Christopher Howard

Primary Area: History of Christianity

Biography

Christopher Howard is a scholar of historical theology. Broadly speaking, his research explores the development of patristic teaching on the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Church from the third to sixth centuries. He is also interested in the medieval reception of the Fathers in both Latin West and Greek East. His dissertation seeks to understand how St. Augustine conceives of Christ's Passion and its gracious transformation of the Church.

Before coming to Notre Dame, Christopher studied Latin and ancient Greek at Princeton University, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in classics. In addition to being a husband and father, he is also an amateur chamber singer and classical music aficionado.

Research Interests

Patristic Christology, Trinitarian theology, and ecclesiology; St. Augustine; St. Thomas Aquinas; the world of late antiquity

Representative Publications

"Developing the Canonical Rule: Christ’s Two Forms in Sts. Hilary and Augustine," Augustinian Studies 55, no. 2 (2024): 189-219. https://doi.org/10.5840/augstudies2024121793

"Philanthropia and the Physician: Origen's Medical Defence of Christianity in the Contra Celsum," Journal of Early Christian History 13, no. 3 (2023): 24-43.
https://doi-org.proxy.library.nd.edu/10.1080/2222582X.2023.2298950

Dissertation

"The Passion of the Whole Christ according to St. Augustine"

Director: John C. Cavadini

Education

  • A.B. (Classics), Princeton University
  • M.T.S. (History of Christianity), University of Notre Dame