Very Revd Professor John Behr

Prior to holding the Regius Chair in Humanity at the University of Aberdeen, Very Revd Professor Behr spent twenty-five years teaching at St Vladimir’s Seminary in New York, where he also served as Dean for a decade. He has taught at other schools in the US, such as Harvard Divinity and Fordham University, and as the Metropolitan Kallistos Chair of Orthodox Theology at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam. Metropolitan Kallistos was his doctoral supervisor at Oxford University, where, after studying philosophy in London, he researched the topic of asceticism and anthropology in Irenaeus of Lyons and Clement of Alexandria. After a decade of teaching in most areas of early Christian and Byzantine studies, he began the publication of a series entitled The Formation of Christian Theology. In preparation for further volumes, he edited and translated the Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Armenian fragments of Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia, setting them in their historical and theological context. However, realizing that to go further into the sixth century also meant returning to, and reconsidering, Origen, Fr Behr prepared a new edition and translation of his work On First Principles together with an extensive introduction. Having also completed a full study of Irenaeus a few years earlier, he was drawn yet further back, to the Gospel of John, putting his findings from decades of research on the early Christian writers, as the earliest readers of John, into dialogue with contemporary readers of John, both scriptural scholars and also, returning to my earlier studies, the French Phenomenologist Michel Henry, as an act of constructive theology.

Academic Classification: Professor, MTh (St Vladimir’s 1997), PhD(Oxford, 1995), MPhil (Oxford, 1991), BA (Thames Polytechnic, 1987).

Websites: https://frjohnbehr.com/

Books:

John the Theologian and His Paschal Gospel: A Prologue to Theology(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019). Russian translation in preparation; Romanian and Serbian being considered.

Origen: On First Principles, Oxford Early Christian Texts, 2 volumes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018).

Asceticism and Anthropology in Irenaeus and Clement (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017).

The Cross Stands: Homilies for the Cycles of the Year(Crestwood, NY: SVS Press, 2014) Romanian translation in preparation.

Irenaeus of Lyons: Identifying Christianity (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013)

The Case Against Diodore and Theodore: Texts and their Contexts(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011).

The Formation of Christian Theology, volumes 1-2 (Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001-2004).

Books Edited:

The Role of Life in Death: A Multidisciplinary Examination of Issues pertaining to Life and Death, ed. with C. Cunningham (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2015).

With Louth, A., and Conomos, D. (eds.). Abba: The Tradition of Orthodoxy in the West (Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2003).
 

Translations:

Origen, On First Principles: A Reader’s Edition(Oxford University Press, 2020).

St Athanasius, On the Incarnation (Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2012).

St Irenaeus of Lyons, On the Apostolic Preaching (Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1997).

Chapters in Books:

‘The Cross.’ In P. Blowers and P. Martens, eds, The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019): 623-36.

‘Flesh Invested with the Paternal Light: St Irenaeus on the Transfiguration of the Body’ (In Russian), forthcoming in proceedings of the Fifth Moscow International Patristics Conference, April 2018; Festschrift for Alexander Golitzin (Brill).

‘The Glory of God: A Living Human Being.’ In Elie Ayroulet, ed., Saint Irénée et l’Humanité Illuminée (Paris: Cerf, 2018): 93-116.

‘The Holy and Great Council 2016.’ In Synodality: A Forgotten and Misapprehended Vision: Reflections on the Holy and Great Council of 2016, in Maxim Vasiljevic and Andrej Jeftic eds., (Alhambra CA: Sebastian Press, 2017): 13-22.

‘John 18:28–19:16: Witnessing Truth.’ In Chad Raith II, ed. The Gospel of John: Theological-Ecumenical Readings (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2017): 178-91.

‘Patristic Humanism: The Beginnings of Christian Paideia.’ In Jens Zimmerman, ed., Re-Envisioning Christian Humanism: Education and the Restoration of Humanity (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017): 19-32.

‘Irenaeus on Atonement.’ T&T Clark Companion to the Atonement, in A. J. Johnson ed., Bloomsbury Companions 5 (London: T&T Clark, 2017): 569-77.

‘Plundering the Egyptians: The Use of Classical Paideia in the Early Church.’ In A. Bezzerides and E. H. Prodromou, eds., Orthodox Christianity and Higher Education: Theological, Historical, and Contemporary Reflections (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame, 2017): 140-54.

‘Diodore of Tarsus and his Exegesis.’ Handbuch der Bibelhermeneutiken. In Oda Wischmeyer ed. (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016): 35-46.

‘Patristic Texts as Icons.’ In Andreas Andreopoulos and Graham Speak eds., Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth: Studies in Honour of Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2016): 151-69.

‘Scripture and Gospel: Intertextuality in Irenaeus.’ In D. Jeffrey Bingham and Clayton N. Jefford, eds., Intertextuality in the Second Century (Leiden: Brill, 2016): 179-94.

‘Learning through Experience: The Pedagogy of Suffering and Death in St Irenaeus.’ In Nonna Verna Harrison and David G. Hunter eds., Evil and Suffering in Early Christian Thought (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2016): 33-47.

‘Il Nome Del Signore Dio Misericordioso E Pietoso.’ In Misericordia e Perdono, Atti del XXIII Convegno Ecumenico Internazionale di Spiritualità Ortodossa, Monastero di Bose, settembre 2015, (Bose: Edizioni Qiqajon, 2016): 83-99.

‘The Apocalypse of the Cross.’ In Studies in Orthodox Hermeneutics: A Festschrift in Honor of Theodore G. Stylianopoulos, in Eugen Pentiuc, John Fotopoulos, and Bruce Beck eds. (Brookline MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2016): 313-47.

‘La Pace tra la Chiese: Sant’ Ireneo di Leone.’ In Atti del XXII Convegno Ecumenico Internazionale di Spiritualità Ortodossa, Monastero di Bose, settembre 2014 (Bose: Edizioni Qiqajon, 2015): 165-85.

‘St Isaac of Nineveh on the Cross of Christ.’ in Hilarion Alfeyev ed., St Isaac the Syrian and his Spiritual Legacy (Crestwood NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2015): 87-95.

‘La Sfida della Morte.’ In Marco Vergottini ed., Gesù Cristo e il Nuovo Umanesimo (Milan: Centro Ambrosiano, 2015): 326-38.

‘St Athanasius on ‘Incarnation.’’ In N. H. Gregerson ed., Incarnation: On the Scope and Depth of Christology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015): 79-98.

‘Let us Return to the Word Delivered in the Beginning.’ In A. Min, ed., The Task of Theology: Leading Theologians on the Most Compelling Questions for Today, proceedings of the Third International Conference of the Whitehead Research Project, Claremont Graduate University (New York: Orbis, 2014): 1-20.

‘Reading the Fathers Today.’ In J. Mihoc and S. Aldea eds. A Celebration of Living Theology: Festschrift for Fr Andrew Louth, (London: T&T Clark, 2014): 7-19.

Peer Reviewed Articles:

‘St Irenaeus of Lyons and the School of St John.’ Phronema 34:2 (2019): 1-33.

‘Unveiling the Pathos of Life: The Phenomenology of Michel Henry and the Theology of John the Evangelist.’ In Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy 26.2 (2018): 104-26.

‘One God Father Almighty.’ Modern Theology 34:4 (2018): 320-30.

Other Publications:

‘Mission in the Modern Age.’ Oxbridge Philokalic Review (Spring, 2009).

‘Diversity and Dialogue in the Service of Communion: The Example of St Irenaeus of Lyons.’ One in Christ 51:1 (2017): 21-36.

‘Lifting the Veil: Reading Scripture in the Orthodox Tradition.’ Sobornost 38:1 (2016): 74-90.

‘Take Back Death! Christian Witness in the Twenty-First Century.’ Koinonia 64 (2014):7-22.

‘The Christian Art of Dying.’ Sobornost 35:1-2 (2013): 136-47.

Italian translation in: Le Età della Vita Spirituale.Atti del XXI Convegno Ecumenico Internazionale di Spiritualità Ortodossa, Monastero di Bose, 4-7 settembre 2013 (Bose: Edizioni Qiqajon, 2014): 301-16.

‘Older than All Creation.’ Communi Viatorum 55:3 (2013): 237-54.

‘“The Spirit and the Bride Say Come!” The Eschatological Dimensions of the Liturgy.’ Communio 38:3 (Fall 2011): 465-85.

‘Comunione e Conciliarità’/‘Communion and Conciliarity.’ Album Accademico 2010-11, Pontificio Istituto Orientale, Rome, 37-48, 48-59.

‘The Eschatological Dimensions of Liturgy.’ Assembly: A Journal of Liturgical Theology 36:1 (2010): 2-9.

‘Marriage and Asceticism.’ Sobornost 29:2 (2007): 24-50.

‘Taught by the Apostles.’ Christian History (Fall 2007).

‘One in Christ: An Historical Look.’ AGAIN, summer 2006.

‘For the Welfare of the Churches of God.’ AGAIN, summer 2006. French translation in Le Messager Orthodoxe.

‘Virgin Mother—Virgin Church.’ Russian translation, ‘Virgin Mother—Virgin Church.’ Bogoslovskii Vestnik 4 (2004): 123-49.

‘Midwife of the Christian Bible.’ Christian History 80 (XXII.4).

‘Tradition.’ in St Vladimir’s Seminary 2003 Education Day book.

‘The Trinity.’ The Living Pulpit (April, 1999).

‘Severus of Antioch: Eastern and Oriental Perspectives.’ St Nersess Theological Review 3:1-2 (1998): 23-35. Reprinted in Christine Chaillot, The Dialogue Between the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches (Volos, Greece: Volos Academy, 2016): 64-73.