Rev. Matthew J. Pereira, Ph.D.

Introduction                                                                                                                              

Rev. Dr. Matthew J. Pereira (B.A., University of Washington; M.Div., Fuller Theological Seminary; S.T.M., Union Theological Seminary; M.Phil., Ph.D., Columbia University) is a Teaching Associate Professor in the Department of History at Oklahoma State University, where he primarily teaches courses in the Religious Studies program. In 2025, he received the College of Arts and Sciences Excellence in General Education Teaching Award, recognizing his commitment to innovative and impactful undergraduate teaching. Prior to joining Oklahoma State University in the fall of 2019, Dr. Pereira served as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles, CA) from 2013 to 2019.

Research Interests                                                                                                                      

Dr. Pereira is a historian of Christianity specializing in the period from the fourth through the seventh centuries (Late Antiquity). His research focuses on the reception and interpretation of Christian traditions during this formative era. He is currently completing a manuscript that offers a historical and textual analysis of the writings of Abbot Maxentius and the Scythian monks, produced in the first half of the sixth century. More broadly, Dr. Pereira’s scholarship examines major theological debates across both the Latin (Western) and Greek (Eastern) Christian traditions. His published work engages a wide range of figures in the history of Christian thought, including Origen of Alexandria (185–253), Augustine of Hippo (354–436), Prosper of Aquitaine (390–455), Cyril of Alexandria (ca. 376–444), Faustus of Riez (ca. 410–ca. 490), Niketas Stethatos (ca. 1005–1090), John Calvin (1509–1564), and Michael Servetus (d. 1553).

Recent Publications                                                                                                     

“Pelagianism in the Sixth to Eighth Centuries,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Pelagian Controversy, eds. Anthony Dupont, Giulio Malavasi, and Brian Matz (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025), 473–486.

Book Review of Ionuț Holubeanu, Christianity in Roman Scythia: Ecclesiastical Organization and Monasticism (Fourth to Seventh Centuries), East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450–1450, vol. 90, in Religious Studies Review 51.1 (March 2025): 172–173.

Book Review of Miguel Escobar, The Unjust Steward: Wealth, Poverty, and the Church Today, in Religious Studies Review 50.3 (September 2024): 613–614

Works Under Peer Review                                                                                                              

Journal article titled: “Roma locuta, causa finita: Hormisdas and the Scythian Monks”

Works In Progress

Monograph titled Frontier Theologians: The Scythian Monks and the Reshaping of the Christian Tradition.

The Eastern Mystical Tradition: Festschrift in Honor of John Anthony McGuckin, editor.

Service and Outreach                                                                                                                                                          

Dr. Pereira currently serves as Vice President and Scholarship Chair of the Hispanic Latino Faculty and Staff Association (HLFSA) at Oklahoma State University. He is also the founder of the Religious Studies Student Organization, where he continues to serve as co-faculty advisor. Ordained in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in 2016, Dr. Pereira is currently a Teaching Elder in the Cimarron Presbytery (Oklahoma). He, his wife Malú, and their wonderful daugther Julieta are grateful to be part of the beloved community at First Presbyterian Church in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Over the years, Dr. Pereira has regularly preached and taught adult education courses in churches in Seattle, New York City, Los Angeles, and now Oklahoma where he has provided pulpit supply at PCUSA churches in Enid, Guthrie, Perry and Stillwater.