Garrett Ashlock

Garrett Lincoln Ashlock is a student of the History of Christianity, with a focus on the Eastern Mediterranean in Late Antiquity. He is particularly interested in "Christian Platonism" and texts like the Corpus Dionysiacum and those of the so-called Origenists, their reception, and the formation of Christian traditions of mystical theology. His investigations examine how Christians read and interpreted texts, scriptural and otherwise, including Greek philosophy and texts considered apocryphal, and how they justified these interpretive choices to Christian and non-Christian audiences. He is also concerned with the communities and their social practices, such as asceticism, monasticism, liturgy, and modes of education, that produced and received these texts. He knows Greek, Armenian, and Syriac and is also interested in how Christians writing in these languages conceptualize and interact with Hellenism and "Greek thought."

Ashlock received his BA in Middle East Studies from the University of Michigan and an MA from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is a native of Hardin County, Kentucky, and enjoys exploring local history, culture, and natural communities, and talking about them to whoever will listen. He is a fan of bluegrass, jazz, gospel, and traditional country music; the Cincinnati Reds and Bengals; and college basketball, especially the Michigan Wolverines of his own and the Kentucky Wildcats of his sister's alma mater. He is an avid amateur angler, gardener, and naturalist, and a frequent maker and consumer of Kentucky cuisine. Ashlock is a Catholic and serves as a cantor at his parish, with a personal interest in the history and literature of Catholicism in the American South.