Faculty

Survey of the Eastern Christian Tradition
Dr. Tamara Grdzelidze
World Council of Churches (Geneva, Switzerland)

Dr. Tamara Grdzelidze currently serves as Executive Secretary for Faith and Order at the World Council of Churches. She holds a Ph.D. in Georgian Philology from Tbilisi State University (1984), a Ph.D. in Theology from the University of Oxford (1998), and an honorary doctorate in Theology from the University of Bern (2007). She was also educated at Ripon College Cuddesdon, Oxford, UK and at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, New York, USA.
Dr. Grdzelidze has taught at the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey (Geneva, Switzerland), at Mount Holyoke College (MA, USA), and did research at Shota Rustaveli Institute of Georgian Literature (Tbilisi, Georgia). She had edited and contributed to several books on Orthodox and Ecumenical Theology, and has written multiple articles in the English and the Georgian languages.

Ecumenical Theology
Rev. Dr. Dagmar Heller, Ecumenical Institute at Bossey (Switzerland)

Rev. Dr Dagmar Heller studied Protestant theology at the church faculty of Bethel, and at the universities of Göttingen and Heidelberg from 1980-1985. In 1988/89 she finished her doctoral studies at the university of Heidelberg in the field of church history with a dissertation on "The interpretation of Scripture and spiritual experience in the works of Bernhard of Clairvaux". In 1990 she was ordained in the Protestant Church of Baden in Germany and served as a pastor in several parishes in the Black Forest area. From 1993-2000 she was an executive secretary for the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches in Geneva/Switzerland. From 2001-2007 she was an executive secretary for ecumenical relations and for the relations with Orthodox Churches of the Evangelical Church in Germany. Since April 2007 she is teaching Ecumenical Theology at the Ecumenical Institute Bossey/Switzerland, which belongs to the World Council of Churches and is in association with the University of Geneva and serves at the same time as dean for academic affairs.

Survey of Contemporary Contextual Theology
Father Jacques Haers, SJ

Fr. Jacques Haers SJ (°1956) is a professor of systematic theology at the Faculty of Theology, K.U.Leuven, Belgium, and also teaches at the Brussels Pastoral Institute "Lumen Vitae". He chairs the Centre for Liberation Theologies in Leuven and until last year he was co-director of an advanced transdisciplinary master programme for conflict and sustainable peace. He holds degrees in mathematics (K.U.Leuven) and philosophy (Hochschule für Philosophie, München, Germany) and obtained his DPhil in theology in Oxford, UK, on the creation theology of Origen. His research interests concern: relational theology, conflict and sustainable peace studies, contextual and liberation theologies, heuristic approaches to theology, creation theology. He has also published on pedagogy and spirituality.

Christian History – an Ecumenical Perspective
Dr. Antoine Arjakovsky, Institute of Ecumenical Studies (Lviv, Ukraine)

Dr. Antoine Arjakovsky received a Master's degree from the Sorbonne and a Doctorate from Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Science Sociales (EHESS) in Paris, France. He is the author of several scholarly books and has written numerous articles on the subjects of theology and ecumenism. He is also a member of various editorial boards.
Dr. Arjakovsky is the recipient of awards from leading European universities for his published works and has been recognized for his administrative endeavors. He is considered one of the leading young Christian theologians in the world.
Currently, Dr. Arjakovsky is a professor of theology and Director of the Institute of Ecumenical Studies at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv. Having served for several years as a French diplomat, both in Moscow and in Kyiv, his life is now directed towards ecumenism - healing the
divisions in the Church. The journal "Inside the Vatican" selected Prof. Arjakovsky as one of the 'Top Ten People of 2005'.

History of the Ecumenical Movement
Dr. Erich Geldbach (Germany)

Erich Geldbach received his doctorate (Dr. theol.) in Protestant Theology from Philipps University in Marburg (1969). He has taught church history and ecumenical studies at his alma mater, was a visiting scholar at Harvard Divinity School, and taught as a visiting professor at Eastern Baptist
Seminary in Philadelphia (USA), Whitney College in Melbourne (Australia), and several universities in South Africa. From 1997 to 2004 he was full
professor of ecumenical studies at Ruhr University Bochum (Germany). From 1981 to 1997 he was a full-time consultant at the Center for Ecumenical Studies in Bensheim (Germany). Today, Dr. Geldbach is retired, but continues his teaching and research activity in cooperation with several institutions, including the Institute of Ecumenical Studies. He is the author or editor of 17 books and many articles in both German and English on ecumenical issues.
A bibliography of Dr. Geldbach’s writings can be found on pp. 549-560 in a Festschrift in his honor entitled, " Communion of Churches and Social Responsibility. The Dignity of the Other and the Right to Think Differently” (edited by Lena Lybaek, Konrad Raiser, and Stefanie Schardien; Münster: LIT Verlag 2004).

Introduction to Ecumenical Christian Ethics
Reverend Dr. Konrad Raiser, Former secretary general of the WCC (Berlin, Germany)

Reverend Dr. Konrad Raiser studied Protestant theology in Tübingen, Heidelberg and Zürich from 1957-63. In 1965-66, he studied sociology and social psychology at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA). From 1967-69, he was assistant in Practical Theology at the Protestant Theological Faculty in Tübingen (Germany). He earned a doctorate in theology in 1970 from the same faculty in Tübingen. In 1969, he joined the staff of the World Council of Churches in Geneva (Switzerland), first in the Commission on Faith and Order and then as Deputy General Secretary and Staff Moderator of the Unit on Justice and Service. From October 1983 to February 1993, he was Professor of Systematic Theology/Ecumenics at the Protestant Theological Faculty of the University of the Ruhr in Bochum (Germany). He assumed leadership of the WCC as General Secretary in January 1993 and retired from this office in December 2003. Since 2004 he lives in retirement in Berlin, Germany. Dr. Raiser is the author of seven books, including Ecumenism in Transition, 1991, To Be the Church, 1997, and For a Culture of Life, 2002.

Ecumenical Ecclesiology
Father Emmanuel Clapsis, Ph.D., Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology

Father Clapsis is Professor of Systematic Theology at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. He received his Ph.D. from Union Theological Seminary in New York, and has taught at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology since 1985. His main academic interests include Ecclesiology, Ecumenism, the public presence and witness of Orthodoxy in pluralistic world, Globalization and Religion, Pneumatology, Anthropology, Suffering and Hope, Spiritual life and Prophetic witness. His theological interests are reflected in his published books: Orthodoxy in the New World (Thessaloniki: Pournaras); Orthodoxy in Conversation: Orthodox Ecumenical Engagements (Holy Cross Press/WCC Publications, 20000 and the books that he edited: The Orthodox Churches in a Pluralistic World (WCC Publications, 2004) and Violence and Christian Spirituality (WCC Publications, 2007). He has published numerous articles, some of which have been translated in French, German, Russian, and Italian and Greek.
Fr. Clapsis has served as the Vice Moderator of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches (1991-1998) and commissioner of the Faith and Order Commission of the U.S. National Council of Churches (1985-1991). He has also participated in the theological dialogues of Orthodox Church with the Evangelical Lutheran Church (USA) and the Roman Catholic Church. The Ecumenical Patriarchate has appointed him in his formal delegation to the Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Assemblies of WCC in Canberra, Australia (1991), in Harare Zimbabwe (1998) and Porto Alegre, Brazil (2205). Currently, he is a member of the Reference Group that informs and accompanies the work of the World Council of Churches during the Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV: 2001-2010).

Orthodox and Catholic Opposition to Ecumenism
Father Michael Plekon, Ph.D., Baruch College (New York, New York)

Father Michael Plekon is a professor in the department of Sociology/Anthropology and the Program in Religion & Culture at Baruch College, one of the undergraduate schools of the City Universit of New York (CUNY). He has taught there since 1977. He has written extensively on Kierkegaard's theology and social criticism, on the thinkers of the Russian emigration in Paris and their effort to bring the church into conversation with the modern world. He has also translated and edited many of their writings. Among his publications are Living Icons (UND Press, 2002), edited & translated anthologies: Tradition Alive (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), Discerning the Signs of the Times: The Theological Vision of Elisabeth Behr-Sigel , In the World, Of the Church: A Paul Evdokimov Reader, and Paul Evdokimov's Ages of the Spiritual Life (all SVS Press, 2001, 2001, 1998). Most recently he edited Nicolas Afanasiev's The Church of the Holy Spirit, trans. Vitaly Permiakov (UND Press, 2007) and is editing/translating Antoine Arjakovsky's study of the Paris theologians and Olga Lossky's biography of Elisabeth Behr-Sigel. He is a priest of the Orthodox Church in America.

Liturgy and Sacraments
Father Thaddée Barnas
Chevetogne Monastery (Chevetogne, Belgium)

Father Thaddée Barnas is a monk of the Benedictine Monastery of Chevetogne, in Belgium. He was born Andrew Joseph Barnas in 1944, and came to Belgium in 1964 to join the Chevetogne Monastery, known for its ecumenical work and its affinity for the Eastern Churches. Father Barnas teaches ecumenics at the Studium Notre-Dame at Namur, Belgium.

He is also chronicler and editorial secretary of the journal Irénikon. He is active in ecumenical commissions on local, national, and European levels.

Bilateral and Multilateral Dialogues
Father Thomas A. Baima, Ph.D.
University of St. Mary of the Lakes/Mundelein Seminary
(Mundelein, Illinois)

Father Thomas A. Baima is a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago (Latin Rite) and provost of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake / Mundelein Seminary, where he is also a full professor of systematic theology. He is the author of The Concordat of Agreement Between the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: Lessons on the Way Toward Full Communion (Edwin Mellen Press, 2003) and co-author of Understanding Four Views on the Lord’s Supper (Zondervan, 2007). He has contributed chapters to four other books as well as articles to a number of journals. Father Baima teaches in the areas of ecclesiology, ecumenism, interreligious dialogue and mission. His research interests are in fundamental theology, interreligious dialogue, organizational studies as they apply to North American religion, theology of religion and contemporary Lutheran ecumenism. Prior to coming to Mundelein, Father Baima was Ecumenical Officer of the Archdiocese of Chicago and President of the Illinois Conference of Churches. He was one of the organizers of the 1993 Parliament of the World’s Religions. He currently serves the US Bishops’ Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs as a member of the National Catholic-Muslim Consultation. Father Baima holds a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome. Most recently, Father Baima has been appointed by the Holy See to the Assyrian-Catholic Consultation.

Rev. Heleen Zorgdrager, Ph.D.
Kerk in Actie (Utrecht, Netherlands)

Reverend Dr. Heleen Zorgdrager obtained her Ph.D. (cum laude) in 2003 at the Theological University of Kampen. She works in the Mission Department (Kerk in Actie) of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands as Program Officer for Europe, and is also a Delegated Lecturer at Ukrainian Catholic University (Lviv).She is currently conducting the program “Protestantism and Orthodoxy: meet the Neighbour” in the Mission Department of the PCN.
Dr. Zorgrdager is an ordained pastor in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. She served as student’s chaplain in Leiden University and as local minister in the Reformed Church in Leersum, and today is involved in coaching and supervising young pastors in the PCN.
Dr. Zorgdrager’s areas of specialization include Protestant systematic theology, ecumenical theology, theology of mission and pastoral theology. She published on Friedrich Schleiermacher, Karl Barth, women’s studies, and ecumenical issues.

Ecumenical Hagiology
Deacon Didier Rance (Nancy, France)

Didier Rance was born in 1947. Since 1985 he has been Deacon in both the Latin and the Byzantine rites. He studied History in Sorbonne University (Paris), and holds a Master's degree in Medieval History. His main area of research has been Byzantine History.
Deacon Rance has spent ten years in Middle East and Africa for Humanitarian work. He worked with ACN (Aid to the Church in Need) and Director ACN-France (1980-2005), and has been a member of the New Martyrs Commission in Rome (1995-2000).
Deacon Rance is the author of about twenty books, mainly on martyrs and persecuted Churches. His current fields of research are: martyrdom, Forgiveness, St. Ephrem and the Syrian Churches, Ecumenism.

Eastern Catholic Churches and Ecumenism
Father Iwan Dacko, Ph.D., Institute of Ecumenical Studies (Lviv, Ukraine)

Father Iwan Dacko received his Doctorate in Theology from the University of Innsbruck (1974). After his ordination to the priesthood in 1971 by Cardinal Joseph Slipyj, Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (in exile), he served as secretary to the Cardinal from 1976 to 1984. In 1995 he was ordained a Mitred Protopresbyter by Cardinal Myroslav Lubachivsky, who succeeded Slipyj, and served as Cardinal Lubachivsky’s secretary in 1984-1985.

Between 1974 and 1985 Father Dacko taught at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Rome.