Fr. Eugene Ludwig, O.F.M. Cap.
Professor of History and Patristic Theology
Office phone: (510) 883-2079
E-mail:
B.A., St. Anthony's College, New Hampshire; B.D., M.Th., Maryknoll Seminary, New York; M.A. Manhattan College, New York; Th.D., Graduate Theological Union
History is largely a people discipline. Understanding how people act and react in ways that reflect where they are located is an important and transferable skill. I hope my students will take the material they have studied with me and use it in a way that informs their own decision making and understanding in how they form their own life.
With respect to Patristics, Fr. Eugene is interested in the way that Christianity and late antique society interacted with one another. With respect to philosophy, Fr. Eugene is interested in Platonism and what happens to it as it moves through the period of late antiquity. Fr. Eugene sees philosophy as a formative tool in the development of the human person. Consequently his methodology for teaching involves using primary texts and showing students ways of reading the primary texts that inform them on events, people, and culture with respect to a historical context. Fr. Eugene sees teaching as a way for people to come away with a new perspective and to have a deeper understanding of the human person.
The courses Fr. Eugene Ludwig teaches are:
- History of Ancient Philosophy
- History of Early Christianity
- Platonism
- Hellenistic Philosophy
- Patristics
His other academic interests are: Church Fathers; Religion in Late Antiquity; the Relation between Religion and Philosophy; and religious practices such as theurgy and magic.
Fr. Eugene is currently working on Cyril of Alexandria's Paschal Letters, with a point of view about what Cyril the Bishop was saying to his people in these letters. The letters are not written to a monastic audience, but ordinary people. The letters contain Cyril the Bishop's views of fasting and asceticism from his Christology. Fr. Eugene is also working on Christian Funerary Art, the connection that is made in art, of the parallels, for example, of Moses striking the rock in the desert and the raising of Lazarus. Finally, Fr. Eugene is working on a particular area of Patristic exegesis, how the Church Fathers read St. Paul. It is impossible to read the Fathers without understanding that they are interpreting St. Paul, and that they are deeply immersed in the continuity between Adam and Christ, Grace and Salvation, and all Christology which comes from St. Paul.
Select Publications
"Chalcedon and its Aftermath: Three Unresolved Crises:, Laurentianum, 37(1986) n. 1, pp. 98-120.
"The Liturgical and Monastic Context of St. Basil's De Spiritu Sancto". Following the Star From the East: Essays in Honour of Archimandrite Boniface Luykx, Ottawa: Sheptysky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, 1992, pp. 176-184.
The Visible Word: an exhibit of historical and contemporary iconography. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, Graduate Theological Union, April-June, 1998. Co-curated with Kevin Koczela.
Calcedonia e dopo Calcedonia, delivered to the "Corso itinerante di studi in Turchia" sponsored by the Instituto Francescano di spiritualitą, September 10-24, 1989.
The Poetry of Christmas: Readings from the Menaion. Byzantine Catholic Center of San Francisco, December 1998.
The Christian Triad of Prayer, Self-Discipline, Good Works. Invited Lecture, School of Pastoral Leadership, Archdiocese of San Francisco, March 2001.
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