The Lumen Christi Institute is proud to announce the appointment of Eric DeVilliers and Cassandra Sever as the inaugural fellows for its newly launched postdoctoral fellowship program. Designed to support the research and professional development of exceptional scholars in Catholic studies, this program offers both funding and the opportunity to engage in the Institute’s academic community.
Selected from a pool of nearly 70 candidates, DeVilliers and Sever will pursue their individual research projects while participating in the life and activities of the Lumen Christi Institute. They will contribute to the Institute’s public engagement initiatives and foster a deeper dialogue between the Catholic intellectual tradition and the secular university.
DeVilliers is a Catholic theologian engaged in the comparative study of early Christianity and Islam. His book manuscript explores the meaning and development of the doctrine of the vision of God (visio beatifica). Working in Arabic, Coptic, Greek, Latin, and Turkish, DeVilliers draws on Christian patristic theology, classical Islamic theology, and medieval scholastic thought. His research demonstrates that there is one continuous discourse from Late Antiquity into early Islam in which the Qur’an accepts and reworks several Christian interpretive themes. DeVilliers is a Fulbright Scholar and has served as a member of the steering committee for the Study of Middle Eastern Christianity at the American Academy of Religion. He earned his PhD in 2024 from the University of Notre Dame, where he also received the theology department’s Excellence in Teaching award.
Sever is a cultural sociologist and social theorist, specializing in the sociology of the self. In response to secular sociological research, Sever argues that human persons are meaning-centered beings. Drawing on Catholic philosophy and theology – especially Augustine and Charles Taylor – as a foundation for cultural sociology, her work offers secular social science new ways of interpreting the crises of the self that face the contemporary world. In addition to serving as managing editor for the American Journal of Cultural Sociology, she serves as a volunteer Great Books Tutor for the Catherine Project, a non-profit extension of St. John’s College. She has received multiple recognitions as a teacher, both at Mount Holyoke College and in her previous career in the New York public schools. She will complete the PhD in May at the State University of New York, Albany.
“Cass and Eric are highly original scholars,” said Lumen Christi executive director Daniel Wasserman-Soler. “Their work is deeply engaged in Catholic thought and stretches across traditional academic disciplines. In this sense, they embody John Henry Newman’s dictum that ‘all knowledge forms one whole.’ I predict that Cass and Eric will be leaders in American higher education, transforming the secular academy through the wisdom of the Catholic intellectual tradition.”
Founded in 1997 by Catholic scholars at the University of Chicago, the Lumen Christi Institute’s mission is to make the Catholic intellectual tradition a vital part of the secular university and the broader culture. Through its lectures, seminars, conferences, and non-credit courses, the Institute promotes conversations that draw on Catholic wisdom to enhance the study of diverse academic disciplines.
DeVilliers and Sever were selected by a committee of senior scholars from the University of Chicago and peer universities. Their appointments mark a new chapter in the Institute’s efforts to inspire a robust intellectual exchange within the university community.