Five faculty members from the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota recently attended the 19th International Conference on Patristic Studies in Oxford, U.K. Attendees included (pictured above left to right): Professor Paul Gavrilyuk (Department of Theology), Professor Mark DelCogliano (Department of Theology), Father Austin Litke (Department of Catholic Studies), Associate Professor Erika Kidd (Department of Catholic Studies), and Father Evan Koop (The Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity).
Meeting under the auspices of the University of Oxford’s Faculty of Theology and Religion, and the Faculty of Classics, the International Conference on Patristics Studies (generally) meets every four years. It was first held in 1951 and since that time has become a major event for the many disciplines concerned with patristics – that is, the study of early Christianity from its inception through the advent of the Middle Ages. It is the largest such conference in the world and gives scholars at all stages of their careers the opportunity to engage with a critical, but sympathetic audience.
“It is quite rare for a single institution to be represented by so many scholars at this conference,” DelCogliano said. “We all look forward to participating in the next International Conference on Patristic Studies in 2027.”
In addition to several plenary sessions by leading international scholars, there are two main forms of scholarly presentations at the International Conference on Patristic Studies: 15-minute “short communications” which are arranged into thematic sessions by the conference organizers, and “workshops” which must be planned by two or more scholars from different countries. These run anywhere from two to five hours and allow for longer papers and discussion. All five St. Thomas faculty participated in the conference as presenters.
- Gavrilyuk helped organize a two-day workshop on “Spiritual Perception in Select Greek Church Fathers and Augustine” and delivered an “Introduction to the Project.”
- DelCogliano delivered a paper titled “Early Nicene Christology in its Anti-Arian Context” as part of a two-day workshop on “The Unity of Christ after Nicaea.”
- Litke helped organize a workshop on “The Reception of the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon in Latin Christology after Augustine” and delivered a paper titled “The Roman Response to the Christological Controversies of the Fifth Century after Leo the Great” as part of this workshop.
- Kidd delivered a paper titled “Speaking from the Heart: Augustine on Language and Desire” as part of a workshop called “Thinking through the Incarnation: Caritas and the Totus Christus.”
- Koop delivered a short communication titled “O divitias Marianae virginitatis! Mary as the Ideal Virgin in Ambrose of Milan’s De Institutione Virginis” in a thematic session on “Mary the Virgin.”
