We invite members to share their current interests and areas of study with other members through a brief, 250 word paragraph, enabling us to get to know about each other’s work and facilitating connections. Please send submissions to OTSA Secretary Helen at secretary@otsamerica.org or helen60076@yahoo.com
Rev Dr Robert Arida
I am the retired dean of Holy Trinity Cathedral (OCA) in Boston, Massachusetts and an independent scholar. During my almost 40 year tenure at the Cathedral, I have been the guest preacher at Harvard’s Memorial Church and Appelton Chapel as well as other distinguished pulpits. I have guest lectured on the Orthodox Church, the Orthodox Church in America, and on Russian religious thought at academic institutions throughout the Boston area and abroad. My articles and essays in the fields of biblical studies church history, liturgical theology, as well as Orthodox theology and life have appeared in various print and online publications. In celebration of my retirement, Holy Trinity Cathedral published a book of my sermons, What Does This Mean For Us? Currently, I am a participant in the Abrahamic Contemplative Traditions, Differential Diagnosis at the intersection of Spirituality and Clinical Practice coordinated by Brown University’s Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory.
Rev Dr Bogdan Bucur
I was born in Romania, studied Orthodox Theology at the University of Bucharest (1994-1999), and went on to earn my MA (2002) and PhD (2007) in Religious Studies at Marquette University under the direction of (now Archbishop) Alexander Golitzin. Between 2007 and 2020 I was Assistant and then Associate Professor of Theology at Duquesne University, in Pittsburgh, focusing on the Reception History of the Bible. In 2020 I moved to St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, where I am Associate Theology of Patristics. Within the broad field of Patristics / Early Christian Studies, I have a special interest in the Jewish apocalyptic roots of early Christology and Pneumatology, as well as in the link between reception history of the Bible and doctrinal developments in early Christianity and the Byzantine tradition. I am the author of two books—Angelomorphic Pneumatology: Clement of Alexandria and Other Early Christian Witnesses (Brill, 2009) and Scripture Re-envisioned: Christophanic Exegesis and the Making of a Christian Bible (Brill, 2018) —and several articles in the areas of biblical reception history and Patristics. I am married to Cristina and father to Irina, Andrei, and Miruna, and serve as a priest in the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America.
Mark Chenoweth
While finalizing my dissertation on the question of universal salvation in Maximus the Confessor at the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies under Dr. Paul Blowers and Dr. Christoph Schneider, I am also teaching as an adjunct professor of theology at St. John's University in Queens, New York. I have published journal articles on Maximus the Confessor in dialogue with modern evolutionary theory, and Origen's interpretation of violence in the book of Joshua. Before starting my Ph.D., I received an M.Div. and Th.M. from St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary and wrote two theses under Dr. Peter Bouteneff. In addition to completing my Ph.D. and teaching as an adjunct at St. John's University, I also teach beginner to advanced drum lessons and beginner piano and guitar lessons at a local music school. While at first glance, being an adjunct theology professor and a music instructor seem like two separate careers, I see introducing younger generations to theology and young musicians to music from John Coltrane to Dream Theater as part of a larger project of helping young people discover the Beauty that, as Dostoevsky says, will save the world.
Rachel Contos
I am a PhD student at Fordham University. My theological interests lie primarily in theosis, virtue ethics,and systems change. Specifically, I focus on intersectionality, or the way that intersecting identities interact with overlapping systems of oppression. I am interested in the ways that Orthodox spirituality and ethics, as well as activist practice, can provide powerful ethical frameworks to work communally to dismantle systems of oppression, work toward a shared vision of liberation, and create more inclusive Orthodox churches. Additionally, I am interested in the ways that Orthodox parachurch organizations can be sites of Orthodox spirituality, advocacy, and leadership. I have had the opportunity to lead several small Orthodox organizations in thinking through their ethos, culture, and strategic planning by reflecting on the rich theological resources within the Orthodox Church. My research also focuses on Orthodox women’s spirituality, needs, and work. I am specifically interested in using ethnographic methods to hear directly from women about their theological frameworks, wisdom, trauma, and healing. My current ethnographic research focuses on Orthodox women who have experienced sexual assault and their theological frameworks.
Dr Chris Durante
I am an Associate Professor of Theology at Saint Peter’s University in New Jersey. My primary research and teaching interests are in Religion, Ethics, Science & Society broadly construed to include: Political & Moral Theology; Ecumenical & Interfaith Dialogue; Ecological Theology and Environmental & Bio-medical Ethics. I am also a longstanding Fellow of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics & Human Rights in Rome, Italy, where I am primarily involved with the Bioethics, Multiculturalism & Religion project that provides a forum for interfaith and intercultural dialogue and collaboration on bioethical issues. From 2021-2022, I was also a Fellow of the New Visions in Theological Anthropology (NVITA) project of the School of Divinity at St. Andrews University under the auspices of the Science-Engaged Theology (SET) initiative of the John Templeton Foundation, where my project focused on developing an Orthodox Christian science-engaged ecological theology and corresponding ethics. I have been involved with the Greening of the Orthodox Parish initiative of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the Toward Green Democracy and against Energy Poverty initiative of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies in Greece as well as the Integral Ecology project of the Carmelite NGO. And, I have also had the honor of serving as an invited speaker at Halki Summit V, hosted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, that seeks to advance cooperation amongst the world’s faiths to address environmental issues. In addition to my scholarly publications, much of my publicly facing scholarship on Orthodox Christianity may be found at: https://publicorthodoxy.org/author/chris-durante/
Courtney Haubert
I am a student at Harvard Divinity School, working toward a Master of Theological Studies and a certificate in Religion and Public Life. My research utilizes the analytical lenses of both religious studies and theology to study the global Orthodox Church and its interreligious encounters. I am particularly interested in religion and politics in the Balkans and MENA region, post/decolonial theology, religious radicalism, religious education, the 20th century Russian Religious Renaissance, and theological phenomenology. One of my current research projects, to be presented at the 2024 AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, seeks to de-essentialize Orthodox Christian identity by discussing Florovsky’s neo-patristic synthesis as a critical response to Western European Orientalism and Russian Slavophilia. Partnering with the Interfaith Center of New York and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, I am also developing a workshop for Orthodox seminarians aimed to improve religious literacy in catechesis and address religious radicalization from the perspective of pastoral care. I hope to continue this research in a doctoral program after my graduation in 2025.
Rev Oliver Herbel
I am a USAF chaplain serving full time through the North Dakota Air National Guard, where I am currently the Wing Chaplain for the 119thWing in Fargo, North Dakota, and a part-time EMT for Polk County Emergency Services in Fertile, Minnesota. I have ministered to service members involved in combat operations for over 11 years, been deployed, and recently oversaw the Strategic Religious Engagement line of effort for U.S. Pacific Air Forces. My most recent publications include an article surveying the role of chaplaincy in response to service member help avoidance and Faith and Justice in War (UK Naval & Military Bible Society). I am currently finalizing a curriculum (for the National Guard Bureau) based on that book’s material, leveraging the Just War Tradition toward moral injury mitigation. Additionally, Sarapion of Thmuis: Against the Manichaeans and Pastoral Letters (Sydney College of Divinity) entered its second edition this year. I authored Turning to Tradition: Converts and the Making of an American Orthodox Church (Oxford). Although I remain interested in American Orthodoxy, I am currently working projects in three areas of interest: U.S. military chaplaincy and religious diplomacy, early Egyptian Christianity, and Photios and the filioque dispute. My most challenging forthcoming project, however, remains my intent to supercharge my ’63 Comet.
Rev Bohdan Hladio
I am late to the table as far as academic work is concerned. Before renewing my higher theological studies in 2016 I served in parish ministry for over two decades in addition to spending three years as chancellor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada. Throughout my career, I have always been active in inter-Orthodox activities and organizations; am blessed to have friends in many other Orthodox jurisdictions; have offered numerous retreat talks and parish presentations; and have written hundreds of articles for Church-related and secular publications. My research interests are centered around the theological self-conception of the Orthodox Church, its structure, and its incarnations in different geographical and historical contexts. I am specifically interested in how the lived experience of Eastern Orthodoxy in North American might inform an ecclesiological vision more suited to a globalized and pluralistic world. My master’s thesis examined the historical development and ecclesiological foundation of the autocephaly of Orthodox Church in America, and my doctoral research concerns the genesis and theological development of the idea of autocephaly within the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada. Both the OCA and the UOCC possessed a strong North American identity and espoused the principle that incorporation into a foreign Church structure was incompatible with their mission as North American/Canadian Churches. In addition to Orthodox ecclesiology my academic interests include Ukrainian Orthodoxy; Russian and Eastern European Church History; Eastern Orthodoxy in North America; Orthodox Christianity, culture, and globalization; and Orthodox Christian – Jewish dialogue.
Rev Dr John Jillions
I have had a decades-long interest in how people experience God’s presence, revelation, and guidance, and how they discern this from delusion. In Divine Guidance: Lessons for Today from the World of Early Christianity (Oxford, 2020) I looked at these questions through the lens of the Greco-Roman, Jewish and early Christian world St Paul inhabited, focusing on 1 Corinthians (for a video summary see IOTA Talk on Divine Guidance [2023].) Generally, I am interested in the vast realm of human experience, and how individuals and faith communities reflect upon and process new experience theologically. More particularly, how do experience and reflection inform Christian thought and the interpretation of tradition’s boundaries, enemies, and pastoral practice? This continues to lead me to explore how people grow spiritually from the experience of others (hagiography, biography, autobiography, poetry), and the role of religion in shaping American history, political life, and perceptions of the common good. I am interested in how people make decisions and make sense of their lives and use the latter years of their earthly existence to reckon with their life, legacy, and mortality.
Rev Dr John Jones
In recent years, I have been focusing on the topic of compassion especially as manifest in the Orthodox Christian tradition. This work connects with early work I did in stigmatization and social marginalization as well as philosophical issues regarding poverty. My most recent book Moved by Compassion: Exploring the Core of Orthodox Christian Spiritual Life (SVS Press) is central to this interest. I am continuing a long standing interest in the works Dionysius the Areopagite, focusing on the Divine Names and Mystical Theology. My original focus on these works in terms of the Neoplatonic and Latin Scholastic tradition have shifted to translating, reading, and interpreting these works in Orthodox Christian tradition especially in relation to the teachings on the essence-person-energy “distinction” in God and our efforts to seek union with the God through entering the trans-noetic silence of unknowing. I have joyfully discovered how these two areas are very much integrated. As more than a few Fathers and other Orthodox writers point out: the closer we draw near to God through dispassion, love, and silence, the more God will turn us back to the world to love others as Christ loves us. I am Priest-in-charge at Holy Theophany Orthodox Church (Walworth, WI), a mission of the Orthodox Church in America. I have Emeritus status in the Philosophy Department at Marquette University. I also have a very strong interest in photography to see the world in ways that we often miss.
Claire Koen
I am a doctoral candidate and OCSC NEH Fellow in the Judaism and Christianity in Antiquity program in Fordham University’s Theology Department. My research interests include race, ethnicity, demonologies, and the use of color symbolism to distinguish good from evil during Late Antiquity. I employ the study of papyrology, Coptic studies, postcolonial thought, and critical race theory in my research, while working in conversation with the Eastern Orthodox Tradition. My dissertation, titled “Color Symbolism and the Construction of Demonologies in Early Egyptian Christianities: An Early Christian Technique of Identity Formation,” centers around the Egyptian monastic writings of the 2nd-5th centuries, with a particular focus on the emergence of the trope of the “Ethiopian demon” and is intended to lay the historical groundwork for a further project of reckoning with the roots of anti-Black racism in present day Orthodox parishes and communities. Late Antique Egyptian monks were both concerned for the conversion of their dark-skinned Blemmyan and Nubian neighbors and prejudiced towards these neighbors on the basis of skin tone and foreign language. The development of a monastic demonological framework within the fraught socio-political context of Roman Egypt led toward the interweaving of cultural prejudices towards darker-skinned persons with genuine spiritual teachings. In order to consider the effects of color-coded language in antiquity, I trace the emergence of this trope through the study and translation of neglected but important sources, such as the sermons of Shenoute of Atripe, the Life of Paul of Tamma, and the Coptic Life of Aaron.
Dr Michael Kooy
I am interested in engaging with the Orthodox theological tradition today as it encounters some of the significant issues of our times, including identity, secularity and social justice. My main interests include sophiology, the work of Alexander Schmemann, and the contemporary hesychast tradition (St Sophrony, Archimandrite Zacharias). I hold a doctorate from the University of Oxford, and for about fifteen years I pursued an academic career in English studies in the UK. My published research focused on the work of S.T. Coleridge and more broadly the intellectual, historical and religious contexts of European Romanticism, and my teaching and doctoral supervision duties were mainly in the areas of poetry, as well as continental philosophy and literature. In 2010 I switched gears, when an interest in economics and markets took me into the area of wealth management. Since converting to Orthodoxy in 1996 I’ve had the benefit of informal communication with some Orthodox theologians, including when we still lived in Oxford, and more recently that’s expanded to include auditing courses in Orthodox Christian Studies at Trinity College, University of Toronto.
Inga Leonova
I am a founder and editor-in-chief of “The Wheel”, a quarterly journal of Orthodox theology and culture. I am also a practicing architect, writer, and educator. My academic interests focus on theology of sacred space, as well as Christian anthropology and human stewardship of the environment. In 2023, I co-organized an international conference at Fordham University on contemporary Orthodox architecture “The Shape of the Sacred,” the first of its kind in North America. I taught a course on Monotheism, Culture, and Sacred Space at Boston Architectural College, and serve as a thesis advisor at the New England School of Art and Design. My articles and essays on Orthodoxy and cultural issues, including liturgical architecture, ecology, and challenges of contemporary life have appeared in books as well as print and online publications. I currently serve on the Steering Committee of the OTSA project Orthodox Christians in Dialogue with the Jews.
Chase Montague
I started my academic journey by delving into how one can maintain faith in the face of incomprehensible suffering. I focused on what I called the problem of present suffering and rejected the idea of justifiable suffering, as understood in Western theodicy. I argued that all suffering is unnecessary and that theosis does not require meaningful suffering. Therefore, one can suffer needlessly while maintaining meaningful faith in God. Only after completing my dissertation did I realize its unexpected autobiographical nature. My current academic and personal focuses remain on the nature of suffering and faith, but now I am exploring how one can live in God while enduring necessary pain for personal redemption. My role as the Director of Catechism at my parish is influenced by my previous academic work and finding God’s peace in the Orthodox spiritual tradition. Engaging with people seeking and embracing Orthodoxy continues to enrich me. I completed a forthcoming article in the Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies that explores Maximus’s perspectives on free will and suffering compared to the Western views of Alvin Plantinga and Richard Swinburne.
Rev Dr Stelyios Muksuris
II am Professor and Chair of Liturgical Theology and Languages at the Byzantine Catholic Seminary in Pittsburgh, where I have taught in its graduate program for the last 15 years as the school’s longest-standing full-time Orthodox faculty member. I am the author of Economia and Eschatology: Liturgical Mystagogy in the Byzantine Prothesis Rite (Boston: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2013), and have published scores of journal articles in my area of liturgiology. I am currently completing the only English translation of the voluminous Archieratikon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate (late 2024), with a critical edition to follow. I have served as a consultant on liturgical matters for both the Church and the Academy. My current research interests include the historical development of liturgical rites, eucharistic anaphorae, translations of liturgical manuscripts, traditional liturgical forms in a modern and post-modern world, the revival of the female diaconate, and evil and exorcism in the Eastern Christian tradition.
Dr Hermina Nedelescu
I am a Romanian-born neuroscientist. My research work is concerned with the neurobiological control of abnormal behaviors and brain functions relevant to human psychopathology. The majority of this work is directed at understanding brain mechanisms that underly substance use and abuse with emphasis on approach and avoidance of drug-paired environments. Another line of research is directed at investigating the neurobiological dysregulation caused by sexual assault-induced PTSD and suicide with hopes to inform therapeutic treatments. For my theological work, I am training with the Center for Theology and Natural Sciences at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, where I leverage my expertise in neuroscience to develop a theological anthropology based on the Christian Orthodox tradition. This research is focused on the topic of desire vs. dysregulated desire leading to abuse. I am an instructor for Stepping Higher Inc., a faith-based organization funded by the County of San Diego Behavior Health Services Department to teach and support clergy, pastors, and behavioral health providers who minister to people suffering from substances use disorders, substance abuse, as well as, other psychological addictions or mental illnesses. I am actively involved in the state legislative efforts to protect adults from clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse. I am the co-founder of Prosopon Healing, a resource site for Orthodox Christian victims/survivors of clergy abuse.
Dr Ashley Purpura
I am an associate professor of religious studies in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at Purdue University. I am the author of God, Hierarchy, and Power: Orthodox Theologies of Authority from Byzantium (Fordham, 2018) and Women in the Orthodox Tradition: Feminism, Theology, and Equality (Notre Dame, forthcoming 2025). Along with colleagues, I have co-edited the volumes Human Sexuality in Orthodox Tradition (Fordham, 2022) and Rethinking Gender in Orthodox Christianity (Wipf and Stock, 2023). Additionally, I have published several articles and book chapters that bring contemporary and traditional perspectives into conversation around issues of gender, authority, freedom, and historical theology. I am on the international expert committee of the “New Directions in Orthodox Christian Thought” project sponsored by Oslo Coalition on Freedom of Religion or Belief, serve as the co-chair of the Eastern Orthodox Studies Unit of the American Academy of Religion, and am the co-editor of the Orthodox Christianity and Contemporary Thought book series at Fordham University Press. For 2024-2029, I have been appointed as a McDonald Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. I am currently working on a book project tentatively titled Liberating Orthodoxy that constructively explores the theological insights gained by privileging the perspectives of modern Orthodox women.
Rev Dr Geoffrey Ready
My teaching and research interests in liturgy, Old and New Testament, and pastoral studies coalesce around narrative theology. My doctoral research in liturgical theology focused on the enacted, embodied story of God as the formative element of Christian liturgy. That Scriptural narrative is the wider story of God and his covenant people Israel, hence my further interest in Second Temple Judaism and Christian origins, the parting of the ways between church and rabbinic Judaism, and Jewish-Christian relations today. Narrative theology also informs my work in catechesis, discipleship, and faith formation, with the opportunity afforded by the 20th-century narrative turn and postcritical insights to renew a richer and more communal understanding of faith after centuries of rationalistic and individualistic reduction, and to renew the church’s living and diverse tradition in place of a contemporary Orthodox Christian theological landscape shaped by opposing forms of modernity in neo-traditionalism and progressivism. Emerging from that is a further teaching and research interest in the narrative and ritual shape of the spiritual journey of transformation — life, death, and resurrection — galvanised by mystical experience, prompted through ancient spiritual practices including the careful use of entheogens. I am the chair of the OTSA working group Orthodox Christians in Dialogue with Jews.
Dr Teva Regule
I have always been interested in the liturgical life of the Church, especially the full participation of the faithful. My interest has grown from my experience as a life-long Orthodox Christian, including my involvement in youth ministries and the ministry of women in the Church. I was able to study this more formally while at Holy Cross (HCHC), and then at Boston College, where my doctoral work focused on liturgical theology and history (with additional study in ecclesiology and theological anthropology.) My dissertation explored the liturgical reform efforts of New Skete Monastery, putting these into conversation with the Liturgical Movement of the 20th century. One of the motivations of the Liturgical Movement was the need for all of the faithful to participate in the liturgical celebration “directly, consciously, and actively.” This is the primary lens of my work as well. Our liturgical tradition is very rich, but often inaccessible to the average layperson. For the Orthodox, the liturgical life of the Church is the primary way that the faith is experienced, understood, expressed and transmitted. It forms the identity of the person made in the image of God and called to grow into His likeness, nurtures us along the way, and ultimately gives us the opportunity to be transformed into, as Cyril of Jerusalem says, “little Christs.” My work has focused on these principles.
Nicholas Roumas
I am an Orthodox theologian and composer of liturgical music. My research specialties and interests include theologies of the Cross, the intersection of theology with the mimetic theory of René Girard, psychoanalytic theory, and second-Temple Jewish texts. I teach theology as an Adjunct Professor at Hellenic College in Brookline, Massachusetts, and I am an Instructor in Byzantine Music at the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America’s School of Byzantine Music. My forthcoming book, Redemption: A Mimetic Soteriology, focuses on Girard and the doctrine of redemption. I am also known for my book of Byzantine hymns, The Musical Ark, and translation of the Psalter.
Dr Anna Rozonoer
I was raised in Moscow and brought here by my parents as a young adolescent from the yet un-collapsed USSR. My PhD in Hebrew Bible was preceded by MA degrees in theology and in classics. I have taught electives in the Old Testament at Hellenic College, and I am now teaching the Hebrew Bible as part-time faculty at Boston College. My special love goes to the book of Genesis and Old Testament Wisdom Literature, influenced largely by the courses I was fortunate to take with Professor Jon Levenson, one of the best biblical scholars of our time. I am also interested in the issue of biblical canon, its fluidity, and the history of "comings and goings" of various Old Testament books from the traditions of the Orthodox Bible.
Rev Dr Nicholas Ruban
I am Deacon Nicholas Ruban, PhD in History and PhD in Theology. I was born in Luhansk, Ukraine, and was ordained a deacon on September 14, 2014. My academic training spans four fields—transportation systems, public administration, Orthodox theology, and history and archaeology. I completed doctoral studies at Zaporizhzhia National University (History) and Chernivtsi Orthodox Theological Institute (Theology). I have authored more than 120 scholarly publications, including a monograph on the history of the Orthodox Church in the Donbas region during the 20th century. My work focuses on Church history in Ukraine, regional identity, and the historical development of economics, science, and technology. I also organize academic conferences and public history projects related to the preservation of ecclesiastical and industrial heritage. My current research explores the integration of Christian anthropology with ethics in science, sustainable development, and education. I am particularly interested in fostering international academic collaboration in these areas and sharing the legacy of Eastern Christian thought in global discourse.
Dr James Skedros
My interest in the history of Christianity, and in particular, its early Christian (Greek, Syrian, Coptic) and Byzantine expressions, has focused on non-liturgical expressions of piety, especially the veneration of saints, relics, and pilgrimage. My Saint Demetrios of Thessaloniki: Civic Patron and Divine Protector, 4th – 7th c. introduced me to the fascinating intersection between text, image and archeology in the study of Byzantine saints. Much of my work has been in this area and I am currently writing a monograph on memory and the veneration of saints in Byzantium. My foray into the world of the eastern Mediterranean, however, began prior to my interests in Byzantium, when I learned Arabic and studied Islam as an undergraduate and graduate student. This early interest in Islam has now resurfaced and I am currently editing The Routledge Handbook of Byzantium and Islamic Societies, the main objective of which is to provide readers access to the major themes, individuals and events that reflect the interplay, contacts, cross-cultural fertilization, and perceptions of two remarkable societies as they interacted over multiple centuries in the eastern half of the Mediterranean.
Volodymyr (Nathaniel) Smulling
I am a seminarian at St. Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Theological Seminary pursuing a master’s degree in Applied Orthodox Studies. My specific areas of interest trend towards Jewish and Hellenic Orthodox synthesis and Sophiology (especially the work of Sergei Bulgakov), as well as the intersection between the mystic Christianity of the German and English, and Roman traditions (Jakob Boehme, etc.) and our own. Any aspect of mystical theology enthralls me: one of my papers on the subject was published in St. Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Seminary Quarterly. I am also deeply interested in counseling and clinical pastoral care and aim to obtain my Clinical Pastoral Education credentials to serve as a Chaplain. I serve at my home parish of St. Michael Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Woonsocket Rhode Island as a tonsured reader. There is nothing in this world I want more than to keep learning, it has been and always will be my passion.