History of the Program

Fordham University has had a long and vibrant relationship with Eastern Orthodox Christian Communities. For generations, Orthodox students in the New York City area have chosen Fordham as a place to pursue a rigorous education that respected and encouraged their tradition of faith. To ensure that the Orthodox tradition was represented within the academic community, Fordham included in its faculty the late Rev. Dr. John Meyendorff, renowned as a Byzantine historian and Orthodox theologian. Today, Fordham has the only Department of Theology in the United States with two graduates from an Orthodox seminary on its faculty.  Moreover, Rev. Dr. John Behr was appointed a distinguished lecturer in the Department of Theology in 2004. Father Behr is the dean of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary.

The Co-Founding Directors

Aristotle Papanikolaou, Ph.D., (papanikolaou@fordham.edu, webpage) is Associate Professor of Theology, and Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies in the Theology Department.  He is also a Senior Fellow at the Center for Religion and Law at Emory University.   He currently serves on the SCOBA Commission on Social and Moral Issues.  He holds a B.A., Summa Cum Laude, from Fordham University (1988).  He then graduated Valedictorian with an M.Div. from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, where he later served from 1995-2000 as Registrar and as Assistant Professor of Ethics and Theology.  He received his Ph.D. in 1998 from the University of Chicago Divinity School.  He specializes in contemporary systematic theology with a specific focus in Eastern Orthodox theology, trinitarian theology, and the relationship between religion and culture.  He has published articles on Orthodox Christianity in Modern Theology, the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, and the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics.  He is the author of Being with God:  Trinity, Apophaticism, and Divine-Human Communion published with the University of Notre Dame Press.  He is also co-editor of Orthodox Readings of Augustine (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2008). He is currently working on a book on confession.  He is also Co-Founder/Director of LOGOS:  An Interdisciplinary Forum of Orthodox Scholar.  The group meets twice a year to collaborate on projects that bridge the gap between academic and ecclesial discourses and increase the public voice of Orthodox scholars in the larger academy.  LOGOS’s first book is Thinking through Faith:  New Perspectives from Orthodox Christian Scholars, published with St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press.  The group is presently working on a book on war and peace in the Orthodox tradition.

George Demacopoulos, Ph.D., (demacopoulos@fordham.edu, webpage) is Associate Professor of Historical Theology at Fordham University.  He  received a Master of Theological Studies, with highest honors, at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in 1995 before enrolling at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in Religious Studies.  Dr. Demacopoulos’ research and teaching interests are in the fields of Early Christian and Byzantine Church History.  He specializes in the relationship between Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics during the middle ages.  He has published many scholarly articles on topics ranging from the fourth to the fifteenth century.  His first book, Five Models of Spiritual Direction in the Early Church (University of Notre Dame Press, 2006), explores the impact of monasticism on the practice of pastoral care in the Early Church.   His second book, St. Gregory the Great:  Book of Pastoral Rule (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2007), offers an introduction and translation (from Latin) of Pope Gregory I’s famous treatise on pastoral care.  He is also co-editor of Orthodox Readings of Augustine (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2008).  He is currently working on a new book that will explore the reception of Roman claims to authority in the Early Church.