

Simboli Hall 307
Telephone: 617-552-1315
Email: brian.dunkle@bc.edu
Patristics, especially Fourth-century Christology and Trinitarian Theology; Ambrose of Milan, the Cappadocians, and Augustine; Early Christian Hymns and Poetry, Nature and Grace in Early Christianity
Rev. Brian Dunkle, S.J., grew up in Freeport, NY, before leaving to attend Harvard University, where he studied Classics. After graduation he taught in Rome and studied at Oxford (M.St.) before joining the Jesuits, which led him to the novitiate in Syracuse, philosophy studies at Fordham University, and theology at the Gregorian University in Rome (S.T.B.) and at BCSTM (S.T.L.). He also taught Classics at Canisius College in Buffalo and regularly offers philosophy courses at the St. Joseph Scholastic in Vietnam. While serving on the faculty at the STM he offers pastoral assistance at local parishes and the correctional institutes of Concord, MA. He remains active in retreat direction and enjoys running and basketball.
Fall 2022
History of Western Christianity I: 100-850
The Trinity in the Early Church
Spring 2023
Introduction to Patristic Theology
Theology and Literature
Books
St. Ambrose of Milan: Treatises on Noah and David. Introduction and translation. Fathers of the Church 146. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2020.
Enchantment and Creed in the Hymns of Ambrose of Milan. Oxford Early Christian Studies. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.. 2018 Best First Book Prize, North American Patristics Society
Articles [Peer Reviewed]
“Sin, Mercy, and David’s Felix Culpa.” In Studia Patristica: Papers Presented at the Seventeenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2019. Leuven: Peeters, Forthcoming.
“‘The Twofold Affection’: The Background to John Chrysostom’s Use of Φύσις and Χάρις.” Vigiliae Christianae 75.2 (2021): 1–20.
“‘Made Worthy of the Holy Spirit’: A Hymn of Ambrose in Augustine’s Nature and Grace.” Augustinian Studies 50 (2018): 1–12.
“John Chrysostom’s Community of Anger Management.” In Studia Patristica 83: Papers Presented at the Seventeenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2015. Volume 9: Emotions (separate volume of contributions), edited by Markus Vinzent and Yannis Papadogiannakis, 217–230. Leuven: Peeters, 2017.
Book Chapters
“Ambrose, Hymnody, and Modes of Knowing.” In The Intellectual World of Christian Late Antiquity: Reshaping Classical Traditions, edited by Lewis Ayres, Michael Champion, and Matthew Crawford. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. Forthcoming.
“The (Re)Construction of Ambrose’s Hymns.” In Ambrose of Milan and Community Formation in Late Antiquity, edited by Ethan Gannaway and Robert Grant, 134–149. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge Scholars Press. 2021.
“Te Deum.” In Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity Online, edited by Paul J.J. van Geest, Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte, David Hunter, et al. Leiden: Brill. 2021.
“Hymnography (Latin).” In Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity Online, edited by Paul J.J. van Geest, Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte, David Hunter, et al. Leiden: Brill. 2020.
“Beyond Carnal Cogitations: Ambrose of Milan on Deification.” In Deification in the Latin Patristic Tradition, edited by Jared Ortiz, 132–152. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2019.
“Thomas Aquinas’s Use of John Chrysostom in the Catena Aurea and the Tertia Pars.” In Thomas Aquinas and the Greek Fathers, edited by Michael Dauphinais, Andrew Hofer, O.P., and Roger Nutt, 151–164. Ave Maria, Fl.: Sapientia Press, 2019.