist Church.[4][5] She holds an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars and a Ph.D. in Classical Philology from Harvard University.[6] Her doctoral thesis was Toward a typology of humor in the Satyricon of Petronius, and was awarded in 1993.[7]

Career

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In addition to her academic appointments, Ruden has worked as a medical editor, a contributor to American periodicals,[8] and a stringer for the South African investigative magazine Noseweek.[9]

Ruden became an activist Quaker during her ten years spent in post-apartheid South Africa, where she was a tutor for the South African Education and Environment Project.[10][11] Both before and after her return to the United States in 2005, Ruden has engaged in ecumenical outreach and published a number of articles and essays, in both liberal and conservative publications.[12][13]

In 2008, Ruden became the first woman to publish a full translation of the Aeneid into English.[14] She was a lecturer in Classics at the University of Cape Town. In 2016, she was awarded a Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant to complete her translation of The Confessions of Augustine (2017).[15]

Ruden is an advocate for the popularization of ancient texts.[16] She has been a visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania since 2018.[17]

Awards

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In 2010, Ruden was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to fund her translation of the Oresteia of Aeschylus.[18] She won a Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant to complete her translation of The Confessions of Augustine in 2016.[19] Her translation of the Gospels was funded in part by a Robert B. Silvers Grant for Work in Progress in 2019.[20]

Personal life

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Ruden has been a “convinced Friend,” or Quaker convert, since 1992. Her Quakerism informs her translation methodology.[21][22][23]

Selected publications

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Books

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  • Reproductive Wrongs: A Short History of Bad Ideas About Women (Liveright, 2026)[24][25][26]
  • Perpetua. The Woman, The Martyr (Yale: Yale University Press, 2025)[27]
  • Vergil. The Poet's Life (Yale: Yale University Press, 2023)[28]

Poetry

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  • I Am the Arrow. The Life & Art of Sylvia Plath in Six Poems (Library of America, 2025)
  • Other Places. William Waterman Publications. 1995. (Awarded the 1996 Central News Agency Literary Award)[29]

Translations

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Biblical interpretation

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References

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  1. ↑ "I Am the Arrow: The Life & Art of Sylvia Plath in Six Poems". Library of America. Retrieved 2026-03-24.
  2. ↑ Swaim, Barton (2017-05-26). "The Babel of Biblical Translation". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2017-05-31.
  3. ↑ "Sarah Ruden's Rebellion Against Our 'Just the Facts' Bibles". ChristianityToday.com. Retrieved 2017-05-31.
  4. ↑ Congress, The Library of. "Ruden, Sarah - LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies | Library of Congress, from LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies (Library of Congress)". id.loc.gov. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
  5. ↑ The God of Running Water. Lapham's Quarterly. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  6. ↑ "respectfulconversation - Sarah Ruden". www.respectfulconversation.net.
  7. ↑ "https://hollis.harvard.edu/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma990035179220203941&context=L&vid=01HVD_INST:HVD2&lang=en&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=Everything&query=any,contains,Sarah%20Ruden&sortby=rank&facet=rtype,include,dissertations&offset=0". hollis.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2026-03-24. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
  8. ↑ Muck Rack profile: Sarah Ruden
  9. ↑ Johns Hopkins Magazine Alumni spotlight: Sarah Ruden
  10. ↑ Thoughts on Mda, Ndebele and Black South African Writing at the Millennium The Iowa Review. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  11. ↑ The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread. Plough Quarterly. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  12. ↑ Commonweal Magazine authors: Sarah Ruden
  13. ↑ Sarah Ruden, National Review
  14. ↑ Cormier, Raymond (2009). "Review (Untitled)". Vergilius. 55: 131–138 – via JSTOR.
  15. ↑ "2016 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grantee: Sarah Elizabeth Ruden". The Whiting Foundation. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  16. ↑ Response: Ruden on Clayton on Ruden. Bryn Mawr Classical Review. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  17. ↑ UPenn People: Sarah Ruden
  18. ↑ "Guggenheim Fellows: Sarah Ruden". Archived from the original on 2022-07-01. Retrieved 2021-09-14.
  19. ↑ Whiting Nonfiction Creative Grantees
  20. ↑ Robert B. Silvers Grant for Work in Progress Award Winners
  21. ↑ The Sacred Bonds of Sound. Plough Quarterly. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  22. ↑ Books about Life: Translating Ancient Texts in 2021. An Interview with the Biblical Translator Sarah Ruden. Friends Journal. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  23. ↑ Sarah Ruden on the Nature of Translation. The Reeds. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  24. ↑ Szalai, Jennifer (2026-03-04). "Did the Anti-Abortion Movement Begin in Ancient Rome?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-06-12.
  25. ↑ Disputations, Fairer; Williams, Nadya (2026-04-28). "Reproductive Wrongs". Fairer Disputations. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  26. ↑ Shelton, Katelyn Walls (2026-06-11). "Sarah Ruden's Alternative History of Women". National Review. Retrieved 2026-06-12.
  27. ↑ "Perpetua". Yale University Press London. Retrieved 2026-03-24.
  28. ↑ "Vergil". Yale University Press. Retrieved 2026-03-24.
  29. ↑ "SARAH RUDEN". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Archived from the original on 1 July 2022. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  30. ↑ "The Gospels: 9780399592966 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved 2026-03-24.
  31. ↑ "Satyricon". www.hackettpublishing.com. Retrieved 2017-05-31.
  32. ↑ "Spike Lee Is Back in His Element With Chi-Raq, Perhaps the Greatest Antigun Movie Ever". Vulture. 2015-12-04. Retrieved 2017-05-31.
  33. ↑ "How to Read the Bible: Slowly, and Sport with the Words". National Review. Retrieved 2017-05-31.
  34. ↑ Learning, Gale, Cengage (2015-09-24). A Study Guide for Virgil's Aeneid. Gale, Cengage Learning. ISBN 9781410335036.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  35. ↑ "With Seamus Heaney in Elysium". Harvard Magazine. 2016-06-06. Retrieved 2017-05-31.
  36. ↑ "Putting Paul in his place: Examining the apostle through the eyes of a classicist". USCatholic.org. 11 April 2012. Retrieved 2017-05-31.
  37. ↑ "Confessions by Augustine, translated by Sarah Ruden". penguinrandomhouse.com. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
  38. ↑ Review by Roslyn Weiss. Brill. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  39. ↑ Penguin House Website
  40. ↑ Lampman, Jane (2010-04-04). "Book reviews: 'Paul Among the People' by Sarah Ruden, 'The Hidden Power of the Gospels' by Alexander J. Shaia". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2017-05-31.
  41. ↑ Frankovich, Nicholas (2017-05-22). "Bible, Hebrew & Greek - Review of Sarah Ruden's Book 'Face of Water'". National Review. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
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