The Very Rev. Dr Bogdan G. Bucur
Associate Professor of Patristics
Fr Bogdan Bucur was born in Romania. He is married to Cristina and they are the parents of Irina, Andrei, and Miruna. After studying at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Bucharest (1994-1999), Fr Bogdan left for the USA, where he earned his MA (2002) and PhD (2007) in Religious Studies at Marquette University under the direction of (now Archbishop) Alexander Golitzin. Between 2007 and 2020, he was Assistant and then Associate Professor of Theology at Duquesne University, in Pittsburgh, where he worked in the areas of Early Christian Studies and Reception History of the Bible. In 2010 he was ordained a priest in the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese (AOCANA) and served as the pastor of St Anthony Orthodox Church in Butler, PA (2010-2020). He was elevated to the rank of archpriest on September 28, 2023, by the hand of His Eminence, Metropolitan Saba (AOCANA). Fr Bogdan and his family came to St Vladimir's Seminary in 2020.
For more information see "Orthodox Identity in My Slice of Today’s America Anecdotal Observations of a Struggling Parent, Priest, and Academic"
Educational Background
Ph.D. in Religious Studies, Marquette University (2007)
M.A. in Theology, Marquette University (2002)
Ph.D. Coursework in Patristics, University of Bucharest (1998–2000)
M.A. in Biblical Studies, University of Bucharest (1998–1999)
Studies in Orthodox Theology, University of Bucharest (1995–1998)
Teaching Interests
Fr Bogdan is a scholar of early Christianity, with a special interest in the link between reception history of the Bible and doctrinal developments in early Christianity and the Byzantine tradition. He views it as important to study how early Christians articulated their religious identity by reworking doctrines, imagery, and practices inherited from the many currents of Second Temple Judaism. His academic interests were shaped significantly by participation in the interdisciplinary Seminar on the Jewish Roots of Christian Mysticism, and the "Theophaneia School", both led by Professor Andrei Orlov and Archbishop Dr Alexander Golitzin at Marquette University.
Current Projects and Research Interests
Jewish Roots of Early Christology and Pneumatology; Biblical Exegesis and Doctrinal Developments in Early Christianity; Byzantine Theology and Hymnography.
Fr Bogdan's first book dealt with the use of angelic imagery in early Christian pneumatology. His second is the first volume of a projected three-part study of the early Christian interpretation of biblical theophanies.
Selected Publications
(For a complete listing, see the c.v.)
BOOKS
Scripture Re-Envisioned: Christophanic Exegesis and the Making of a Christian Bible. The Bible in Ancient Christianity 13. Leiden/ Boston: Brill, 2019.
Angelomorphic Pneumatology: Clement of Alexandria and Other Early Christian Witnesses. Vigiliae Christianae Supplements 95. Leiden/ Boston: Brill, 2009.
Edited: Alexander Golitzin, Mystagogy: A Monastic Reading of Dionysius Areopagita. Edited by Bogdan G. Bucur. Minneapolis, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2013.
ARTICLES
2024
“When the Most Blessed Athanasius Was Opposing the Arians (Ep. 148.2.10): The Defense of the Nicene Faith Refracted through an Augustinian Lens,” Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 100 (2024): 305–322.
“Prov 8,22-31 in Clement of Alexandria,” in A. S. Gutierrez et. al. (eds), Filiación X. Proverbios 8,22-31: Texto, contexto, recepción (Madrid: Facultad de Literatura Cristiana y Clásica San Justino, 2024), 215–232.
“Clement Alexandrinul și tradiția ascetică creștină” [Clement of Alexandria and the Christian Ascetical Tradition], in Ascetism și hagiografie în Antichitatea creștină târzie (Iași: Editura Doxologia, 2024).
“Jacob’s Nightly Encounter at Peniel and the Status of the Son: Reading Genesis 32 with Athanasius,” Journal of the Bible and Its Reception 11 (2024): 29–51.
2023
“Exegesis, Intertextuality, and the Transformative Gaze: The Vision of Isaiah in Cod. Vatop. 760, fol. 280 v.,” ByzantinoSlavica: Revue Internationale des Études Byzantines 81 (2023): 46–65.
“I am the Image of Your Glory: Exegesis and Theology in a Byzantine Funeral Hymn,” Vigiliae christianae 77 (2023): 498-521.
“Ever Reaching for Higher and Higher Places: Clement of Alexandria on Spiritual Ascent,” for Patristic Spirituality: Classical Perspectives on Ascent in the Journey to God, ed. Kevin Clarke and Don W. Springer (Leiden: Brill, 2023), 130–151.
“Restoring ‘Jesus’ in Jude 5: What Can New Testament Textual Criticism Learn from the Fathers?,” in Watering the Garden: Studies in Honor of Deirdre Dempsey, ed. Andrei Orlov (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2023), 5–22.
2022
“Die Theophanie und ihre ethische Spur: Christsein Nach Vater Nicolae Steinhardt,“ Ostkirchliche Studien 71 (2022): 315–330.
“Christological Exegesis of Theophanies and the Making of Early Christian Theology,” Concordia Theological Quarterly 86 (2022): 97–124.
“Anti-Semitic Sentiments in Liturgical and Patristic Biblical Interpretations,” ch. 30 in The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in Orthodox Christianity, ed. Eugen Pentiuc (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022).
"Now You See Me, Now You Don't: The Case of the Vanishing Theophanies in Patristic Scholarship," in New Narratives for Old: The Historical Method of Reading Early Christian Theology. Essays in Honor of Michel René Barnes, ed. A. Briggman and E. Scully (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2022), 329–46.
“Worship at the Footstool of His Feet: Observations on the Christian Appropriation of Exodus 24, Ps 98/99:5 and 131/132:7," in Tendances et directions dans les recherches actuelles des théologiens orthodoxes roumains de la diaspora, ed. C. Pogor and C. Apintiliesei (Paris: Cerf, 2022), 59–72.
“Philo and Clement of Alexandria,” in The Oxford Handbook of Dionysius the Areopagite, ed. Mark Edwards, Dimitrios Pallis, and Georgios Steiris (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022), 77–93.
2020
"The Lord Himself, One Lord, One Power: Isaiah 63:9 and Daniel 7:13 in Early Christian and Later Byzantine Exegesis," in Jewish Roots of Eastern Christian Mysticism: Studies in Honor of Alexander Golitzin. Ed. Andrei A. Orlov (Leiden: Brill, 2020), 240–63.
2019
[with Vladimir Ivanovici] "The Image of Adam’s Glory": Observations on the Early Christian Tradition of Luminosity as Iconic Garment, RIHA Journal: Journal of the International Association of Research Institutes in the History of Art 0224 (2019).
“Retorica anti-iudaică din imnografia bizantină: contextualizare exegetică şi teologică,” in Imnografia liturgică bizantină. Perspective critice. Ed. Alexandru Ioniță (Cluj: Editura Universitară Clujeană, 2019), 52–77.
“Réflexions sur la tradition mystique du christianisme orthodoxe et sa filiation avec le judaïsme,” in Juifs et chrétiens dans l’Antiquité. Histoires parallèles, ed. Dan Jaffé (Paris: Cerf, 2019).