Assistant Professor of Christianity in Late Antiquity, Department of Theological Studies

Our Invitation

The Department of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University (LMU), a Carnegie classified R2 institution in the mainstream of American Catholic higher education, seeks outstanding applicants for the tenure-track Assistant Professor of Christianity in Late Antiquity position who value its Mission and share its commitment to inclusive excellence and the building of a just society.

Who We Are

LMU is federally recognized as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI) and is recognized by the State of California as a Black-Serving Institution (BSI). These designations reflect the university’s continuing commitment to supporting student success, belonging, and thriving within a diverse academic community.

As a Catholic, Jesuit, and Marymount university, LMU seeks faculty members who will contribute to the university’s mission to encourage learning, educate the whole person, and serve faith and promote justice. Faculty are encouraged to contribute to the LMU Core Curriculum, such as through the development of a First-Year Seminar and/or courses incorporating Engaged Learning for Mission. We welcome candidates who demonstrate both disciplinary excellence and a clear capacity to advance LMU’s mission through their teaching, scholarly, creative, professional, and service-related contributions, as appropriate to their discipline and appointment.

LMU’s faculty play a central role in realizing our mission by shaping learning environments, advancing knowledge, mentoring and forming students, and contributing to the intellectual and institutional life of the university. The successful candidate will engage students as whole persons and pursue scholarly and creative work that promotes justice, equity, and the common good in alignment with LMU’s teacher-scholar model, contributing to the larger body of knowledge while setting an example for the importance of lifelong learning. A teacher-scholar at LMU is dedicated to 1) teaching a diverse student body in a transformative learning environment, 2) developing a thriving portfolio in research/scholarship/creative works and mentoring students, 3) participating in service activities at the academic, professional, and/or community levels, and 4) working towards greater equity, inclusion, belonging, and accessibility for all in the profession. For more information about our current faculty, please visit Join Our Faculty.

Position Description

The Assistant Professor will be dedicated to the scholarship and teaching of the first millennium of Christianity, from its post-apostolic period (ca. 100 CE) down to the later Byzantine or early Medieval period (ca. 1000 CE). The ideal candidate’s training and research agenda should reflect the regional and linguistic diversity of the “Christianities” which existed in Late Antiquity: from Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon in the East to Africa, Gaul, Italy, and Spain in the West, and beyond. In addition to church fathers, the ideal candidate’s teaching will also bring attention to neglected church mothers. Furthermore, the ideal candidate will be prepared to teach not only the major figures within Christian orthodoxy but also more marginalized figures and movements who were deemed heterodox and suppressed. Alongside this focus on the diversity within Christianity itself, the ideal candidate should be prepared to engage the broader religious and social world of Late Antiquity addressing how Christian beliefs, practices, debates, and moral imaginaries took root in a culturally and ethnically heterogenous world. This might include, for example, addressing Jewish traditions, ancient Mediterranean traditions, classical Greco-Roman philosophies, and eventually the emergence of Islam.

The position involves undergraduate teaching in the University Core, the Theological Studies Major and Minor programs, as well as in the MA in Theology and MA in Pastoral Theology programs. The teaching load is defined as 2-2-2-3 over two years (i.e. two classes per regular semester and three classes every fourth semester). Desirable areas of scholarship and/or teaching may include: development and controversy