Dr Katherine Chambers

BA (Hons), M.Phil, Ph.D.
Senior Research Fellow in Medieval Philosophy

Email: katherine.chambers@nd.edu.au

  • Biography

    Katherine is a research fellow in the Centre for the History of Philosophy. She received her Ph.D. and M.Phil from the University of Cambridge and her BA from the University of Sydney. She has taught at universities in the U.K. (University of Southampton and University of Winchester) and in Australia (University of New England).
    Katherine's research focuses on religion, ethics and metaethics in Late Antiquity and the Latin Middle Ages, with a special interest in Augustine of Hippo (354-430CE), his place in the eudaemonist and natural law traditions, and the reception of his ideas in the Middle Ages. She has written two books on Augustine: Augustine on the Nature of Virtue and Sin (Cambridge, 2023) and Augustine and the Natural Law (Cambridge, 2026).

  • Teaching areas

    Moral Philosophy / Ethics
    Social and Political Philosophy
    History of Christianity
    Religion in the ancient and medieval worlds

  • Research expertise and supervision

    History of moral philosophy / ethics
    History of European political thought
    Ancient and medieval Christianity
    Augustine of Hippo
    Ancient and medieval philosophy

  • Books

    • Augustine and the Natural Law (Cambridge University Press, 2026). ISBN: 9781009677684
    • Augustine on the Nature of Virtue and Sin (Cambridge University Press, 2023). ISBN: 9781009383783

  • Book chapters

    • Entry on ‘Augustine of Hippo’ for the Encyclopaedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (Springer, 2020).

  • Journal articles and proceedings

    • ‘Is the love of domination a political vice? Augustine’s political thought considered in the light of his moral thought.’  The proceedings of the conference St. Augustine’s De Civitate Dei, Leuven (Belgium), forthcoming in the Brill series Augustinus. Werk und Wirkung, edited by Professors Volker Drecoll and Johannes Brachtendorf
    • ‘Augustine on Justice: a reconsideration of City of God, Book 19,’ Political Theology, 19 (2018): 382-396 (Available at https://doi.org/10.1080/1462317X.2018.1438781)
    • ‘The meaning of good works in Augustine’s anti-Pelagian writings’, Studia Patristica, 98 (2017): 409-430
    • “When we do nothing wrong, we are peers”: Peter the Chanter and twelfth-century political thought’, Speculum 88.2 (2013): 405-426.  (Speculum is the journal of the Medieval Academy of America). https://doi.org/10.1017/S0038713413000869
    • ‘Slavery and domination as political ideas in Augustine’s City of God,’ Heythrop Journal 54.1 (2010): 13-28

  • Conference papers

    • Augustine and the Natural Law’ Up-coming Public Lecture (6 August, 2026), Research Seminar Series, Centre for the History of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame Australia.
    • ‘What can Stoicism contribute to Modern Ethical Naturalism?’ University of NSW History of Philosophy Workshop, 3 November 2025.
    • ‘Converting to Christianity in Late Antiquity: What we can learn from Augustine of Hippo.’ Asia-Pacific Early Christian Studies Society Conference, 25-27 September 2025.
    • ‘Augustine of Hippo.’ Symposium ‘Ancient Answers to Modern Questions’ at Alphacrucis University College, 15-16 August 2025.
    • ‘Augustine and the Natural Law.’ North American Patristic Society Conference, Chicago, 22-24 May 2025.
    • Dick Franklin Memorial Lecture, University of New England, Armidale. 26 November 2024. (Lecture commemorating Professor Richard L ‘Dick’ Franklin (1925-2015), philosopher at UNE).
    • ‘Augustine and eudaimonia.’ Australian Catholic University, New Trajectories Symposium, 20-22 April 2022.
    • ‘Is the love of domination a political vice? Augustine’s political thought considered in the light of his moral thought.’ International Colloquium, Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven, Belgium, 26-28 January 2022.

  • Professional affiliations

    • North American Patristics Society
    • Australian Association for the Study of Religion
    • International Association of Patristics Studies