Robert Louis Wilken
William R. Kenan,
Jr., Professor of the History of Christianity
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Research interests
“The path to
theological maturity leads necessarily through the study of the Christian past,
and this requires a kind of spiritual and intellectual apprenticeship. Before we become masters we must become
disciples. From the great thinkers
of Christian history, we learn how to use the language of faith, to understand
the inner logic of theological ideas, to discern the relation between seemingly
disparate concepts, to discover what is central and what peripheral, and to
love God above all things. Before
we learn to speak on our own we must allow others to form our words and guide
our thoughts. Historical theology
is an exercise in humility, for we discover that theology is as much a matter
of receiving as it is of constructing, that it has to do with the heart as well
as with the intellect, with character as well as with doctrines, with love as
well as with understanding.”
Robert Louis Wilken
Robert Wilken is interested in the history of Christianity and the
history of Christian thought, relations between Christians and Jews in the
ancient world, the
Wilken has devoted much time and attention
to ecumenical dialogue between his own Roman Catholic Church and various other
Christian denominations and traditions.
He is the Chairman of the Board of The
Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology, and works actively with its
journal, Pro Ecclesia. He also
contributes regularly to the journal First
Things edited by Fr. Richard John Neuhaus and
serves on its Editorial Advisory Board.
Many of his articles can be downloaded for a fee from Amazon
but you can also read a piece recently delivered at the Center for Theological Inquiry, Princeton,
NJ, here: "Amo, Amas, Amat:
Christianity and Culture".
Dr. Wilken also travels regularly to Rome to
teach at the Pontifical_Gregorian_University (official site--Italian), and has taught
at Institutum Patristicum
“Augustiniam,” Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, the University of Notre Dame, Fordham University, and Lutheran
Theological Seminary. Robert
Louis Wilken is one of the world’s most
distinguished and active scholars in the field of early Christian history and
doctrine.
**Robert Wilken has announced that he will retire from the
Education
Spertus College of Judaica
(Modern Hebrew, 1975-1976)
University of Heidelberg, post-doctoral research New Testament (1963-1964)
Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1963, History of Christianity
M.A., Univeristy of Chicago, 1961
B.D., Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, 1960
Washington University, St. Louis, 1958-1960 (completed courses for M.A. in
Philosophy)
Tulane University, Summer, 1957, 1959 (Philosophy)
B.A., Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, 1957
Concordia College, Austin, Texas, 1955-1957
Publications
The
Spirit of Early Christian Thought: Seek
His Face Always, 2005
Remembering
the Christian Past, 1995
The
Land Called Holy: Palestine in Christian History and Thought, 1992
The
Christians as the Romans Saw Them, 1984/2003
On
the Cosmic Mystery of Jesus Christ: Selected Writings from St. Maximus the Confessor, 2004
John
Chrysostom and the Jews: Rhetoric and Reality in the Late 4th Century, 1983
The
Myth of Christian Beginnings: History's Impact on Belief, 1972
Upcoming
works:
Isaiah:
Interpreted by Early Christian and Medieval Commentators (The Church's Bible),
2007
The
First Thousand Years, 2009
Celebrated
by his students and colleagues:
** This page
created and maintained by Timothy McConnell. Changes to tpm8b@virginia.edu. Some material belongs to the Department of Religious Studies
page on Faculty.**
April 27,
2007