Austin Foley Holmes is a graduate in History of Christianity. His major research areas are Early Christianity, Contemplative and Mystical Traditions, and Ecology in Christian Thought and Practice.

The dissertation, "Political Theology in Origen of Alexandria," is a study of justice (dikaiosune) as a power of God, as a name of Christ, and as a goal of the spiritual life in the writings of Origen (c.185-254).

Related to Austin’s research in Contemplation/Mysticism is a major interest in the project of Contemplative Ecology: an understanding of spiritual practice that places the well-being of the natural world at the center of its concerns, and an approach to ecology that understands the work of cultivating contemplative awareness.  

Recent publications:

"God’s Unity and Unity with God: Polemical Interpretations of John 17:20-23 in the Fourth Century” (Accepted and forthcoming in Oxford’s Journal of Theological Studies).

“Bulgakov’s Ecology,” in Building the House of Wisdom: Sergii Bulgakov and Contemporary Theology: New Approaches and Interpretations. Barbara Hallensleben, Regula M. Zwahlen, Aristotle Papanikolaou & Pantelis Kalaitzidis, eds. (Münster: Aschendorff Verlag, 2023).