Aristotle Papanikolaou
Professor
Co-founding Director,
Orthodox Christian Studies Center
Lincoln Center
113 W. 60th Street - Rm. 924F
(212) 636-6249
papanikolaou@fordham.edu
Curriculum Vitae
Faculty Fellowship - Fall 2012 & Spring 2013
Education
Ph.D. - University of Chicago
M.Div. - Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
B.A. - Fordham University
Research Interests
Aristotle Papanikolaou’s areas of expertise are Eastern Orthodox theology, trinitarian theology, and religion in public life. He is currently developing an expertise on the relation between theological anthropology and virtue ethics.
His on-going research interests include contemporary Orthodox theology (nineteenth and twentieth centuries) and trinitarian theology. His current research agenda relates to theological anthropology, and specifically explores the relevancy of truth-telling (confession) for understanding what it means to be human. The project is interdisciplinary and focuses on the affective effect of truth-telling; that is, the impact of truth-telling on the landscape of human emotions and desires, and how such an impact is conditioned by the presence or absence of a particular listener. He was awarded a Sabbatical Grant for Researchers from the Louisville Institute for his project The Ascetics of War, which explores the relevancy of the Eastern Orthodox notion of virtue and the role of truth-telling for undoing the affective effects of war on the human person. As a theological anthropology, he is interested in the question of how truth-telling can illuminate understandings of identity, sin, virtue, the communication of grace, a relational understanding of personhood, and the Orthodox notion of theosis.
Background
Aristotle Papanikolaou was born/raised in Chicago, Il. He is a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. He is the Co-Founder/Director of LOGOS: An Interdisciplinary Forum of Orthodox Scholars. 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, Thinking through Faith: New Perspectives from Orthodox Christian Scholars, was published by St. Vladimir's Seminary Press. The group is presently completing its second book: Orthodox Perspectives on War. Along with George Demacopoulos, he is also Co-Founding Director of the
Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham, which currently comprises an interdisciplinary minor in Orthodox Christian Studies, the annual Orthodoxy in America Lecture, and a triennial conference dedicated to a historical and theological analysis of the Orthodox/Catholic rift. In 2012, he received the Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in the Humanities.
Select Publications
The Mystical as Political: Democracy and Non-Radical Orthodoxy (Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 2012).
"Contemporary Orthodox Currents on the Trinity," Oxford Handbook on the Trinity, eds. Gilles Emery OP and Matthew Levering (Oxford University Press, 2011), 328-38.
“Integrating the ascetical and the eucharistic: current challenges in Orthodox ecclesiology,” International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church 11:2 (2011): 173-87.
Being with God: Trinity, Apophaticism, and Divine-Human Communion (Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 2006).
“Liberating Eros: Confession and Desire,” The Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics 26:1 (Spring/Summer 2006): 115-36.
COURSES
SPRING 2013
Faculity Fellowship Spring 2013
FALL 2013
THEO 6616-R01: Contemporary Theology of the Trinity, T 9:00-11:30
HPLC 1401-L01: Honors Theology, MW 1:00-2:15
