Sarah Ruden

{{Infobox person

|name = Sarah Ruden

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|nationality = American

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|alma_mater = University of Michigan B.A.
Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, M.A.
Harvard University, Ph.D. (Classical Philology)

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|website = [http://sarahruden.com/ SarahRuden.com]

|awards = 1996 Central News Agency Literary Award for book of poems, Other Places

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Sarah Elizabeth Ruden is an American writer, classics scholar, and translator. She has been a visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania since 2018. Her publications include poetry, essays, and popularizations of Biblical philology, religious criticism and interpretation.{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-babel-of-biblical-translation-1495829051|title=The Babel of Biblical Translation|last=Swaim|first=Barton|date=2017-05-26|work=Wall Street Journal|access-date=2017-05-31|language=en-US|issn=0099-9660}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/may-web-only/sarah-rudens-rebellion-against-our-just-facts-bibles.html|title=Sarah Ruden's Rebellion Against Our 'Just the Facts' Bibles|work=ChristianityToday.com|access-date=2017-05-31|language=en}}

Early life

Sarah Ruden was born in Ohio in 1962 and raised in the United Methodist Church.[https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/water/god-running-water The God of Running Water]. Lapham's Quarterly. Retrieved June 4, 2021.{{fv|date=June 2025|reason=The source indicates her family was Methodist but it does not indicate United Methodism or a birth date.}} She holds an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars and a Ph.D. in Classical Philology from Harvard University.{{cite web|url=http://www.respectfulconversation.net/sarah-ruden/|title=respectfulconversation - Sarah Ruden|website=www.respectfulconversation.net}}

In addition to her academic appointments, Ruden has worked as a medical editor, a contributor to American periodicals,[https://muckrack.com/sarah-ruden/articles Muck Rack profile: Sarah Ruden] and a stringer for the South African investigative magazine Noseweek.[https://pages.jh.edu/jhumag/0902web/wholly.html Johns Hopkins Magazine Alumni spotlight: Sarah Ruden]

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.[https://pubs.lib.uiowa.edu/iowareview/article/id/16581/ Thoughts on Mda, Ndebele and Black South African Writing at the Millennium] The Iowa Review. Retrieved June 4, 2021.[https://www.plough.com/en/topics/justice/social-justice/the-greatest-thing-since-sliced-bread The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread]. Plough Quarterly. Retrieved June 4, 2021. 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.[https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/search/site/sarah%20ruden Commonweal Magazine authors: Sarah Ruden][https://www.nationalreview.com/author/sarah-ruden/ Sarah Ruden, National Review]

Career

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).{{cite web|title=2016 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grantee: Sarah Elizabeth Ruden|url=https://www.whiting.org/content/sarah-elizabeth-ruden#/|website=The Whiting Foundation |accessdate=21 September 2021}}

She is an advocate for the popularization of ancient texts.[https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2004/2004.01.23 Response: Ruden on Clayton on Ruden]. Bryn Mawr Classical Review. Retrieved June 4, 2021.

Ruden has been a visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania since 2018.[https://www.classics.upenn.edu/people/sarah-ruden UPenn People: Sarah Ruden]

Awards

In 2010, Ruden was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to fund her translation of the Oresteia of Aeschylus.[https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/sarah-ruden/ Guggenheim Fellows: Sarah Ruden] She won a Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant to complete her translation of The Confessions of Augustine in 2016.[https://www.whiting.org/writers/creative-nonfiction-grant Whiting Nonfiction Creative Grantees] Her translation of the Gospels was funded in part by a Robert B. Silvers Grant for Work in Progress in 2019.[https://issuhub.com/view/index/19974?pageIndex=13 Robert B. Silvers Grant for Work in Progress Award Winners]

Personal life

Ruden has been a “convinced Friend,” or Quaker convert, since 1992. Her Quakerism informs her translation methodology.[https://www.plough.com/en/topics/culture/music/the-sacred-bonds-of-sound The Sacred Bonds of Sound]. Plough Quarterly. Retrieved June 4, 2021.[https://www.friendsjournal.org/books-about-life-translating-ancient-texts-in-2020/ Books about Life: Translating Ancient Texts in 2021. An Interview with the Biblical Translator Sarah Ruden]. Friends Journal. Retrieved June 4, 2021.[https://www.the-reeds.com/interviews/sarah-ruden-on-the-nature-of-translation Sarah Ruden on the Nature of Translation]. The Reeds. Retrieved June 4, 2021.

Books

=Poetry=

{{cite book|title = Other Places|publisher = William Waterman Publications|year = 1995}} (Awarded the 1996 Central News Agency Literary Award){{cite web|url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/sarah-ruden/|title=SARAH RUDEN

|website=John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation|access-date=21 September 2021}}

=Translations=

{{cite book|author = Petronius|author-link = Petronius|title = The Satyricon of Petronius: A New Translation with Topical Commentaries|publisher = Hackett|year = 2000|isbn = 9780872205109|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=x75xGfoofloC|type = trans.}}{{cite web|url=https://www.hackettpublishing.com/satyricon|title=Satyricon|website=www.hackettpublishing.com|language=en|access-date=2017-05-31}}
{{cite book|author = Aristophanes|author-link = Aristophanes|title = Aristophanes: Lysistrata, Translated, with Notes and Topical Commentaries|publisher = Hackett|year = 2003|type = trans.}}{{Cite news|date=2015-12-04|title=Spike Lee Is Back in His Element With Chi-Raq, Perhaps the Greatest Antigun Movie Ever|language=en|work=Vulture|url=http://www.vulture.com/2015/12/chi-raq-is-a-powerful-weapon-in-its-own-right.html|access-date=2017-05-31}}
{{cite book |author=Homer |author-link=Homer |title=The Homeric Hymns |publisher=Hackett |year=2005 |work= |type=trans.}}{{Cite news|title=How to Read the Bible: Slowly, and Sport with the Words|language=en|work=National Review|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/article/447833/bible-hebrew-greek-literature-ancient-languages-sarah-ruden-face-water-translator-beauty-meaning|access-date=2017-05-31}}
{{cite book|author = Virgil|author-link = Virgil|title = The Aeneid: Vergil|publisher = Yale Univ. Press|year = 2008|type = trans.}}{{Cite book|last=Learning|first=Gale, Cengage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6fmZCgAAQBAJ&q=Sarah+Ruden&pg=PT28|title=A Study Guide for Virgil's Aeneid|date=2015-09-24|publisher=Gale, Cengage Learning|isbn=9781410335036|language=en}}{{Cite news|date=2016-06-06|title=With Seamus Heaney in Elysium|language=en|work=Harvard Magazine|url=http://harvardmagazine.com/2016/07/with-seamus-heaney-in-elysium|access-date=2017-05-31}} Revised and expanded (Yale Univ. Press, 2021).
{{cite book|author = Apuleius|author-link = Apuleius|title = The Golden Ass|publisher = Yale Univ. Press|year = 2012|type = trans.}}{{cite web|title=Putting Paul in his place: Examining the apostle through the eyes of a classicist|url=http://www.uscatholic.org/church/scripture-and-theology/2012/04/putting-paul-his-place|access-date=2017-05-31|website=USCatholic.org|date=11 April 2012 |language=en}}
Aeschylus (2016). The Oresteia, in The Greek Plays (ed. Mary Lefkowitz and James Romm). Modern Library.
{{cite book|author = Augustine|author-link = Augustine|title = Confessions|publisher = Modern Library|year = 2017|type = trans.}}{{cite web|title=Confessions by Augustine, translated by Sarah Ruden|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/239720/confessions-by-augustine/9780812996562/|access-date=2017-10-10|website=penguinrandomhouse.com|language=en}}
Plato (2015). Hippias Minor or The Art of Cunning: A new translation of Plato’s most controversial dialogue (trans.). With introduction and artwork by Paul Chan; essay by Richard Fletcher. Badlands Unlimited and the DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art.[https://brill.com/view/journals/jpt/9/2/article-p221_6.xml?language=en Review by Roslyn Weiss]. Brill. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
Anonymous (2021). The Gospels (trans.) Modern Library.[https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/561221/the-gospels-by-a-new-translation-by-sarah-ruden/ Penguin House Website]

=Biblical interpretation=

{{cite book|title = Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time|publisher = Image|year = 2011}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/02/AR2010040201330.html|title=Book reviews: 'Paul Among the People' by Sarah Ruden, 'The Hidden Power of the Gospels' by Alexander J. Shaia|last=Lampman|first=Jane|date=2010-04-04|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=2017-05-31|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}}
{{cite book|title = The Face of Water: A Translator on Beauty and Meaning in the Bible|publisher = Pantheon|year = 2017}}{{cite web|last=Frankovich |first=Nicholas |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/article/447833/bible-hebrew-greek-literature-ancient-languages-sarah-ruden-face-water-translator-beauty-meaning |title=Bible, Hebrew & Greek - Review of Sarah Ruden's Book 'Face of Water' |publisher=National Review |date=2017-05-22 |accessdate=2018-07-31}}