Faculty
Very Rev. Professor Doru Costache
Professor in Theology (Patristics)
Protopresbyter Dr Doru Costache was trained at the Radu Vodă Seminary, Bucharest, Romania (1983-1988). He has undertaken undergraduate studies (1989-1993) and doctoral studies (1995-1999) in Orthodox theology at the University of Bucharest. His doctoral thesis, publicly defended in March 2000, was on the anthropic cosmological principle interpreted from the viewpoint of a patristic theologian, Saint Maximus the Confessor, and a neopatristic theologian, Father Dumitru Stăniloae. He has over twenty years of tertiary teaching experience (the University of Bucharest, 1995–2004; the Australian University College of Divinity, 2005–present), and was the Durham International Senior Research Fellow of Institute of Advanced Study, the University of Durham, Epiphany Term, 2018. He is the author of Humankind and the Cosmos: Early Christian Representations (Brill, 2021) and co-author of Introducere în Dogmatica Ortodoxă (1997), Știință și Theologie: Preliminarii pentru Dialog (2001), Sfinții Părinți despre Originile și Destinul Cosmosului și Omului (2003) and Dreams, Virtue and Divine Knowledge in Early Christian Egypt (Cambridge University Press, 2019). He has also authored two popular-level books, Reading Scripture in the Orthodox Church: The Sunday Cycle and Reading Scripture in the Orthodox Church: The Festal Cycle (AIOCS Press, 2018, 2019). He was ordained to the diaconate in January 1997 and to the priesthood in May 2001, and is married with one daughter.
Research & supervision interests
Early Christian representations of reality; traditional interpretations of Genesis 1-3; experiences of holiness; wellbeing; science, ethics, and theology; transdisciplinarity
AUCD Research Profile: https://aucd.edu.au/team-members/associate-professor-doru-costache/
Recent publications
Contemplation in Clement of Alexandria: Elements of the Method. London and New York: Routledge, 2025 (https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003488453)
(Coauthored with Geraint F. Lewis) A New Copernican Turn: Contemporary Cosmology, the Self, and Orthodox Science-Engaged Theology. Routledge Focus on Religion. London and New York: Routledge, 2024. (https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003527138)
“Consciousness in the Cosmos: From René Descartes to David Bohm’s Revolution” Journal of Consciousness Studies 32:5–6 (2025) 155-179, https://doi.org/10.53765/20512201.32.5.155.
“A Note on the Codex Angus and Its Use” The Journal of Ecclesiastical History 76:4 (2025): 707-722, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022046924001556.
“Abraham, the Contemplation of Nature, and Divine Vision in Clement of Alexandria.” In: Nichifor Tanase, Marius Portaru, and Daniel Lemeni (eds). Knowing God in Light: Theophany and Language. Forum Orthodoxe Theologie 23. Vienna: LIT Verlag, 2024: 127-144.
“Astral Iconography and the Byzantine Study of the Heavens” De Medio Aevo 13:2 (2024) 321-351, https://dx.doi.org/10.5209/dmae.96568.
“Athanasius on Deacons and the Diaconate.’ In: Bart J. Koet, Edwina Murphy, and Esko Ryökäs (eds). Deacons and Diakonia in Late Antiquity: The Third Century Onwards. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2, Reihe 606. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2024: 64-77.
“Transitions in Patristic Cosmology: From Cosmophobia to Universe-(Re)Making” Religions 15:6 (2024) 728, https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15060728.
(Coauthored with Richard de Grijs) “The Cosmology of David Bohm: Scientific and Theological Significance” Theology and Science 22:1 (2024) 204-220, https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2023.2294529.
“Patristic and Neopatristic Antecedents of Scientifically Engaged Theology” St Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 67:1-2 (2023) 115-145.
“The Trees of Paradise: Patristic Perspectives.” In: Ciprian Costin Apintiliesei and Constantin Pogor (eds). Tendances et directions dans les recherches actuelles des théologiens orthodoxes roumains de la diaspora. Patrimoines. Paris: Cerf, 2022: 177-196.
“Theological Anthropology Today: Panayiotis Nellas’s Contribution.” In: Kostas Tampakis and Haralampos Ventis (eds). Orthodox Christianity and Modern Science: Past, Present and Future. Science and Orthodox Christianity 3. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2022: 167-182.
Humankind and the Cosmos: Early Christian Representations (Brill, 2021).
Dreams, Virtue and Divine Knowledge in Early Christian Egypt. (co-authored with Bronwen Neil and Kevin Wagner; Cambridge University Press, 2019).
“A Note on Evagrius’ Cosmological and Metaphysical Statements.” The Journal of Theological Studies 71:2 (2020).
“The Orthodox Doctrine of Creation in the Age of Science.” Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies vol. 2, no. 1 (2019).
Reading Scripture in the Orthodox Church: The Festal Cycle. (AIOCS Press, 2019).