Dr. Ioannis Papadogiannakis

Biography

Yannis studied at universities in Thessaloniki, Münster, and Princeton, earning a PhD. His dissertation, published by Harvard University Press, titled 'Christianity and Hellenism in the Fifth-Century Roman Empire: The Apologetics of Theodoret of Cyrrhus in the Greek Context', explores the apologetic writings of fifth-century author Theodoret of Cyrrhus and how it engaged with the culture of the empire, influencing the development of Christian identity. He had a stint at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton and was appointed AG Leventis Lecturer in Greek Patristics at Oxford. His research interests encompass Christianization of the Roman Empire, Patristics, Byzantine Christianity, apologetics, church history, and late antique philosophical culture. Yannis was awarded a prestigious five-year grant from the European Research Council for the project 'Defining Belief Identities in the Eastern Mediterranean: The Role of Interreligious Debate and Interaction'. His current book project examines belief identities in the eastern Mediterranean based on research findings from the ERC project. His work aims to recover the processes through which religious beliefs and identities were defined and contested in a broader social context during the 6th-8th centuries AD.

Research Interests