Christopher Howard
Primary Area: History of Christianity
- choward8@nd.edu
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, an investigation into the Christology of St. Augustine, seeks to explain the theological meaning of his frequent assertion that the head of the Church “suffers in his members” (whether during his earthly life or while presently in heaven).
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 Patient Compassion of Christ the Head in the Theology of St. Augustine"
Director: John C. Cavadini
Education
- A.B. (Classics), Princeton University
- M.T.S. (History of Christianity), University of Notre Dame