James F Patterson

James F Patterson serves as the Language Program Director and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Classics at Yale University. He oversees the curriculum for introductory and intermediate Greek and Latin courses and supervises graduate students teaching these courses while helping them prepare for PhD qualification exams.

His educational background includes:

• BA in Classical Civilization (2003) from University of Massachusetts Amherst
• MAT in Latin and Classical Humanities (2006) from University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Recognised Student in Philosophy at Wolfson College, Oxford (2011-2012)
• PhD in Classics (2015) from University of Texas at Austin

Patterson's research centers on the politics of martyrdom in Roman Africa, intellectual history, ancient religion, and early Christianity. He has particular expertise in pre- and non-Roman North African antiquity and examines the reception of Rome in modern Algeria and the western Balkans. His current scholarly work investigates the religious, sociopolitical, and material context of Augustine's philosophy of memory and time.

As a language pedagogy specialist, Patterson champions a blended linguistics-reading approach to Greek instruction and promotes 'morphological awareness' across all levels of Greek and Latin learning. He believes classical studies provide critical insights not only about Greece and Rome but also about peripheral cultures from Numidia to Persia to Illyria to Britain.

Prior to Yale (2021-present), Patterson served as a Lecturer in Classics at the University of Texas at Austin (2016-2021), where he taught all language levels, directed the Summer Intensive Greek program, and taught courses in translation.

His current projects include:

• Reading Morphologically - an open educational resource for Greek morphophonology developed with David Welch
• Classics Teaching - a teacher training resource created with Talia Boylan and David Welch
• New Haven - Yale Inscriptions - a database of inscriptions found in New Haven

He is author of Gareth Morgan's Lexis (Greenbelt Press, 2021), a Greek textbook reflecting his pedagogical approach. Notably, Patterson's unconventional academic journey—marked by early struggles including academic probation and dropping out of college—has shaped his empathetic teaching philosophy.