Dr. Kimberly Stratton, Associate Professor of Religion at Carleton University, will deliver the FSU Department of Religion's 2026 Priest Lecture. 

Kimberly Stratton received her B.A. degree (1991) in English and Religion from Barnard College in New York City. She completed a Master of Theological Studies at Harvard University (1995), concentrating on scripture and interpretation. In the middle of her master’s degree she studied in Israel at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for a year and a half (1992-1994), where she passed the Hebrew Language Equivalency Exam (ptor). She returned to New York City to pursue doctoral studies at Columbia University, completing her Ph.D. (2002) in the History of Religions in Late Antiquity. Her research covers the fields of early Christianity, Rabbinic Judaism, as well as Greco-Roman culture and religion.

The John F. Priest Lecture has been established by a generous gift from Gloria Priest in honor of the life and work of John Priest (1929-1998). Dr. Priest served as Professor in the Department of Religion at Florida State from 1968 until his retirement in 1996, at which time he was named Professor Emeritus.