Alden Bass

College of Bible - Graduate

Professor

Biography

Alden Bass specializes in the history and theology of early Christianity. His research focuses on preaching and biblical interpretation in North Africa, the birthplace of Tertullian, Cyprian, and Augustine. Originally from middle Tennessee, he graduated with a BA in Religious Studies from Yale University (2005) and an MTS from Vanderbilt Divinity School (2007). He completed his Ph.D. in Historical Theology at Saint Louis University (2014). Prior to joining Lipscomb University, he held appointments at Oklahoma Christian University and Saint Louis University. While in St. Louis, he and his wife Candace worked with an inner-city ministry at the North City Church of Christ and helped lead a neo-monastic community called The Lotus House. Dr. Bass remains involved in the Nurturing Communities Network, a nationwide association of Christian intentional communities. He teaches a variety of courses in theology, church history, and interdisciplinary social issues including art/beauty, justice, technology, politics, creation care, death, and love.

Academic Degrees

B.A., Yale University (2005)
M.T.S., Vanderbilt University (2007)
Ph.D., Saint Louis University (2014)

Academic Department

Hazelip School of Theology

Research Interests

Research and Publications

Reception of the Bible in Early Christianity, volume 3: The Latin West, 250-500 CE (editor). Leiden: Brill (in progress).

Augustine: Newly Discovered Sermons, vol. 2. Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century, vol. III/13 Hyde Park: New City Press (in progress).

Augustine: The Donatist Controversy, vol. 2. Works of Saint Augustine, A Translation for the 21st Century, vol. I/22. Co-edited with Jesse Hoover. Hyde Park: New City Press (forthcoming).

“Christian Intentional Community,” T&T Clark Encyclopedia of Christian Theology. Edited by Joel Looper. Edinburgh: T&T Clark (forthcoming).

“Between Donatus and the Devil: Readings of Ezekiel’s ‘Prince of Tyre’ in Fourth-Century North Africa,” Colors and Textures: Essays in Honor of Maureen Tilley, edited by Zachary Smith and Elizabeth Clark. Studies in Early Christianity. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2024.

“Scripture in Anonymous African Sermons,” The Reception and Interpretation of the Bible in Christian North Africa, vol. 2 edited by Jonathan Yates and Anthony DuPont. Berlin: DeGruyter, 2023.

“Contemporary Historiography of Christianity in North Africa,” Revista de Historiografía 36 (2021): 341-358.

“Augustine and Optatus of Milevis,” Augustine and Tradition: Influences, Contexts, Legacy, edited by Jonathan Yates and David Hunter. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2021.

“Biblical Interpretation of Optatus of Milevus,” The Reception and Interpretation of the Bible in Christian North Africa: Commencement to the Council of Carthage (180 to 397 C.E.), vol. 1 edited by Jonathan Yates and Anthony DuPont. Berlin: DeGruyter, 2020.

“Radical and Restorationist: Stone-Campbell Resources for Christian Intentional Community,” Missio Dei: A Journal of Missional Theology and Praxis 92 (Summer-Fall 2018).

“Ecclesiastical Controversies: Donatism,” Augustine in Context, edited by Tarmo Toom. Cambridge University Press, 2017.

“Preaching in the Patristic Era,” A Handbook for Catholic Preaching, edited by Ed Foley, Catherine Vincie, Richard Fragomeni and James Wallace, pp. 51-61. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2016.

“The Way: A History of Intentional Christian Communities,” in Called to Community: The Life Jesus Wants for his People, edited by Charles Moore. Walden: Plough Publishing, 2016.

“Biblical Exegesis of Junillus Africanus,” co-authored with Peter Martens, Patristic Theories of Biblical Interpretation: The Latin Fathers, edited by Tarmo Toom, pp. 133-59. Cambridge University Press, 2016.

“Justus sibi lex est: Donatist Interpretation of Romans 2:14 and Roman Civil Law,” Secular Struggles and Sacred Scripture, edited by David Meconi, pp. 162-178. Leiden: Brill, 2015.

“‘Bringing it to Completion’: American New Monasticism and the Benedictine Tradition,” American Benedictine Review 66 (2015): 352-363.

Relevant Experience

Awards

Talks and Presentations

“Sacramentology of Tyconius Afer,” North American Patristics Society Annual Meeting, Chicago, 25 May 2024.

“Tears of Ps.-Fulgentius: Emotive Scripts in Late Ancient North African Preaching,” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, San Antonio, 20 November 2023.

“Reviving the Ancient Church: Intentional Community and the Missional Future of Restorationists Churches,” CHARIS Lecture, Abilene Christian University, 16 April 2019.

“Seeing with Eyes Asquint: A Re-visionist Reading of Augustine’s Teaching on Original Sin,” Christian Scholars Conference, Nashville, 11 June 2021.

“Did Augustine’s Anti-Donatist Arguments Evolve Over Time?: the Sermon at Caesarea Mauretania as a Test Case,” Patristic, Medieval, and Renaissance Conference, Villanova University, October 2019.

“The Mighty Deeds of Elijah and Elisha in Donatist Exegesis,” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, San Antonio, 22 November 2016.

“Dissident Preaching in Africa: Was it Distinctive?” Ministerium Sermonis III, An International Colloquium on North African Patristic Sermons, Malta, 8 April 2015.

“‘Bringing it to Completion’: American New Monasticism and the Benedictine Tradition,” Keynote Address at the American Benedictine Association meeting, Conception Abbey, 25 July 2014.

“An Example of Pelagian Exegesis in the Donatist Vienna Homilies (Ö.N.B. lat. 4147),” International Donatist Studies Symposium, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, 18 May 2012.

Contact Information

alden.bass@lipscomb.edu