Our Research Fellows
Teodora Ciobanu
Teodora Ciobanu is a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Law, University of Bucharest, where her dissertation examines the relationship between moral and legal culpability. She is currently a researcher at the Center for Natural Law Studies and Normative Analysis (CSDNAN) at the University of Bucharest. A recurring focus of her research concerns the ways in which a coherent relationship between theory and practice can be articulated.
Dr. Nathan Jacobs
Dr. Nathan Jacobs is a philosopher, theologian, and filmmaker. He is author of four books and roughly forty refereed articles, covering patrology, scholasticism, and Modern philosophy. His film work includes Becoming Truly Human, Killing Poe, and the Amazon Original House of David.
James H. Joiner, PhD
Dr. James Joiner is a Principal Lecturer in Philosophy at Northern Arizona University, specializing in philosophy of religion, bioethics, and medieval philosophy. He also serves as a bioethicist for Northern Arizona Healthcare, where he provides clinical ethics consultation, education, and policy analysis. In addition, he is the Director of the Heshima Society for Bioethics. His research publications include co-editing and contributing to Kant and the Question of Theology (Cambridge University Press, 2017) and authoring/editing Bioethics in Search of Virtue (Cognella, 2024). Dr. Joiner has received multiple awards for excellence in teaching and mentoring. His scholarly and pedagogical work has been supported by grants from several foundations, funding projects in ethical development, adaptive learning, and human flourishing. His work finds its richest expressions in the rooted vocation of being a husband and father, where love orders the soul and theory meets one of its most meaningful tests.
Dr. Ioannis Kaminis
Dr. Ioannis Kaminis is an Assistant Professor of Theology at the University of Sofia and Research Associate Volos Academy for Theological Studies, specializing in Patrology, Christian ascetical literature, and Orthodox theology. He has extensive teaching, research, and publication experience, with work focused on late antiquity, ecumenical dialogue, and contemporary theological challenges.
Dr. Alexander William Salter
Dr. Alexander William Salter is the Georgie G. Snyder Professor of Economics in the Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech University and the Comparative Economics Research Fellow at TTU’s Free Market Institute. He is the author of three academic press books, 83 scholarly articles, and more than 500 op-eds. He is a parishioner of St. Andrew Greek Orthodox Church in Lubbock, TX.
Dr. Marcus Shera
Dr. Marcus Shera is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Eastern University. He has been a baptized Orthodox Christian since October 2022. His research is in the political economy of church institutions. His dissertation focused on the political economy of Christian monasticism and the role monastics play as credible truth-tellers in politically fraught environments. He also writes on the limits of formal institutions and the relationship between ideas and institutions in economic history. You can find his academic work at his website. He also writes and makes videos at The Econ Playground.
Dr. Kevin Vallier
Dr. Kevin Vallier is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toledo, where he directs research at the Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership. He has authored four monographs, five edited volumes, and seventy peer-reviewed chapters and articles, including the books Liberal Politics and Public Faith, Must Politics Be War?, and Trust in a Polarized Age. His latest book, All the Kingdoms of the World: On Radical Religious Alternatives to Liberalism, critiques contemporary religious anti-liberalism, and his forthcoming work examines liberty, virtue, and order in agentic capitalism.
Dr. Rico Vitz
Dr. Rico Vitz is a professor of philosophy and Director of the Honors College at Azusa Pacific University. His research focuses on questions concerning virtue ethics, moral psychology, and philosophy of religion. His current research focuses on compassion, culture, and community in the works of David Hume and classical Confucianism.