Michel René Barnes

[1] He focuses on Latin and Greek Patristic Theology, in particular, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine of Hippo, and pneumatological development in the early church[citation needed].

He co-edited with Daniel H. Williams, a colleague and friend from St. Michael's, Arianism After Arius: Essays on the Development of Fourth Century Trinitarian Conflicts.

Barnes wrote a paper on the narrative that developed from nineteenth-century scholar Theodore DeRégnon's characterization of Eastern and Western Trinitarian theology as starting from distinction and unity, respectively.

In the Harvard Theological Review Khaled Anatolios acknowledged that “The assertion of a substantive rift between Eastern and Western trinitarian theologies… is not found in either Hanson or Simonetti ... and its genealogy ... has been famously exposed by Michel Barnes.”[3] Matthew Drever also noted the attempt by Barnes, Ayres, and others to argue that many of the traditional categories for analyzing pre- and post-Nicene thought were inadequate.

Barnes proceeded, with Lewis Ayres in particular, to cast Pro-Nicene Trinitarian theologies (found in the East and West) as possessing a harmonious logic, as seen in the independent accounts of Gregory of Nyssa and Augustine of Hippo.

More recently Barnes’ interest in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Christology has included the literature of German and English Pietism, as well as proponents of “universal salvation” – e.g., Isaak Dorner.

The two major projects that await publication are: Barnes’ study of the continuity of Pneumatology between Second Temple Judaism and Early Christianity; and a book of essays on Pro-Nicene Trinitarian theologies.

The unexpected death in 2012 of his colleague, Dr. Ralph Dell Colle, led to an article on the link for Gregory between mortality and sexuality; research on Life of Macrina and On the Soul and Resurrection was further developed in 2016 for the Chicago Theology Initiative, and that work is in press (Spring, 2017).