Christine M. Thomas, associate professor of religious studies at UC Santa Barbara, speaks about "Finding Paul in Ephesos: A New Archaeological Project" as part of the Erasmus Lecture series Thursday, February 19, at 7 p.m. The lecture is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served after the lecture.

Thomas wills discuss archaeological research in Greece and Turkey, which has been used to describe the context of Saint Paul. A new excavation project started in 2004 is searching for evidence that may reveal the social location of early Christianity.

Thomas, who earned her doctorate in the study of religion at Harvard, is an alumna of the University of Minnesota and the Eberhardt-Karls Universität in Tübingen, Germany. She has a background in classics and ancient history, and has been a veteran of annual archaeological campaigns in Turkey since 1991. She currently directs excavation projects in Ephesos and Metropolis near Izmir. She has authored two books and 16 articles, primarily on the Christian apocrypha and the religions of ancient Asia Minor.