Lumen Christi Institute

Emily Austin is Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of Chicago. She holds a PhD from Boston University and a BA from the University of Dallas. Prof. Austin writes on emotions in Homer, focusing on unique features of the language of the poems and exploring how they shape the narrative. A related interest is the poems’ presentation of their characters, particularly in their relationships and ways of communicating. Her first book, Grief and the Hero: the Futility of Longing in the Iliad, explores the nexus of grief, longing and anger in the Iliad. Her other projects include work on grief and fulfillment in the Odyssey, the effectiveness of vengeance in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, and ancient conceptions of loneliness and solitude.

Fr. Peter Bernardi, SJ is scholar-in-residence at the Lumen Christi Institute and Associate Professor Emeritus of Theology at Loyola University of Chicago, where he taught from 2010 to 2020. Before coming to Chicago he taught at Loyola University New Orleans from 1996 to 2010. Fr. Bernardi holds an Honors B.A. in Classical Languages from Xavier University (Cincinnati), an MA in Philosophy from the University of Detroit, a Master of Divinity from Regis College of the Toronto School of Theology, an STL from the Weston School of Theology with a thesis concerning soteriology, and a PhD in Systematic Theology from the Catholic University of America. His areas of interest include modern Christian thought; John Henry Newman, Maurice Blondel, and the Renewal of Catholic Theology; Theology of Vatican II; Christology & Soteriology. He is the author of Maurice Blondel, Social Catholicism and Action Française: The Clash over the Church’s Role in Society During the Modernist Era (CUA Press, 2009).  His most recent scholarly publications are "Blondel, Maurice (1861–1949)" in the Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Philosophers (2020), "Louis Cardinal Billot, S.J. (1846–1931): Thomist, Anti-Modernist, Integralist" in the Journal of Jesuit Studies 8 (2021): 585-616, and "Maurice Blondel's diagnosis of extrinsicist 'Monophorism': An enduring critique of Christian Integralism," in Pesando-Revista de Filosofia. Vol 13, No 30 (2022) Dossie Maurice Blondel, 100-113.

Peter Tierney is the Science & Religion Program Coordinator and In Lumine Project Co-Director at the Lumen Christi Institute. He received his doctorate in Geophysical Sciences from the University of Chicago in 2018. His research is on the evolutionary ecology of reef systems, with a particular focus on Early to Middle Paleozoic reefs of North America. He is also active in Catholic lay ministry in Hyde Park, both at Calvert House and St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church.

Fr. Andrew Wawrzyn is Chaplain of Calvert House Catholic Center at the University of Chicago. He was ordained in 2010 for the Archdiocese of Chicago. Prior to his ordination to the Archdiocese, he was a member of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) for 13 years. Fr. Wawrzyn attended Marquette University for undergraduate studies, graduating in 1994. He obtained one degree in philosophy (MA) and two degrees in theology (MDiv and ThM) while a Jesuit. He earned an STL degree in theology from Mundelein Seminary in 2011. During the years Fr. Wawrzyn has been in ministry, he has taught high school, directed retreats, done spiritual direction, and served in parishes. He became the twelfth Chaplain of Calvert House on July 1, 2021.