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:
Dr. George Demacopoulos specializes in the History of Christianity for Late Antiquity, the Early Medieval West, and Byzantium.

Over the past few years, Dr. Demacopoulos’ research has been focused in three distinct realms: (1) the intersection, cross-fertilization, and conflict between Eastern and Western Christians; (2) the expressions of authority within various Christian communities, particularly those related to monasticism and the papacy; and (3) the attempt to apply the resources of critical theory to the analysis of the Eastern Christian experience.

His future research projects include a biography of Pope Gregory I, a study of war and violence in the Greek patristic tradition, and a reappraisal of the Eastern Christian experience (from the Crusades to the present) through postcolonial analysis.

Background and Appointments:
Dr. Demacopoulos received an MTS from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology before enrolling at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned his PhD in Religious Studies in 2002.

Along with Aristotle Papanikolaou, Dr. Demacopoulos serves as Co-Founding Director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center, the only Center of its kind at a North American university. Some of the Center’s initiatives include an interdisciplinary undergraduate minor, the Patterson Triennial Conference (which is dedicated to Orthodox/Catholic relations), the annual Orthodoxy in America Lecture, and a new series with Fordham University Press, Orthodox Christianity and Contemporary Thought.

Some Recent Publications:
The Invention of Peter: The Development and Reception of the Petrine Discourse at the close of Christian Antiquity (forthcoming).

Orthodox Constructions of the West, ed. by Demacopoulos and Papanikolaou (Fordham University Press, forthcoming).

Orthodox Readings of Augustine, ed. by Demacopoulos and Papanikolaou (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2008).

Five Models of Spiritual Direction in the Early Church (University of Notre Dame Press, 2007).

Gregory the Great: Book of Pastoral Rule, trans. by Demacopoulos (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2007).

Courses for Fall 2012:

THEO 6480: Christianizing the Barbarians, R 2:30-5:00

Courses for Spring 2012:

HPRH 1052-R01 - Medieval Phil/Theo, MR 11:30-12:45
HPRH 1052-R02 - Medieval Phil/Theo, MR 2:30-3:45