Enrolment at ACU as a postgraduate student in the fields of
Ph.D. AND M.Phil. SUPERVISION
It is a requirement of the two research degree programmes (M.Phil. and Ph.D.) that the research project be conducted under supervision. The Ph.D., in particular, requires a principal and a co-supervisor. Once you have secured a principal supervisor, they will usually arrange a co-supervisor. Interested students are encouraged to contact potential supervisors to discuss their proposed project prior to enrolment or alternatively to contact the Director of the Centre for Early Christian Studies to discuss the question of whether the project is able be supervised within the Centre.
Areas of supervision offered by Members of the Centre:
Professor Pauline Allen, B.A. (Queensland), B.A. (Hons) (New England), M.A. (Hons) (New England), Dip.Med.Stud. (K.U. Leuven), D.Phil. (Oxon), F.A.H.A.:
Severus of Antioch
Theodoret of Cyrus
Monophysite movement
Maximus Confessor
Christology (first millennium)
Early Christian preaching in the east (first millennium)
Church history and ecclesiastical historiography
Byzantine imperial history
Text editions
Greek and Syriac Fathers
Mariology
Epistolography
Professor Raymond Canning, Lic.Ph. (Gregorian), S.T.B. (Gregorian), Ph.D. (Leuven), S.T.D. (Leuven):
Augustine of Hippo
Prayer and monasticism in the Latin West
Dr Damien Casey, BTh (Sydney College of Divinity), M.Th (Sydney), Ph.D. (Sydney):
Soteriology
Interreligious Dialogue
Theology of Religious Pluralism
Continental Philosophy (especially Luce Irigaray and Emmanuel Levinas)
Irenaeus
Divine Pedagogy
Dr Mary Coloe, TPTC, B.A. (Monash), B.Theol. (Melbourne College of Divinity), D.Theol. (Melbourne College of Divinity):
The Gospel of John
Narrative theology
New Testament communities and their spirituality
First century Jewish Christian Relations
Associate Professor Lawrence Cross, B.A. (Sydney), M.A. (Oxon.), D.Theol. (Melbourne College of Divinity):
Gnostics and Gnosticism
Early Trinitatian and Christological Controversies
Mariology in the Christian East
History of the Byzantine Church and State to the Iconoclast Period
Liturgy in Byzantium and the Christian East
Monasticism: theology and ascesis
Sacramental art, East and West.
Dr Geoffrey D. Dunn, B.A. (Hons) (Queensland), M.Litt. (New England), Ph.D. (Australian Catholic University):
Tertullian
Cyprian
Novatian
5th Century Papacy - Innocent 1, Leo the Great
Constantine
Roman North Africa
Jews and Christians
Rhetorical criticism
Pre-Nicene Christianity in Rome
Mariology
Pre-Nicene Christian Theology (especially ecclesiology)
Roman Imperial History from the 1 st to 4 th centuries
Early Christian art and architecture (mosaics, catacomb art)
Dr Johan Ferreira, Ph.D. (Queensland):
New Testament
Syriac Christianity
Chinese Christianity
Dr Chris Hanlon, B.A. (Hons) (Queensland), M.A. (Queensland), Ph.D. (Queensland):
Ambrose
Augustine of Hippo
Jerome
Rufinus
Gregory the Great
Boethius
Cassiodorus
Hiliary of Poitiers
Theoderic
Clovis
Charlemagne
Augustine of Canterbury
4 th to 9 th century Western Europe (Merovingian & Carolingian Gaul and Germany; Ostrogothic, Byzantine & Lombard Italy; Visigothic Spain; Anglo-Saxon England; and Byzantine North Africa)
Dr Wendy Mayer, B.A. (Adelaide), B.A. (Hons) (Queensland), Ph.D. (Queensland):
John Chrysostom
Issues relating to historical methodology in late antiquity and patristics
The early Christian homily
The preacher and his audience
Social history of late antiquity/patristics/early Christianity
Byzantine imperial history 4th to 5th century
Early Christian liturgy
Bishops in late antiquity
Monasticism in late antiquity (particularly the monk-bishop, Syrian monasticism)
Antioch and Constantinople
Syria to the fifth century
Pastoral care in the early church/patristic era
Associate Professor James McLaren, B.A. (Hons) (Melbourne), M.A. (Melbourne), D.Phil. (Oxon.):
Josephus
The Jewish revolt of 66-70
Herod
Late Second Temple Period Judaism
Early Roman Empire (esp. to Hadrian)
Historical Jesus
Roman military history
Early Christian-Jewish relations
History of Early Christianity (esp. to mid 2nd century)
Eusebius' Church History
Dr Alan Moss, B.A. (Sydney), Dip.Ed. (Sydney), L.R.Sc. (Lateran), S.T.L. (Gregorian), L.S.S. (Pontifical Biblical Commission), Ph.D. (Queensland):
Old Testament
Alexandrian Judaism
Bede
Latin Exegetical Tradition to the Modern Era
Dr Bronwen Neil, B.A. (Hons) (Queensland), M.A. (Durham), Ph.D. (Australian Catholic University):
Maximus the Confessor
Augustine of Hippo
Leo of Rome
East-West relations up to ninth century
Post-Nicene Christology - especially dyothelitism
History of the papacy up to ninth century
History of the "Dark Ages" (7th to 9th centuries)
Early Medieval Rome
Middle Byzantine history
Neo-Platonism in the Church fathers
Associate Professor David Sim, M.A. (LaTrobe), Ph.D. (London):
New Testament
Dr Silke Sitzler, B. Bus. (UniSA), B.A. (Hons) (Adelaide), M.A. (Cardiff), Ph.D. (Adelaide):
Greek and Roman magic
Society and religion in Late Antiquity
Syria, Palestine, Asia Minor, Egypt (particularly in the Roman & Byzantine periods)
Women in Greco-Roman society
Prophecy in the early Church
Early Christianity
John Chrysostom
Cappadocian Fathers
Bardaisan
Thecla
Hagiography
Dr Lawrence Woods, B.A. (Queensland), M.A. (Macquarrie), Ph.D. (Manchester), Dip.Ed. (New England):
Pauline studies - growth and development of early Christian communities; social and theological issues that impacted on the formation and growth of the Pauline communities
Christology from Paul to Chalcedon
Issues affecting the relationship between Pharisaic Jewish and Christian communities from Paul to Judah Ha-Nasi
Literary critical interpretations of Genesis, Job and Psalms.
Dr Youhanna Nessim Youssef, B.Com. (Ain Shams, Egypt), Dip. Copt. (Institute of Coptic Studies, Egypt), B.A. (Montpellier), M.A. (Montpellier), Ph.D. (Montpellier):
Severus of Antioch
Coptic Liturgy (Coptic and Arabic)
Monasticism in Egypt
Coptic hagiography (mainly martyrs)
Christian Arabic theological texts and hagiographical texts.
Coptic iconography and text
Coptic history