Theology \ Faculty \
George Demacopoulos
Associate Professor
Co-Director, Orthodox Christian Studies Program
Duane Library, Rm. 112
(718) 817-3252
demacopoulos@fordham.edu
M.T.S., Theology, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology (1995)
M.A., Religious Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1997)
Ph.D., Religious Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2002)
Research interests: History of Christianity (Patristic, Early Medieval, Byzantine)
My research and teaching interests are in the history of Christianity from late antiquity through the medieval era. In general, I investigate the relationship and discord between Eastern (Byzantine) and Western Christians in the areas of asceticism, spiritual direction, and institutional authority. I have published various articles investigating these topics from the fourth to the fifteenth century. My first monograph, Five Models of Spiritual Direction in the Early Church (University of Notre Dame, 2007), explores the ways in which the ascetic movement transformed the practice of spiritual direction.
Much of my current research is devoted to a history of the reception of Roman claims to authority in the early medieval period. I would like to know, for example, how papal claims to authority were received in Gaul, North Africa, and the East during the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries when a majority of Christians embraced a single creed and recognized the imperial authority residing in Constantinople. I believe that this project will help us better understand the subsequent tensions between East and West and also correct (or at the very least nuance) contemporary exaggerations about the similarities between current ecclesiological models and the Christian past.
Along with Aristotle Papanikolaou, I am a Co-Founding Director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Program 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. The proceedings of the first conference, Orthodox Readings of Augustine, which took place in June of 2007, was published in the Fall of 2008.
I am also an active member of LOGOS: A Forum of Orthodox Scholars, which 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. Our first book, Thinking through Faith: New Perspectives from Orthodox Christian Scholars, was published in June of 2008. The group is presently working on a book on war and peace in the Orthodox tradition.
Some Recent Publications:
Monograph
Five Models of Spiritual Direction in the Early Church (University of Notre Dame Press, 2007).
Edited Volumes and Translations
Orthodox Readings of Augustine, eds. George Demacopoulos and Aristotle Papanikolaou (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2008).
St. Gregory the Great: The Book of Pastoral Rule, trans. George Demacopoulos (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2007).
Articles
“Gregory the Great” in The Spiritual Senses in the Western Christian Tradition, ed. by Paul Gavrilyuk (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, forthcoming).
“Gregory the Great and the Sixth-Century Dispute over the Ecumenical Title,” Theological Studies (forthcoming).
“Gregory the Great and the Pagan Shrines of Kent,” Journal of Late Antiquity 1 (2008): 353-369.
“Augustine and the Orthodox: ‘The West’ in the East,” [co-authored with Aristotle Papanikolaou] in Orthodox Readings of Augustine (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press and William B. Eerdman’s Publishing Company, 2008), 11-40.
“Understanding Pastoral Care in the Early Church,” in Thinking Through Faith: New Perspectives from Orthodox Christian Scholars, ed. by A. Papanikolaou and Elizabeth Prodromou (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2008), 87-112.
“Ambivalence in Athanasius’s Approach to Spiritual Direction,” in Studia Patristica, vol. 41 (Louvain: Peters, 2006), 145-150.
“Leadership in the Post-Constantinian Church according to St. Gregory Nazianzen,” Louvain Studies 30 (2005): 223-239.
Courses Taught, Fall 2009:
THEO 3000-R01 Classic Christian Texts, MR 11:30 - 12:45.
THEO 3551-R01 Cappadocian Theology, MR 2:30 - 3:45.
