Core Staff

The Core Staff are part of the IOCS Academic Faculty, alongside our Visiting Professors and Lecturers. They are also handling the day-to-day administration of the Institute. Most of the staff listed below are accepting applications for PhD students. Please contact the Institute if you are interested in doctoral research.
 

Father Dragos Herescu – Principal

Father Dragos Herescu is the Principal of IOCS. He is also teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level on the degree programmes offered through the Institute and the Cambridge Theological Federation. He is also an Affiliated Lecturer of the Divinity Faculty, University of Cambridge.

An alumnus of the Institute’s MA in Pastoral Theology, Father Dragos later graduated an MPhil in Theology with the Divinity Faculty, University of Cambridge.

He is in the last stage of completing a doctoral thesis with Durham University, on the secularisation paradigm in the context of Eastern Orthodoxy, with particular focus on the Romanian context.

Fr Dragos serves as parish priest for ‘St John the Evangelist’ Romanian Orthodox parish in Cambridge.

Contact details: E-mail dch38@iocs.cam.ac.uk


Dr Christoph Schneider – Academic Director

Dr Christoph Schneider, Ph.D. (University of Zürich), MA (King’s College London), BA & MA (University of Zürich), is Academic Director and joined the Institute in 2010. Contact details: E-mail cs300@iocs.cam.ac.uk, Telephone 01223 760 961.

Research interests

  • Systematic & Philosophical Theology; Theology and Philosophy
  • Truth – goodness – beauty           
    • Orthodox theology and Continental philosophy
      • Russian Religious Thought: esp. P. Florensky, S. Bulgakov, V. Solovyov; F. Dostoevsky
      • Faith and reason; fideism and ontotheology
      • Philosophy of language, semiotics, hermeneutics, dialogue, dialectic, realism
      • Love
      • Beauty (future project)
    • Ecumenical dialogue between Orthodox and Protestant theology (esp. K. Barth, E. Jüngel, I.U. Dalferth)

Current Research Projects

  • ‘Divine Energies’, St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology
  • ‘God as Truth’, T&T Clark Encyclopaedia of Christian Theology
  • ‘The Mystery of Words: Orthodox Theology and Philosophy of Language’, in J. Siemens & J.M. Brown, Eastern Christian Approaches to Philosophy (Palgrave Macmillan)
  • ‘Experiential Doctrine and Doctrinal Experience in the Religious Epistemologies of Pavel Florensky and Sergei Bulgakov’, in Unfading Light. Studies Subsidiary to Sobornost’

Recent publications

  • ‘Discernment of Good and Evil in Dostoevsky’s Novels: The Madman and the Saint’, in I. Nobel & O. Fischer (eds), How Discernment between Good and Evil Shapes the Dynamics of the Human Journey. European Journal for Philosophy of Religion (Special Issue) 12/4 (2020), 117–137.
  • ‘P.A. Florensky: at the Boundary of Immanence and Transcendence’, in George Pattison, Caryl Emerson & Randall Poole (eds), Oxford Handbook of Russian Religious Thought (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020), pp. 293–308.
  • ‘Faith and Reason in Russian Religious Thought: Sergei Bulgakov, Pavel Florensky and the contemporary debate about ontotheology and fideism’, in A. Andreopoulos (ed.), The Theology of the Russian Diaspora. Special Issue. Analogia 8 (2020): 131–142.
  • Editor of Theology and Philosophy in Eastern Orthodoxy. Essays on Orthodox Christianity and Contemporary Thought (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publication, 2019)
  • ‘Introduction: The Quest for a Christian Philosophy’, in Theology and Philosophy in Eastern Orthodoxy. Essays on Orthodox Christianity and Contemporary Thought (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publication, 2019), pp. 1–10.
  • ‘Orthodox Theology and Philosophy of Language’, in Theology and Philosophy in Eastern Orthodoxy. Essays on Orthodox Christianity and Contemporary Thought (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publication, 2019), pp. 166–187.
  • ‘Towards an Orthodox Philosophy of Language’, in International Journal of Orthodox Theology 10/2 (2019): 136–148.

Dr Razvan Porumb – Director of Research / Vice-Principal

Dr Razvan Porumb has taken his doctorate through the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies and the Cambridge Theological Federation on the topic of ‘Orthodoxy and Ecumenism’. His book on this theme has been recently published by Peter Lang (see below). Razvan had previously completed an MA in Pastoral Theology (also through IOCS/CTF), writing his thesis on ‘Deification and Spiritual Life in Orthodox Pastoral Theology.’ He previously worked for the Metropolitanate of Moldavia (Iasi, Romania) as Editor-in-Chief at Trinitas Press, where he supervised and was involved in the publication and translation of numerous books and journals – an activity he enjoyed for almost nine years. Razvan has always had a special interest in ecumenism, being involved in various ecumenical milieux and projects. He spent a one-year internship with the World Council of Churches in Geneva.

His research interests include:

  • Ecumenism and Ecumenical Theology
  • Practical and Pastoral Theology
  • Christian spirituality
  • Theology and Literature

Recent publications include:

    • Orthodoxy and Ecumenism. Towards an Active Metanoia, Oxford: Peter Lang, 2019
    • ‘An Orthodox Model of Practical/Pastoral Theology’ in The International Journal of Practical Theology (de Gruyter), 21(1), pp. 127-154.
    • ‘Orthodoxy in Engagement with the ‘Outer’ World. The Dynamic of the ‘Inward-Outward’ Cycle’ in Religions 2017, 8(8), 131 – the special issue on Inward Being and Outward Identity: The Orthodox Churches in the 21st Century.
    • ‘The priorities of justice and freedom: re-learning Christianity with N. Steinhardt’, in St Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly Volume 65, Numbers 3–4, 2021, pp. 191-206.
    • ‘N. Steinhardt’s ecumenism and the impossible that is asked of us’, in Tendances et directions dans les recherches actuelles des théologiens orthodoxes roumains de la diaspora, Ciprian C. Apintiliesei et Constantin Pogor (Eds.), Les Éditions du Cerf, 2022 pp. 237-259.
    • ‘Orthodox Pastoral Theology’, in St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology 2023. Edited by Brendan N. Wolfe et al. https://www.saet.ac.uk/Christianity/OrthodoxPastoralTheology

Contact details – E-mail: grp29@iocs.cam.ac.uk


Prof Alexander Lingas – Professor of Music

Alexander Lingas is Professor of Music at IOCS and founding Musical Director of the vocal ensemble Cappella Romana. He received his Ph.D. in Historical Musicology from the University of British Columbia and has studied theology and patristics at St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary and, as the recipient of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellowship, at the University of Oxford. A Fellow of the University of Oxford’s European Humanities Research Centre for over two decades (1997–2021), his awards include Fulbright and Onassis grants for musical studies with cantor Lycourgos Angelopoulos, the British Academy’s Thank-Offering to Britain Fellowship, research leave supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, the St. Romanos the Melodist medallion of the National Forum for Greek Orthodox Church Musicians (USA), and the Cross of Moldavia (Metropolis of Moldavia and Bucovina). His present work embraces historical study, ethnography, and performance. In 2018 His All-Holiness, Bartholomew I, Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch, bestowed on him the title of Archon Mousikodidaskalos.

Contact details – E-mail: al938@iocs.cam.ac.uk


Gregory Craveiro – Academic Administrator

Prior to joining IOCS, Gregory began his undergraduate studies at the University of Essex studying Biomedical Science. However, upon completion, he changed direction and began his studies in Theology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Gregory then continued his studies in Theology at the University of Durham where he finished his MA in Christian Theology. In June 2023 he started his journey with IOCS. Gregory is also in the process of pursuing a part-time PhD.

Contact details: E-mail gc691@iocs.cam.ac.uk


Mat Ridley

Dr Mat Ridley – IT Officer

Previously a biochemist, Mat Ridley joined the Federation in 2001 as its IT Officer, and is responsible for the day-to-day running of many of the Federation’s computer systems. He also works for Wesley House, Westminster College and the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies. Variety being the spice of life, he spends a lot of his spare time in front of computers too – but he also enjoys watching films, cooking and walking. He has also written a novel.