Ellen Scully , Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Chair of Undergraduate Theology
Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology
(973) 275-2182
Email
Alfieri Hall
Room 9B
Ellen Scully, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Chair of Undergraduate Theology
School of Theology
Ellen Scully specializes in the theology of early Christianity. She recently co-edited a book on the methodology of studying early Christian theology, New Narratives for Old: Reading Early Christian Theology Using the Historical Method (CUA Press, 2022). Her first book, Physicalist Soteriology in Hilary of Poitiers (Brill, 2015), argued that Hilary of Poitiers is a proponent of “physicalist soteriology,” in which some effects of the incarnation apply universally to all humans, believers and unbelievers alike. Her forthcoming book, Human Salvation in Early Christianity: Exploring the Theology of Physicalist Soteriology (Cambridge University Press) explores physicalist soteriology, as an extension of the belief of human unity in Adam, in early Christianity. Her recent courses include To Know God: Introduction to Roman Catholic Doctrine, The Fathers of the Church, Life of the Soul: Introduction to Catholic Prayer and Spiritual Traditions, Morality Through Fiction, Is Business Moral?, and American Hispanic Catholic Spirituality. She was named a 2024 SHU Researcher of the Year.
Education
- Ph.D., Marquette University
- M.T.S., The University of Notre Dame
- B.A., Mount Holyoke College
Scholarship
- Human Salvation in Early Christianity: Exploring the Theology of Physicalist Soteriology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024.
- New Narratives for Old: Reading Early Christian Theology Using the Historical Method. Anthony Briggman and Ellen Scully, eds. CUA Studies in Early Christianity. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2022.
- Physicalist Soteriology in Hilary of Poitiers.
Vigiliae Christianae Supplements 130. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2015. - "Historical Theology: Aim and Methodology," co-authored with Anthony Briggman. In New Narratives for Old: Reading Early Christian Theology Using the Historical Method, edited by Anthony Briggman and Ellen Scully, 1-24. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2022.
- “Physicalism as the Soteriological Extension of Marius Victorinus’ Cosmology," Journal of Early Christian Studies 26:2 (2018): 221-48.
- “The Evolution of Hilary of Poitiers’s Trinitarian Use of Nativitas,” Journal of Early Christian Studies 24 (2016): 363-94.
- “Jerusalem’s Lost Etymology: How Augustine Changed Latin Eschatology,” Vigiliae Christianae 70 (2016): 1-30.
- “De Musica as the Guide to Understanding Augustine’s Trinitarian Numerology in the De Trinitate,” Augustinian Studies 44, 93-116, April 2013.
- "The Soteriology of Hilary of Poitiers: A Latin Mystical Model of Redemption," Augustinianum 52.1 (2012): 159-95, June 2012.
- "Jerusalem: Image of Hilary’s Christocentric Eschatology in the Tractatus super Psalmos,” Vigiliae Christianae 66 (2012): 269-82, January 2012.
- "The Eschatological Implications of Karl Rahner’s Eucharistic Doctrine,” Heythrop Journal, 51(5), 881- 92, September 2010.
- "The Eucharist as Source of St. Cyril of Alexandria’s Christology," Pro Ecclesia, 18(3), 318-36, July 2009.
Awards and Honors
- 2024 Researcher of the Year Award, Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology, Seton Hall University
- 2024 Competitive Research Course Release, Seton Hall University
- 2023 Seton Hall University Faculty Merit Award
- 2023 University Research Council Summer Stipend, Seton Hall University
- 2022 Seton Hall University Faculty Merit Award
- 2019 University Research Council Summer Stipend, Seton Hall University
- 2016 CDI Assessment Grant, Seton Hall University
- 2016 University Research Council Summer Stipend, Seton Hall University
- 2015 North American Patristics Society Small Research Grant