Prof. Dr. Ilaria L.E. Ramelli, FRHistS, holds two MAs, a PhD, a Doctorate h.c., a Postdoc, and various Habilitations to Ordinarius. She has been Professor of Roman History, Senior Visiting Professor (Harvard; Boston University; Columbia; Erfurt University), Full Professor of Theology and Endowed Chair (Angelicum), Forschungspreis Senior Fellow from the Humboldt Foundation (Erfurt U. MWK), Senior Fellow in Classics / Ancient Philosophy / Hellenic Studies / Theology and Religion (Durham U., twice; Princeton; Sacred Heart University; CEU Institute for Advanced Studies; Corpus Christi, Oxford U.; Christ Church, Oxford U.), and Professor of Theology (Durham University, Hon.). She is also Professor of Patristics and Church History (KUL), Research professor (Stanford, affiliate) and Senior Member at the Centre for the Study of Platonism, University of Cambridge.
She investigates ancient philosophy, especially Platonism and Stoicism, ancient theology (esp. Patristic theology and philosophy and Christian Platonism, besides Judaism and ancient 'pagan' religions), the interrelations between philosophy, theology, and science; ancient Christianity, Classics, and Late Antiquity, and has authored numerous books, articles, and reviews in leading scholarly journals and series, in these areas.
Recent books include: Allegoria (Sacred Heart University 2004), Il Basileus come Nomos Empsykhos (The King as Living Law, Bibliopolis 2006), Gregory of Nyssa on the Soul and the Resurrection (Bompiani-Sacred Heart University 2007), The Roman Stoics (Bompiani 2008), Hierocles the Stoic (Brill-SBL 2009), The Ancient Novels and Christianity (Madrid 2001; Wipf and Stock 2012), Pre-Existence of Souls? (Peeters 2013), The Christian Doctrine of Apokatastasis: A Critical Assessment from the New Testament to Eriugena (Brill 2013, Suppl. to Vigiliae Christianae 120), Evagrius' Kephalaia Gnostica (Brill-SBL 2015), The Role of Religion in Shaping Narrative Forms (Mohr Siebeck 2015), Social Justice and the Legitimacy of Slavery: The Role of Philosophical Asceticism from Ancient Judaism to Late Antiquity (OUP 2016), Evagrius between Origen, the Cappadocians, and Neoplatonism (Peeters 2017), Bardaisan of Edessa: A Reassessment of the Evidence and a New Interpretation in Light of Origen and the Original Fragments from Porphyry (Gorgias 2009; De Gruyter 2019), A Larger Hope? Universal Salvation in Christianity from the Origins to Julian of Norwich, pref. Richard Bauckham (Cascade, Wipf & Stock 2019), The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to World Literature, 1: To 600 CE (co-ed., Oxford 2020), The T&T Clark Handbook of the Early Church (co-ed., T&T Clark-Bloomsbury Academic 2021), Terms for Eternity: Aiōnios and Aïdios in Classical and Christian Authors (Gorgias 2007; De Gruyter 2021), Patterns of Womenʼs Leadership in Early Christianity (OUP 2021), Eriugenaʼs Christian Neoplatonism and its Sources in Ancient and Patristic Philosophy (Peeters 2021), Lovers of the Soul, Lovers of the Body: Philosophical and Religious Perspectives from Late Antiquity (co-ed., Harvard 2022), and Problems in Ancient Biography: The Construction of Professional Identities in Late Antiquity (co-ed., CUP forthcoming).
Her present research includes ethical intellectualism in ancient to late antique philosophy and its relation to the doctrine of original sin in Patristic theology; human and divine Nous (Intellect, Mind) in ancient and Patristic Platonism; Origen’s philosophical theology and exegesis; Ammonius, Origen, and Plotinus and the negotiation of Plato's legacy; the category and the protagonists and philosophical issues of Patristic Philosophy and Christian Platonism; John 13-17 and its Patristic reception (including major themes in Patristic philosophy); the role of the rejection of philosophical enquiry, along with other factors (social, political, theological, pastoral, linguistic...), in the dismissal of the doctrine of apokatastasis by the "Church of the Empire" in late antiquity; the theories of epistrophē and apokatastasis in ancient and patristic philosophy and their interrelation; Bardaisan of Edessa and the theory of free will; novel research into Origen’s influence on Augustine; the pseudepigraphic correspondence between Seneca and St Paul: new findings; the Dialogue of Adamantius: novel philosophical, theological, and philological research; Paul: Soteriology, Eschatology, and Patristic Receptions.
At Uni Bonn she will offer lectures and contribute to seminars in the New Testament, Early Christianity, and Ancient and Patristic Philosophy, work on projects in this area, and strengthen collaboration with esteemed colleagues here.