Christopher West, Phd

Christopher West's picture

Along with Yale’s Program in Medieval Studies, Christopher is jointly enrolled in the Religious Studies Department’s Ancient Christianity concentration. His research interests focus on the history of Christianity in late antiquity and the early medieval period with especial attention to theological themes in the Latin West. His dissertation, “The Fall of the Angels in Western Patristic Tradition: Narrative and Theology,” studies texts written by ancient Christians in their efforts to explain the supernatural phenomenon of wicked angels. The project thus primarily aims to reconstruct diverse patristic narratives chronicling the series of events which transpired long ago in the sacred past when certain good angels fell from heaven to become malevolent spiritual beings; in turn, the dissertation also evaluates and contextualizes the theological ramifications of these various patristic accounts. Christopher is Catholic, and his most revered authors are Saint Augustine and Saint Athanasius. Please don’t hesitate to contact him if you share his interests or have general questions about his work.