Revd Alexander Bailey CO

Alexander Bailey
DPhil Candidate in Theology and Religion
Worcester College, Campion Hall
alexander.bailey@theology.ox.ac.uk

Supervisor

Professor Carol Harrison

Biography

My primary interests are in historical theology, particularly Patristic Theology and the history and material culture of Late Antique Christianity. Born in Birmingham, I am a brother of the Oratory of St Philip Neri in York. In 2023, I graduated with a BA in Theology from Oriel College, writing a dissertation on 2 Baruch, supervised by Professor Hindy Najman. After joining the York Oratory, I returned to Oxford to complete an MPhil in Patristics, focusing particularly on Latin Christology, sacramental theology and ecclesiology. At present, I am based at Campion Hall and Worcester College, where I am expanding my MPhil work on Augustine’s preached eucharistic theology and its reception into a  doctoral thesis, alongside studies for ordination to the priesthood at Blackfriars Studium Institute of Theology at the request of my community. This part-time doctoral research is generously funded by the AHRC – Asa Briggs Scholarship at Worcester College. In Oxford Vacations, I am found at my home, the York Oratory, where I enjoy working in the parish and at More House, the University of York Catholic Chaplaincy.

Educational Background

BA Theology and Religion, Oriel College, Oxford (2020-23)

MPhil Christian Doctrine (Patristic Theology), Campion Hall, Oxford (2024-26)

Research Interests

Augustine; Latin Patristics; Liturgy; Christology; Biblical Interpretation; Material Culture; Late Antiquity; Spirituality; Early Medieval reception of Augustine; the Oratory of St Philip Neri; John Henry Newman; Ressourcement Theology

Academic Publications

Bailey, Alexander. Review of “Christology and the Logic of Grace in Fifth-Century Gaul. By Donald Fairbairn. Oxford University Press, 2024. Pp. 240. £89.00.” Heythrop Journal, July 2026, online early view available.

Bailey, Alexander. Review of “The Cambridge Companion to Augustine’s Sermons. Edited by Andrew Hofer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025. Pp. 364. £110.00 (HB)/£36.99 (PB).” Heythrop Journal, vol. 67. no. 5, pp. 551-52.

Bailey, Alexander. Review of “Beauty, Devotion and Spirituality: The Art and Culture of the Oratorians of Saint Philip Neri Ed. by Joachim Rodrigues Dos Santos (Review).” Newman Studies Journal, vol. 22, no. 2, 2025, pp. 121–22.

Bailey, Alexander. Review of “Queens of a Fallen World: The Lost Women of Augustine’s Confessions. By Kate Cooper. Basic Books, 2023. Pp. 304. £20.00 (HB)/£12.99 (PB).” Heythrop Journal, vol. 66, no. 6, November 2025, pp. 643–44.

Bailey, Alexander. Review of "Knowledge, Faith, and Early Christian Initiation. By Alex Fogleman.

Cambridge University Press, 2023. Pp. 272. £85.00 (HB) £24.99 (PB)/Open Access." Heythrop Journal, vol. 66, no. 5, September 2025, pp. 521–22.

Bailey, Alexander. Review of "Christians at Home: John Chrysostom and Domestic Rituals in Fourth- Century Antioch. By Blake Leyerle. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2024. Pp. xii, 152. $99.95." Heythrop Journal, vol. 66, no. 3, May 2025, pp. 325–26.

Other Publications

Bailey, Alexander, Our man in Rome – Newman from school to sainthood. The Tablet, 25 February 2026.

(https://www.thetablet.co.uk/inspire/our-man-in-rome-newman-from-school-t...)