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Doru Costache

Very Rev. Prof. Doru Costache

Research Director

Profile

Professor Doru Costache is an Australian clergyman and academic born in Bucharest, Romania. He was appointed the ISCAST Research Director in 2021, in which capacity he coedits Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology. He lives with his wife, Otilia, in Sydney’s Northern Beaches area, where they enjoy bushwalking and stargazing. They have a grown daughter who prefers city life. When it rains, all three find refuge in science-fiction literature, movies, and TV series.

Doru is a graduate of the University of Bucharest (Romania, 2000), where he earned a doctorate in theology for a dissertation on the anthropic cosmological principle assessed through the lens of two theologians, one medieval (Maximus the Confessor) and one modern (Dumitru Stăniloae). Most but not all his research outputs address matters of faith and science, especially from the viewpoint of the early Christian centuries and the Byzantine era.

In 2025, he was promoted to Professor of Theology at the Australian University College of Divinity/AUCD (formerly, Sydney College of Divinity), where he supervises doctoral projects since 2009, and was appointed Academic Dean of Nisibis Assyrian Theological College, a member institution of AUCD. He lectures at Nisibis since inception, in 2020. He lectures also at St Cyril’s Coptic Orthodox Theological College, another AUCD member, since 2017, and previously taught at another AUCD member, St Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Theological College (2005–2017). He tutored and lectured in systematic theology for the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of the University of Bucharest (1995–2004).

For almost as long as his thirty years of academic work, he sharpened his pastoral skills as an ordained minister of the Orthodox Church in a range of settings, from parishes to missions to chaplaincy. Since 2017, he guides a little “mission church” dedicated to Saint Gregory the Theologian, in Sydney’s north. He was elevated to the ecclesiastical rank of Protopresbyter in 2013.

Science and Faith Interests and Recent Activities

Doru is interested in the articulation of the early Christian worldview at the crossing of scriptural wisdom, ancient cosmology, and theological insight, together with drawing lessons on this articulation for contemporary science & faith conversations. Alongside a hundred and plus book chapters, journal articles, and book reviews, he authored and coauthored three books relevant to this topic (2025, 2024, 2021). His full CV and list of publications are available online here.

In 2024, he guest-edited a special issue of De Medio Aevo 13:2 (2024), Scientific Interests and Technological Innovation in Byzantium: Interdisciplinary Perspectives.

He was twice the recipient of the Selby Old Fellowship in the Religious History of the Orthodox Christian Faith at the University of Sydney Library (2023–2025, 2021–2022).

He cochaired the “Cosmology” group of the project Science and Orthodoxy around the World II, hosted by the Institute of Historical Research at the National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens, Greece (2020–2023), and was a participant in the first stage of the project (2016–2019).

Professional Associations

  • Fellow of ISSR International Society for Science & Religion
  • Fellow of ISCAST
  • Member of the International Association for Patristic Studies
  • Member of the Australasian Association for Byzantine Studies
  • Member and then chairman of AUCD’s Theology Research Network
  • Founding director of The Australian Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies

Recent Publications

 

Books
  • Costache, Doru. Nature Contemplation in Clement of Alexandria: Elements of the Method. London and New York: Routledge, 2025.
  • Costache, Doru, and Geraint F. Lewis. A New Copernican Turn: Contemporary Cosmology, the Self, and Orthodox Science-Engaged Theology. Routledge Focus on Religion. London and New York: Routledge, 2024.
  • Costache, Doru. Humankind and the Cosmos: Early Christian Representations. Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 170. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2021.
  • Neil, Bronwen, Doru Costache and Kevin Wagner. Dreams, Virtue and Divine Knowledge in Early Christian Egypt. Cambridge University Press, 2019.
Articles
  • “Consciousness in the Cosmos: From René Descartes to David Bohm’s Revolution.” Journal of Consciousness Studies 32:5–6 (2025) 155–179, https://doi.org/10.53765/20512201.32.5.155.
  • “A Note on the Codex Angus and Its Use.” The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, published online (first view) 2025: 1–16, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022046924001556.
  • “Astral Iconography and the Byzantine Study of the Heavens.” De Medio Aevo 13:2 (2024) 321–351, https://dx.doi.org/10.5209/dmae.96568.
  • “Scientific Interests and Technological Innovation in Byzantium: Interdisciplinary Perspectives.” (Editorial) De Medio Aevo 13:2 (2024) 255–260, https://dx.doi.org/10.5209/dmae.97634.
  • “Transitions in Patristic Cosmology: From Cosmophobia to Universe-(Re)Making.” Religions 15:6 (2024) 728, https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15060728.
  • (Coauthored with Richard de Grijs) “The Cosmology of David Bohm: Scientific and Theological Significance.” Theology and Science 22:1 (2024) 204–220, https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2023.2294529.
  • “Patristic and Neopatristic Antecedents of Scientifically Engaged Theology.” St Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 67:1-2 (2023) 115–145.
  • “Affirming Creation’s Goodness in a Time of Pandemic: Patristic Insights.” Colloquium 54:2 (2022) 9–32.
  • “A Note on Evagrius’ Cosmological and Metaphysical Statements.” The Journal of Theological Studies 71:2 (2020) 718–730, https://doi.org/10.1093/jts/flaa143.
  • “Strange Bedfellows? Orthodox Perspectives on Theology, Spirituality, Science, and Technology.” Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai Theologia Orthodoxa 65:2 (2020) 5–25, https://doi.org/10.24193/subbto.2020.2.01.
Chapters
  • “Abraham, the Contemplation of Nature, and Divine Vision in Clement of Alexandria.” In: Nichifor Tanase, Marius Portaru, and Daniel Lemeni (eds). Knowing God in Light: Theophany and Language. Forum Orthodoxe Theologie 23. Vienna: LIT Verlag, 2024: 127–144.
  • “Athanasius on Deacons and the Diaconate.” In: Bart J. Koet, Edwina Murphy, and Esko Ryökäs (eds). Deacons and Diakonia in Late Antiquity: The Third Century Onwards. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2, Reihe 606. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2024: 64–77.
  • “Burning Hearts: Emmaus as Realised Eschatology in the Philokalic” In: Peter G. Bolt and Sehyun Kim (eds). God’s Grace Inscribed on the Human Heart: Essays in Honour of James R. Harrison. Early Christian Studies 23. Macquarie Park: SCD Press, 2022: 61–78.
  • “The Trees of Paradise: Patristic Perspectives.” In: Ciprian Costin Apintiliesei and Constantin Pogor (eds). Tendances et directions dans les recherches actuelles des théologiens orthodoxes roumains de la diaspora. Patrimoines. Paris: Cerf, 2022: 177–196.
  • “Theological Anthropology Today: Panayiotis Nellas’s Contribution.” In: Kostas Tampakis and Haralampos Ventis (eds). Orthodox Christianity and Modern Science: Past, Present and Future. Science and Orthodox Christianity 3. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2022: 167–182.
  • “The Teacher and His School: Philosophical Representations of Jesus and Christianity.” In: Peter G. Bolt and James R. Harrison (eds). The Impact of Jesus of Nazareth: Historical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspectives, vol. 2: Social and Pastoral Studies. CGAR Series 2. Macquarie Park: SCD Press, 2021: 227–251.
  • “One Description, Multiple Interpretations: Suggesting a Way Out of the Current Impasse.” In: Christopher C. Knight and Alexei V. Nesteruk (eds). Orthodox Christianity and Modern Sciences: Theological, Philosophical, Scientific and Historical Aspects of the Dialogue. Science and Orthodox Christianity 2. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2021: 33–49.
  • “Orthodox.” In: Kenneth R. Ross, Katalina Tahaafe-Williams, and Todd M. Johnson (eds). Christianity in Oceania. Edinburgh Companions to Global Christianity. Edinburgh University Press, 2021: 171–176.
  • “Elders and Disciples in Egypt’s Early Monastic Literature.” In: Steven Smith, Edwina Blair and Catherine Kleemann (eds). Embracing Life and Gathering Wisdom: Theological, Pastoral and Clinical Insights into Human Flourishing at the End of Life. Occasional Series 2. Macquarie Park: SCD Press, 2020: 275–299.

Contact

DoruCostache@iscast.org