XIX. International Conference on Patristic Studies
Oxford
5.-9. August 2024
The International Conference on Patristics Studies meets under the auspices of the Faculty of Theology and Religion, and the Faculty of Classics, of the University of Oxford
Board of directors
Carol Harrison (co-chair)
She is Professor in the Faculty of Divinity, Oxford University
Her research has focused on Augustine of Hippo and she has published three studies of his thought: the first, Beauty and Revelation in the Thought of Saint Augustine (1992) was on his theological aesthetics; the second, Augustine: Christian Truth and Fractured Humanity (2000) was an attempt to set his thought in context; the third Rethinking Augustine's Early Theology: An Argument for cContinuity (2006) was an argument for the importance of his early works and for a fundamental continuity in his thought, against the general scholarly trend (following Peter Brown) to begin to read him with the Confessions and to identify a dramatic revolution following his reading of Paul in the 390's. Her new project centers on listenig, and in particular, on the Father's attitude to music.
Mark Edwards (co-chair and secretary)
Professor in Patristics and Tutor in Theology at the University of Oxford
Dr Edwards research focusses on Early Christianity, New Testament and Platonism. He is fellow Christ Church, Oxford and member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion. His publications include the translations of Philoponus: Aristotle, Physics 3 (1994), Optatus Against the Donatists (1997) and works like Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture VIII: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians (1999), Neoplatonic Saints. The Lives of Plotinus and Proclus by their Pupils (2000), Origen against Plato (2002), John Through the Centuries (2003), Constantine and Christendom (2004), Culture and Philosophy in the Age of Plotinus (2006), Catholicity and Heresy in the Early Church (2009).
Markus Vinzent (editor)
Professor (ret.) for History of Theology at King's College London; guest professor at the Max-Weber-Kolleg, University of Erfurt, Germany.
He has worked on fourth and fifth century Patristics, especially the impact of Neoplatonism and, over the past years, developed an interest in the relation between the New Testament and Patristics. He also directs projects on Meister Eckhart. He has edited, translated and written commentaries on Asterius the Cappadocian (1993), Apolinarius of Laodicea (Pseudo-Athanasius, Against the Arians IV, 1995), Marcellus of Ancyra (1997), published on the history of the Apostles' Creed (1999, 2006), on Christ's Resurrection in Early Christianity (2011), and on Meister Eckhart (2011, 2012, 2018-2019) and on Historiography (CUP 2019; 2023).
He is editor-in-chief of Studia Patristica and the Proceedings of the Conference.
Morwenna Ludlow
She is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religion, University of Exeter
Dr Ludlow works in the field of patristics – the history and theology of the early Christian church (100-500 ad ). She specialises in the study of the fourth-century Cappadocian theologian, Gregory of Nyssa. She is interested in the relation of early Christian thought to modern theology and her most recent research has focussed on the reception, use and abuse of patristic theology by modern writers. Another interest is the history of Christian eschatological ideas (the concepts of death, heaven, hell and purgatory). Amongst her publications are (with S. Douglass), Reading the Church Fathers (2011); The Early Church (2009); Gregory of Nyssa - Ancient and (Post-) Modern (2007); Universal Salvation: Eschatology in the Thought of Gregory of Nyssa and Karl Rahner (2000).
Patricia Ciner
Profesora de Enseñanza Media y Superior en Filosofía y Pedagogía. Expedido por la Universidad Nacional de San Juan
Patricia Andrea Ciner obtained her doctorate in Philosophy from the National University of Cuyo (Argentina) in 1999. She is currently the lead professor of courses related to the Philosophy of Religion and Metaphysics at the National University of San Juan´s School of Philosophy, Humanities and the Arts in Argentina. At the Catholic University of Cuyo, specifically at the Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe and San José Priest Seminary, she is the lead
professor for the course of History of Religion and a Co-Director of the Patristic Studies Institute. She has also written numerous publications about Plotinus and Origen, both in Argentina and internationally. Recently she finished the first Spanish translation of Origen’s Commentary on the Gospel of John which is published by Ciudad Nueva Publishing House.
She is also currently President of the International Association of Patristic Studies (AIEP-IAPS).
Anthony Dupont
He is a Research Professor in Christian Antiquity affiliated with the Research Unit History of Church and Theology at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven (Belgium). His scholarly pursuits center on the elucidation of the theological concepts of divine grace and human freedom as propounded in the oeuvre of Augustine of Hippo (354-430). Additionally, Dupont's academic pursuits encompass a deep exploration of the notions of sin and grace in ancient North Africa, where Augustine's intellectual development was shaped by his cultural and historical milieu. Dupont has also delved into Augustine's political philosophy, particularly in the context of the Donatist controversy, as well as in Augustine's magnum opus, De ciuitate Dei. Furthermore, Dupont has a keen interest in the emerging literary genre of Christian sermons. His extensive research on these topics has culminated in a series of publications, while also providing mentorship to a group of promising PhD students and postdoctoral fellows. Dupont was recently appointed to the Chair Augustine of Hippo. The chair's mission is to deepen the understanding of Augustine's intellectual legacy and to foster broader dissemination of his ideas through rigorous academic inquiry.
Professor Josef Lössl
He is Professor of Historical Theology and Intellectual History in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, Cardiff University
Specialized in Greek and Latin Patristics, his interests include the second century (in particular Tatian the Syrian), the origin of commentarial literature, the origin and history of the chronicle, Augustine, Jerome and their contemporaries, and the reception of Late Antiquity in the medieval and modern periods. His Interpreting the Bible and Aristotle in Late Antiquity (2011), a translation of Augustine's On True Religion, a volume on Jerome of Stridon (with Andrew Cain), and The Early Church: History and Memory, are among his recent publications. He is co-investigator in the Latin and Syriac Commentary project. Among his current projects are a commentary on Tatian's Ad Graecos and a monograph on the early Christian exegesis of Romans.
Dr Neil McLynn
He is Fellow and Tutor in Classics, Corpus Christi College, and University Lecturer in Later Roman History, in the Faculty of Classics, Oxford University
Dr McLynn studied classics and did his doctorate at Oxford, before moving to Japan in 1990. Until 2007 he taught in the Faculty of Law at Keio University, where he gave courses on a variety of subjects ranging from Shakespeare to International Relations. The experience has left him with a weakness for Japanese history in particular and for other people's subjects in general. He is much involved in the Oxford Centre for Late Antiquity. Amongst his well-known publications are Christian Politics and Religious Culture in Late Antiquity (2009); Ambrose of Milan: Church and Court in a Christian Capital (1994).
Dr Ioannis Papadogiannakis
He is Lecturer in Patristics and member of the Centre for Hellenic Studies and the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King's College London
Dr Papadogiannakis studied at the Universities of Thessaloniki, Münster, and Princeton where he earned his PhD. His research interests include the Christianization of the Roman Empire, Patristics, Byzantine Christianity, apologetics, church history, late antique philosophical culture, organization of knowledge in late antiquity and Byzantium. He recently published Christianity and Hellenism in the Fifth-Century Roman Empire: The Apologetics of Theodoret of Cyrrhus Against the Greeks in Context (2012). In 2010 he was awarded a prestigious five-year grant from the European Research Council (€1.5M) for the project ‘Defining Belief and Identities in the Eastern Mediterranean: The Role of Interreligious Debate and Interaction.’
Dr Phil Booth
He is the A. G. Leventis Lecturer in Eastern Christianity in the Faculty of Theology and Religion, Oxford Univeristy.
His research interests are: Late antiquity and Byzantium. The late Roman, late Sasanian and early Islamic history of the sixth- and seventh-century east. Middle-Byzantine Christianity. Historiographic, hagiographic and theological texts in several traditions (esp. Greek, Coptic, Ethiopic and Arabic
Dr Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe
She is Lecturer in Patristics and Fellow and College Lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies, Peterhouse, Cambridge University.
She read History at St Hugh’s College, Oxford (1995-8), before coming to Cambridge for an MPhil in Political Thought (1999), and a PhD in Late Antique History (2004). From 2006-16 she taught Roman History in the Classics Department at King’s College London as a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer, before returning to Cambridge and Peterhouse in 2016. Her research centres on the life and thought of the church in a 'long' late antiquity (from the second to sixth centuries CE) in the Greco-Roman Mediterranean and further afield, especially in the Syriac-speaking world. Her PhD was on the political theology of Ambrosiaster, an anonymous Christian writer of the later fourth century. Her current major project is on late ancient ideas of the devil and demons, concentrating on notions of diabolical agency. She also has long-standing interests in patristic biblical exegesis, political thought, the history of liturgy, inter-religious relations in late antiquity, and magical texts and objects.
Professor Lewis Ayres
He is Professor of Catholic and Historical Theology in the Department of Theology and Religion, Durham University.
Prior to Durham he taught in Ireland and at Emory University. The core of his research has been Trinitarian theology in Augustine and in the Greek writers of the fourth century. On this theme he has published on Nicaea and Its Legacy, on Augustine and the Trinity.
His current research concerns the development of early Christian cultures of interpretation between 100 and 250. He is also interested in modern Catholic fundamental and dogmatic theology and in the modern reception of Patristic Trinitarian theology and in the modern use of post-idealist themes in the supposed "revivals" of Trinitarian theology and in the place of Scripture (and Tradition) in modern Catholic theology and the fundamental structure of Catholic theology.
Clayton Jefford
He is Professor of Scripture at Saint Meinrad School of Theology. He is a specialist on the Apostolic Fathers, History of the Bible and Biblical Canon.
John Behr
He is Regius Professor of Humanity at the University of Aberdeen. He is the former dean of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, where he was the director of the Master of Theology Program and the Father Georges Florovsky Distinguished Professor of Patristics. He was ordained to the diaconate on 8 September 2001 and the priesthood on 14 September 2001. He is the editor of the Patristic Series released by St. Vladimir's Press. He was elected dean of the seminary on 18 November 2006 and served from 2007 until 2017 when he was named Father Georges Florovsky Distinguished Professor of Patristics.
Andrew Jacobs
He is a historian of early Christianity and religious cultures of late antiquity. He has taught at the University of California, Riverside; Scripps College; and Harvard Divinity School. As of June 1, 2019, he is a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School. He is the current President of the North American Patristics Society. He is the current President of the NAPS, and by August 2024, Lewis Ayres will take on his position as NAPS president.