Orthodox Christianity Scholar Wins Award for Research

In the old days, Jon Stanfill might have walked away with a sack of Byzantine coins for placing second in a competition sponsored by the Byzantine Studies Association of North America.

Times have changed. For the research and writing that he devoted to the paper “Baiting the Hook: John Chrysostom and his Barbarian Mission,” Stanfill, a doctoral candidate in Fordham’s Orthodox Christian Studies Program, will have to settle for a $1,000 prize.

George Demacopoulos, Ph.D., co-director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Program, said Stanfill’s award was notable because it’s the first time a Fordham student has won it in the 20 years the association has been giving it out.

“The award almost always goes to someone who is in the final stages of their dissertation and almost always to someone working in art history, which is a particular emphasis of the organization,” he said.

“Jon delivered this paper before he had even sat for his comprehensive exams, during the first semester that he was teaching on his own, and in the field of early Christian studies.”

Stanfill is currently revising the paper and will soon submit it to a top-tier journal for publication.

—Patrick Verel