Faculty

Introduction to Ecumenical Christian Ethics (2008-2010)

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.

Survey of the Catholic Tradition (2008-2012)

Dr. Peter De Mey, Catholic University in Leuven (Belgium)

Peter De Mey is full Professor of Roman-Catholic ecclesiology and ecumenism at the Research Unit Systematic Theology, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven.

Peter De Mey is the founding chair of the Vatican II Studies group (2012-2016) of the American Academy of Religion. During 2004-2010, he was secretary and then president of Societas Oecumenica, the European Society for Ecumenical Research. He is also a member of the Board of the Ecclesiological Investigations Network and member of the Peter & Paul Seminar, an international network of Roman-Catholic ecclesiologists and canonists. Since 2005 he is a member of the Board of the National Commission for Ecumenism (and its president since 2010) and co-president of the Dialogue Commission with the United Protestant Church in Belgium. In 2010 the Vatican nominated him as a member of the international Catholic-Reformed theological dialogue. He is a member of the Board of Tijdschrift voor Theologie, Collationes and Exchange.

Survey of the Protestant Tradition

Dr. Ted Allen Campbell, Southern Methodist University (Dallas, USA)

Associate Professor of Church History,Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas

Trustee, International Foundation for Ewha Woman's University; president of the Charles Wesley Society (1999-2003); delegate to the Faith and Order Commission of the National Council of Churches in the USA (1992-2002); an ordained elder of the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Teaching Specialties: Methodist history, doctrine, and polity; History of Christianity; History of Christian doctrine and theology; Ecumenical Christian doctrine.

Christian History – an Ecumenical Perspective

Dr. Antoine Arjakovsky, College des Bernardins (Paris, France)

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.

Dr. Arjakovsky was a founder 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'.

Currently Dr. Arjakovsky is a Director of Research at the College des Bernardins in Paris.

Opposition to Ecumenism

Father Michael Plekon, Ph.D., Baruch College (New York, USA)

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.

Bi-Lateral and Multi-Lateral Ecumenical Dialogues

Rev. Thomas A. Baima, Ph.D., University of St. Mary of the Lakes/Mundelein Seminary (Mundelein, USA)

The Very Rev. Thomas A. Baima is the Vicar for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the Archdiocese of Chicago and Vice Rector for Academic Affairs 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), and editor of What is a Parish? Canonical, Theological and Pastoral Perspectives (Hillenbrand, 2011) and A Legacy of Catholic-Jewish Dialogue: the Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Jerusalem Lectures (LTP, 2012). 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. Father Baima was President of the Illinois Conference of Churches and the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago. He was one of the organizers 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 was appointed by the Holy See to the Assyrian-Catholic Consultation. He holds a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome.

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.

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.

Father Iwan is an active member of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church for many years. He is a president of the Institute of Ecumenical Studies and he organizes number of ecumenical conferences and academic events every year.

Survey of the Eastern Christian Tradition

Elizabeth Theokritof, Ph.D. (USA) (2008-2014)

Elizabeth Theokritoff completed a doctoral thesis in liturgical theology at Oxford under the supervision of Bishop Kallistos Ware; she subsequently served for 7 years as Secretary of the Anglican-Orthodox Fellowship of St Alban and St Sergius in London, during which time when was seconded to the Ecumenical Institute of the WCC (Bossey) as Orthodox tutor for the 1988-89 Graduate School. She is an independent scholar, freelance translator of theological works from modern Greek and occasional lecturer (including at the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge).

She is co-editor of the Cambridge Companion to Orthodox Christian Theology (Cambridge, 2008), and author of Living in God’s Creation: Orthodox Perspectives on Ecology (St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2009), as well as numerous articles.

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.

Ecumenical Theology (2008)

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.

History of the Ecumenical Movement (2009-2010)

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).

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.

Ecumenical Biblical Hermeneutics

Halyna Teslyuk, Ukrainian Catholic University (Lviv, Ukraine)

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Philosophy and Theology at the Ukrainian Catholic University and the Holy Spirit Seminary

S. T.B. Lviv Theological Academy (Lviv, Ukraine),

S.S.L. Pontifical Biblical Institute (Rome, Italy),

PhD candidate, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California.

Courses: Pentateuch and Histories, Wisdom Literature and Psalms, Old Testament Prophets, Prayer in the Bible.

Methods in Ecumenical Dialogue

Father Laurent Cleenewerck, D.Sc.,M.E.S, St Sergius Licentiate (California, USA)

Father Laurent Cleenewerckis a professor of Theology and International Administration for EUCLID (PoleUniversitaireEuclide), one of world’s 5 regional / international institutions of higher learning. He is also serving as extension faculty member at Humboldt State University (Arcata, California) and as academic advisor for the St Gregory Nazianzen Orthodox Institute (Guatemala and Puerto Rico). He is interested in multidisciplinary studies (theology, physics, economics, and international affairs) as well as inter-religious dialogue.

He received his education at the University of Montpellier, Saint SergiusInstituteof Paris, St Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary of Pennsylvania, Ukrainian Catholic University and Universidad Rural de Guatemala. Among his publications are His Broken Body (EUC Press, 2007), The Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bible – New Testament (2011), and articles published in the Journal of Ecumenical Studies and Journal of Health and Religion. He was ordained in 2004 by the late Archbishop Vsevolod of Scopelos (Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA in the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople) and currently serves as Acting Rector of St Innocent’s Orthodox Church of Eureka in the Orthodox Church in America.

Introduction to Ecumenical Christian Ethics (2014-2016)

Dr. Kiyoshi Seko

Reserach Fellow, Shinsei Catholic Centre, Tokyo, Japan

Editor-in-Chief, Asian Christian Review

STD in Ecumenical Theology, STL (Pontifical Univ. of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome, Italy)

MA in Theology (Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Berkeley, USA)

BA (International Christian Univ., Tokyo, Japan)

Survey of the Catholic Tradition

Rev. Dr. John Berry (Malta)

Lecturer in Roman-Catholic Ecclesiology, Ecumenism and Fundamental Theology at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Malta and the Pastoral Formation Institute in Malta.

He is also a guest lecturer at the Ukrainian Catholic University, in Lviv, where at he teaches courses on “The Return to the Holy Fathers in Roman Catholic Theology”, “Nouvelle Théologie and Twentieth Century Theology” as well as “Introduction to Fundamental Theology”.

In his licentiates and doctoral studies, he has studied the theologies of Hans Urs von Balthasar, Joseph Ratzinger and Yves Congar O.P. under the supervision of Professors John O’Donnell sj and William Henn Ofm Cap.

He is co-Editor of Melita Theologica, the Faculty of Theology’s peer reviewed academic journal; Censor theologus of the Archdiocese of Malta; Member, Interdiocesan Theological Commission of the Archdiocese of Malta; General Secretary, Commission for Interreligious Dialogue of the Archdiocese of Malta; Vice-President, European Society for Catholic Theology, Maltese Branch; Revisor of the new Maltese edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Member of the scientific council of The Person and the Challenges, an academic journal of Theology issued by the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow, Poland and Chairperson, Library Committee, Seminary/Foundation for Theological Studies Library, Rabat, Malta, since 2014.

Berry is a member of Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain, the European Society for Catholic Theology, Società Italiana per la Ricerca Teologica and Societas Oecumenica.

He has just co-edited the proceedings of a European conference on the Family: “Between Two Synods – Journeying Together” and is currently working on the publication of “Religions in Malta: A Practical Handbook for Professionals”.

Ecumenical Theology

Dr Joshua T. Searle, Spurgeon's College, London

He is a British Baptist who studied History (BA/MA) at Oxford University and Theology (MTh) at the International Baptist Theological Seminary, Prague. He gained a PhD from Trinity College Dublin. Joshua has lived for extended spells in the Czech Republic and Germany. He and his wife have also worked as a missionaries in Donetsk, Ukraine, where Joshua served as Dean for Global Relations at Donetsk Christian University until 2013.

As a committed ecumenist, Joshua is passionate about promoting unity and koinonia between Christians of diverse backgrounds and convictions. The strategic objective of his teaching is to develop creative and culturally sensitive ways of communicating the Good News of Jesus Christ into the public sphere toward the renewal of civil society. He has a wide range of academic interests, including ecumenical theology, Germanic and Slavic languages, critical theory, millennial studies and the social theology of evangelical Christians.

He is author of Scarlet Woman and the Red Hand: Evangelical Apocalyptic Belief in the Northern Ireland Troubles (2014), and Church Without Walls: Baptists after the Ukrainian Revolution (2015); and is co-author (with Dr Mykhailo Cherenkov) of A Future and a Hope: Mission, Theological Education, and the Transformation of Post-Soviet Society, and co-editor (with Prof. K.G.C. Newport) of Beyond the End: The Future of Millennial Studies (2012).

He is committed to the future of a free, open and democratic Ukraine and to the vision of Ukrainian Catholic University to form leaders to serve with professional excellence in Ukraine and internationally – for the glory of God, the common good, and the dignity of the human person.

Survey of the Eastern Christian Tradition

Dr. Deacon Nicholas Denysenko, the Huffington Ecumenical Institute at Loyola Marymount University (USA)

Nicholas Denysenko, Ph.D. is associate professor of Theological Studies and Director of the Huffington Ecumenical Institute at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Dr. Denysenko has published extensively on Byzantine liturgical history, sacramental theology, contemporary pastoral theology, and religion in Ukraine. He is the author of two books on the liturgy: The Blessing of Waters and Epiphany (Ashgate, 2012) and Chrismation: A Primer for Catholics (Liturgical Press, 2014).

Dr. Denysenko is currently completing a study of contemporary Orthodox architecture in America, and a monograph devoted to liturgical reform in the Orthodox Church (forthcoming with Fortress Press). The son of immigrants from Ukraine, Denysenko researches the history and theology of the Churches in Ukraine. Dr. Denysenko was ordained a deacon in the Orthodox Church in America in 2003 and is currently assigned to St. Innocent parish in Tarzana, California

Education: - Ph.D., Catholic University of America; - M.Div., St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary; - B.A., University of Minnesota

Introduction to Ecumenical Christian Ethics (2016-)

Fr. Dr. Roman Fihas

Coordinator of the Distance Learning Master's Program in Ecumenical Studies at the Ukrainian Catholic University (Lviv, Ukraine) since 2008.

STD in Eastern Theology (Pontifical Oriantal Institute, Rome, Italy),

STL in Dogmatic Theology (Pontifical Gregorian Univeristy, Rome, Italy),

MA in Theology (Lviv Seminary of the Holy Spirit, Ukraine),

He is an ordained priest of the Ukrainian Ggreek-Catholic Church and completes his ministry as a chaplain at the Ukrainian Catholic University.