Austin Rivera

Assistant Professor of Church History

Charles Augustine “Austin” Rivera is an historical theologian who draws on the riches of
the Christian past for the upbuilding of the Church in the present day. His scholarship
and teaching focus on the Church Fathers, ancient authors whose classic articulations
of Christian doctrine have continued to shape the Church’s intellectual life down through
the centuries to the present day. In particular, Dr. Rivera studies the writings of Origen of
Alexandria and Ephrem of Nisibis, two of the most prolific and influential authors of
Christianity’s early centuries.

His current research encompasses topics such as grace, atonement, and the Trinity in
Origen, Ephrem and other Fathers, as well as reflection on the work of historical
theology itself, especially in his own Methodist/Wesleyan theological tradition. His
monograph Grace, Justice, and the Gift of Salvation in Early Christianity: From Origen
to Ephrem describes Origen and Ephrem’s distinct understandings of grace, arguing
that they offer a bold contrast to inherited assumptions about this central theological
topic in European traditions.

Dr. Rivera also maintains an interest in ancient Christian poetry in Latin, Greek, and
Syriac. With T.C. Schmidt of Fairfield University he has prepared an edition and
translation of the Carmen Apologeticum of Commodian (3rd century AD), one of
Christianity’s earliest poets, which is forthcoming in the Brepols Library of Christian
Sources.

A lifelong Methodist, Dr. Rivera is an ordained elder in the Great Plains conference of
the United Methodist Church and has served as a pastor of local congregations in
Kansas and Nebraska.

Education

BA, The University of Chicago; MDiv, Duke Divinity School; PhD Yale University

Religious Affiliation

United Methodist

Courses Taught

• History of Christianity
• Gender and the Trinity in the Early Church
• Grace: Classic and Contemporary Perspectives
• Power in the Blood: The Meaning of the Cross
• Humane Leadership: Christian and Confucian Perspectives

Monograph

Grace, Justice, and the Gift of Salvation in Early Christianity: From Origen to Ephrem.
Forthcoming (expected publication December 2026), Cambridge University Press.

Edition and Translation

With T.C. Schmidt, Rightly Knowing the One God: Commodian’s Carmen Apologeticum
(De Duobus Populis). Forthcoming with Brepols Library of Christian Sources.

Select Journal Articles

“The Angel Malachi: An Episode in the Making and Unmaking of Christian Tradition.”
Forthcoming in Journal of Theological Studies.
“The Soul of Jesus in the Land of the Dead: Origen on the Harrowing of Hell.” Harvard
Theological Review 118.4 (2025): 735–753.
“The Mercy Seat and the Lamb: Reframing Christ’s Priesthood and Sacrifice in Origen.”
Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 100.2 (2024): 257–288.

Select Academic Presentations

“The Anti-Marcionite Foundations of Ephrem’s Theology of Divine Names.” North
American Patristics Society, May 2026.
“From the Garden to Gehenna: Structure and Development in Ephrem’s Madrashe on
Paradise 1.” Society for Biblical Literature, November 2025.
“Commodian’s Anti-Jewish Patripassianism.” North American Patristics Society, May
2025.

Professional Affiliations

• American Academy of Religion
• Wesleyan Theological Society
• North American Patristics Society
• Society of Biblical Literature

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