I am a historian of early modern and modern Europe, serving as Professor of History at Christendom College in Front Royal, Va. My work explores past and present Christian cultures, including the challenges of living in modernity. I am presently focusing on the history, theology, and culture of the Anglican patrimony, especially in relation to the Ordinariates in the Catholic Church. Much of my earlier work, including my book Callings and Consequences, has examined historical cultures of vocation, especially with respect to Catholics’ choices of states of life (marriage, the clerical state, or religious vows). I am a layman of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter and a Benedictine Oblate of the St. Benet Biscop Chapter of St. John’s Abbey. I am overjoyed to be the husband of Dixie Dillon Lane and the father of our wonderful kids.

Highlights

Here are a few highlights of my work. (Feel free to browse the menus above for more.)

Book

Callings and Consequences: The Making of Catholic Vocational Culture in Early Modern France

Christopher J. Lane

McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal & Kingston, 2021

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Essays

Discovering a New Newman Letter in an Undergraduate Seminar

Christopher John Lane

Newman Review, National Institute for Newman Studies, 2026 Mar 4

Read

Limitless Wishing and its Discontents

Christopher J. Lane

Front Porch Republic, 2024 Apr 29

Read at FPR

Counsels vs. Commands in Vocational Discernment

Christopher J. Lane

Homiletic & Pastoral Review, 2024 Mar 30

Read at HPR

Recorded Talks

Newman, Anglo-Catholicism, and the Anglican Patrimony

Christopher J. Lane

St. John Henry Newman Lecture Series, Christendom College, Front Royal, Va., 2019 Oct 31

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Peer-reviewed articles and book chapters

Vocational Culture in the Anglican Patrimony and the Ordinariates: Toward a Ressourcement

Christopher J. Lane

Lux Veritatis: A Journal of Speculative Theology, vol. 2(1), 2025, pp. 134–164

Open Access (free download)

Rigorism and Clericalism in the Vocational Discernment Culture of the Nineteenth-Century Catholic Revival

Christopher J. Lane

The Catholic Historical Review, vol. 109(4), 2023, pp. 659⁠–⁠684

DOI

Newman and a Historian’s Craft

Christopher J. Lane

Juan R. Vélez, A Guide to John Henry Newman: His Life and Thought, chapter 10, The Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C., 2022, pp. 157–⁠173

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