Staff profile

Although I was born and educated in the UK, earlier in my career I taught in Ireland (at TCD) and then in the US at Duke, and Emory Universities. I arrived at Durham in 2009. The core of my research was Trinitarian theology in Augustine and in the Greek writers of the fourth century. On this theme I have published a number of articles and Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Approach to Fourth Century Trinitarian Theology (Oxford University Press, 2004/6). In 2010 I also published Augustine and the Trinity (Cambridge University Press). My research later broadened into a concern with the development of early Christian cultures of interpretation. My new book, As It Is Written: On the Formation of Christian Argument AD 150-220, will appear from Princeton University Press in 2027.

I am currently working on a collection of my essays for the Catholic University of America Press, the Cambridge History of Early Christian Theology, a short book on theology and tradition, and my long term project is entitled Chalcedon and Its Legacy and will offer a one volume treatment of Patristic Christology between Cyril of Alexandria and the late seventh century.

I have edited or co-edited a number of books, including (with Andrew Louth and Frances Young) the Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature (2004), (with Matthew Crawford and Michael Champion) The intellectual World of Late Antique Christianity (CUP, 2023), (with Mark DelCogliano) Varieties of Nicene Theology (OUP, 2026) and (with Andrew Summerson Newman and Nicaea (Cascade, 2026).

I am co-editor of the two Oxford series Oxford Early Christian Studies, and Oxford Early Christian Texts.

Alongside Patristics I have a number of interests in modern Catholic fundamental and dogmatic theology. I am interested in the modern reception of Patristic Trinitarian theology and in the modern use of post-idealist themes in the supposed "revivals" of Trinitarian theology that we have seen over the last two centuries. I also have a strong interest in the place of Scripture (and Tradition) in modern Catholic theology and the fundamental structure of Catholic theology. With Medi Ann Volpe I also co-edited the Oxford Handbook of Catholic Theology (forthcoming March 2019).

Between 2009-2012 I was the inaugural holder of the Bede Chair in Catholic Theology. During 2014-15 academic year I seved as Distinguished Fellow of Notre Dame's Institute for Advanced Study. For the past few years I have also served as McDonald Agape Distinguished Professor of Early Christian Theology at the Angelicum University in Rome.

Authored book

• As It Is Written: On the Formation of Christian Argument AD 150-220
  
  Ayres, L. (in press). As It Is Written: On the Formation of Christian Argument AD 150-220. Princeton.
• Christological Hellenism: A Melancholy Proposal
  
  Ayres, L. (2024). Christological Hellenism: A Melancholy Proposal. Marquette University Press.
• Augustine and the Trinity
  
  Ayres, L. (2010). Augustine and the Trinity. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511780301
• Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Approach to Fourth Century Theology.
  
  Ayres, L. (2004). Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Approach to Fourth Century Theology. Oxford University Press.

Chapter in book

• Of Scholarship, Piety, and Community: Origen's Purpose(s) in Contra Celsum
  
  Ayres, L. (2021). Of Scholarship, Piety, and Community: Origen’s Purpose(s) in Contra Celsum. In J. Carleton Paget & S. Gathercole (Eds.), Celsus in His World: Philosophy, Polemic and Religion in the Second Century (pp. 36-68). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108957861.003
• Irenaeus and the Rule of Truth: A Reconsideration
  
  Ayres, L. (2020). Irenaeus and the Rule of Truth: A Reconsideration. In The Rise of the Early Christian Intellectual (pp. 143-163). De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110608632-010
• Totius Traditionis Mirabile Sacramentum: Toward a Theology of Tradition in the Light of Dei Verbum
  
  Ayres, L. (2020). Totius Traditionis Mirabile Sacramentum: Toward a Theology of Tradition in the Light of Dei Verbum. In M. Levering, B. L. McCormack, & T. J. White (Eds.), Dogma and Ecumenism : Vatican II and Karl Barth’s ’Ad Limina Apostolorum’. (pp. 54-80). Catholic University of America Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvwcjfmh.7
• Continuity and Change in Second-Century Christianity: A Narrative Against the Trend
  
  Ayres, L. (2017). Continuity and Change in Second-Century Christianity: A Narrative Against the Trend. In J. C. Paget & J. Lieu (Eds.), Christianity in the second century : themes and developments. (pp. 106-121). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316691601.007
• Into the Cloud of Witnesses: Latin Trinitarian Theology Beyond and Before Its Modern "Revivals".
  
  Ayres, L. (2012). Into the Cloud of Witnesses: Latin Trinitarian Theology Beyond and Before Its Modern "Revivals". In G. Maspero & R. Woźniak (Eds.), Rethinking Trinitarian theology: disputed questions and contemporary issues in Trinitarian theology. (pp. 3-25). Bloomsbury (T & T Clark International).
• Augustine on Redemption.
  
  Ayres, L. (2012). Augustine on Redemption. In M. Vessey (Ed.), A Companion to Augustine. (pp. 416-427). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118255483.ch32
• Augustine on the Trinity
  
  Ayres, L. (2011). Augustine on the Trinity. In G. Emery & M. Levering (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of the Trinity. (pp. 123-137). Oxford University Press.
• "The Holy Spirit as the 'Undiminished Giver': Didymus the Blind's De Spiritu Sancto and the Development of Nicene Pneumatology"
  
  Ayres, L. (2010). "The Holy Spirit as the ’Undiminished Giver’: Didymus the Blind’s De Spiritu Sancto and the Development of Nicene Pneumatology". In V. Twomey & J. Rutherford (Eds.), The Holy Spirit in the fathers of the church : the proceedings of the seventh International Patristic Conference. (pp. 57-72). Four Courts Press.

Edited book

• The Intellectual World of Late Antique Christianity
  
  Ayres, L., Champion, M. W., & Crawford, M. R. (Eds.). (2023). The Intellectual World of Late Antique Christianity. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108883559
• The Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature
  
  Young, F., Ayres, L., & Louth, A. (Eds.). (2004). The Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/chol9780521460835

Journal Article

• Seven theses on dogmatics and patristics in Catholic theology
  
  Ayres, L. (2022). Seven theses on dogmatics and patristics in Catholic theology. Modern Theology, 38(1), 36-62. https://doi.org/10.1111/moth.12736
• The Memory of Tradition: Postconciliar Renewal and One Recent Thomism
  
  Ayres, L. (2015). The Memory of Tradition: Postconciliar Renewal and One Recent Thomism. The Thomist., 79(4), 511-550. https://doi.org/10.1353/tho.2015.0029
• Irenaeus vs. the Valentinians: Toward a Rethinking of Patristic Exegetical Origins
  
  Ayres, L. (2015). Irenaeus vs. the Valentinians: Toward a Rethinking of Patristic Exegetical Origins. Journal of Early Christian Studies, 23(2), 153-187. https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2015.0027
• "There's Fire in That Rain": On Reading the Letter and Reading Allegorically
  
  Ayres, L. (2012). "There’s Fire in That Rain": On Reading the Letter and Reading Allegorically. Modern Theology, 28(4), 616-634. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0025.2012.01775.x
• "Where Does the Trinity Appear?" Augustine’s Apologetics and "Philosophical" Readings of the De Trinitate
  
  Ayres, L. (2012). "Where Does the Trinity Appear?" Augustine’s Apologetics and "Philosophical" Readings of the De Trinitate. Augustinian Studies, 43(1/2), 109-126. https://doi.org/10.5840/augstudies2013431/211
• The Trinity and the Life of the Christian: A Liturgical Catechism
  
  Ayres, L. (2011). The Trinity and the Life of the Christian: A Liturgical Catechism. New Blackfriars, 92(1037), 3-17. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-2005.2009.01338.x
• Augustine on the Spirit as the Soul of the Body, or Fragments of a Trinitarian Ecclesiology
  
  Ayres, L. (2010). Augustine on the Spirit as the Soul of the Body, or Fragments of a Trinitarian Ecclesiology. Augustinian Studies, 41(1), 165-182.
• Into the Poem of the Universe: Exempla, Conversion, and Church in Augustine's Confessiones
  
  Ayres, L. (2009). Into the Poem of the Universe: Exempla, Conversion, and Church in Augustine’s Confessiones. Zeitschrift Für Antikes Christentum Journal of Ancient Christianity, 13(2), 263-281. https://doi.org/10.1515/zac.2009.19
• The Soul and the Reading of Scripture: A Note on Henri De Lubac
  
  Ayres, L. (2008). The Soul and the Reading of Scripture: A Note on Henri De Lubac. Scottish Journal of Theology, 61(02), 173-190. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0036930608003943

Scholarly Edition

• Works on the Spirit: Athanasius's letters to Serapion on the Holy Spirit, and, Didymus's On the Holy Spirit
  
  DelCogliano, M., Radde-Gallwitz, A., & Ayres, L. (2011). Works on the Spirit: Athanasius’s letters to Serapion on the Holy Spirit, and, Didymus’s On the Holy Spirit.