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John Jenkins

Rev John I Jenkins, C.S.C

Honorary Fellow

Rev John I Jenkins, C.S.C

Honorary Fellow

University of Notre Dame President Rev John I Jenkins, C.S.C. is an Honorary Fellow of St Edmund’s College.

He was elected in recognition of his significant contributions to higher education, as well as for his role in developing the partnership between St Edmund’s and Notre Dame.

Fr Jenkins, a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, was elected the 17th president of the University of Notre Dame in 2005. As president of Notre Dame, Fr Jenkins has contributed significantly to wider debates in higher education and society, especially in civil discourse. His achievements are characterised by a strong commitment to building common ground against increasingly widespread polarisation.

Professor Stephen Jenkins, a middle-aged man with short curly hair, glasses, and a checked shirt, smiles at the camera against a plain grey background.

Professor Stephen Jenkins

Fellow

Professor Stephen Jenkins

Fellow
Reader in Physical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry

Stephen Jenkins leads the Surface Science Group in the Department of Chemistry, directing research that explores the interaction of industrially and environmentally important molecules with reactive metals. Having gained his BSc and PhD in theoretical physics from the University of Exeter (1991 and 1995 respectively) Stephen held a Royal Society University Research Fellowship at Cambridge (2001-09) prior to his appointment as a University Lecturer in 2009 and promotion to Reader in 2014. He is currently Treasurer of the Royal Society of Chemistry Solid Surfaces Group and Rooms Tutor at St Edmund's College.  Author of nearly 150 peer-reviewed papers, Stephen's book on `Chirality at Solid Surfaces' was published by Wiley in 2018.

Professor John Loughlin, an older man in a suit and tie, sits at a desk with an open book in front of him, smiling slightly. Behind him is a bookcase filled with books.

Professor John Loughlin

Emeritus Fellow

Professor John Loughlin

Emeritus Fellow

My research focuses on the philosophical and theological foundations of European political life, particularly the concept of human dignity as it has evolved in the Western tradition. I am especially interested in Catholic social teaching, Christian democracy, and the tensions between religious and secular visions of the person. My current work explores how the personalist tradition can offer a richer understanding of politics and society in the face of contemporary European challenges.

Professor John Loughlin is Emeritus Fellow of St Edmund’s College, Cambridge, Senior Research Fellow at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford, and Emeritus Professor of European Politics at Cardiff University. He is a political scientist with a longstanding interest in the intersection of political theory, religion, and European integration. Formerly Director of the Von Hügel Institute at St Edmund’s, he led research and public engagement on questions of human dignity, religious freedom, and the role of Christianity in European political life.

He has published widely on subsidiarity, regionalism, and the relationship between Church and state, and most recently authored Human Dignity: Its Roots and Challenges in Western Thought, a major study of the intellectual history of the person. Professor Loughlin continues to contribute to international research networks and serves as a reviewer for European-funded academic projects.

Dr John F Mueller, a man with short brown hair and a beard, wearing a suit, striped shirt, and patterned tie, stands outdoors in front of a blurred building with large windows.

Dr John F Mueller

Bye-Fellow

Dr John F Mueller

Bye-Fellow

John has an eclectic portfolio career, combining history, heraldry and philanthropy.

As a historian, John specialises in modern German history. His book The Kaiser, Hitler and the Jewish Department Store is due to be published in May 2022 by Bloomsbury. Regius Professor Sir Richard Evans was the supervisor for the PhD on which some of the volume is based. John and his research featured in two television documentaries: a highly-rated German public television documentary and a three-part documentary on the TESCO founder Sir Jack Cohen on Channel 5.

John has worked as a professional fundraiser for the University of Cambridge, including St Edmund’s, and has volunteered for several charitable organisations, such as the Order of St John and organisations of the Church of England.  John is a trustee of the largest independent sheltered housing scheme in London and continues working as a freelance fundraiser.

His heraldic work includes designing new coats of arms, identifying historic ones and hand-producing heraldic stationery, porcelain and other everyday items. John’s clients include royalty, aristocracy and clergy from all over the world.

Rev Dr Luigi Gioia Headshot

Rev Dr Luigi Gioia

Visiting Scholar

Rev Dr Luigi Gioia

Visiting Scholar

The Rev Dr Luigi Gioia is the Theologian in Residence at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue in New York City and a Visiting Scholar at the Von Hügel Institute at the University of Cambridge (UK).

A scholar of systematic theology, he focuses particularly on the Trinity, ecclesiology, and the relationship between theology and spirituality. Working at the crossroads of academy and church, he speaks and writes for both academic and general audiences, seeking to make rigorous theological reflection accessible and pastorally grounded. He is the author of The Theological Epistemology of Augustine’s De Trinitate (OUP, 2016, with a foreword by Rowan Williams), Say It to God: In Search of Prayer, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2018 (Bloomsbury, 2017), and Saint Benedict's Wisdom: Monastic Spirituality and the Life of the Church (Liturgical Press, 2020). His award-winning books have been translated into six languages.

 

Academic Profile

Publications 

  • Luigi Gioia, The Theological Epistemology of Augustine’s De Trinitate, 2016, OUP: Oxford. Paperback edition with a foreword by Rowan Williams.
  • Luigi Gioia, “The Threat of Death As a Test for Theological Authenticity”, 2017, in The Practice of the Presence of God: Theology As a Way of Life, Ed. Martin Laird and Sheelah Treflé Hidden, Routledge: New York, 120-9.
  • Luigi Gioia, St Benedict’s Wisdom. Monastic Spirituality and the Life of the Church, 2020, Liturgical Press: Collegeville (MN, USA), and Canterbury Press (UK)
  • Luigi Gioia, “St Benedict’s Rule as the Antidote to Regulatory Inflation”, 2021, Reviews in Religion & Theology, 28:1, 4-9.
  • Luigi Gioia, “Prayer in the Secular City”, 2024, Concilium 4, 41-50

Awards and recognitions 

  • The book Say It To God. In Search of Prayer (Bloomsbury, 2017) was chosen as the Archbishop of Canterbury Lent Book 2018.
  • The book St Benedict’s Wisdom. Monastic Spirituality and the Life of the Church (Liturgical Press, 2020) received the First Place in the category of Spirituality Award by the CMA (Catholic Media Association) in 2021.

 

The Revd Dr Geoffrey Cook, an older man with white hair and glasses, wearing a dark suit, striped shirt, and tie, poses for a professional headshot against a plain light background.

Rev Dr Geoffrey Cook

Life Fellow

Rev Dr Geoffrey Cook

Life Fellow
Affiliated Lecturer, Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience and former Vice-Master

Rev Dr Geoffrey Cook MSc PhD CBiol FRSB CChem FRSC was elected to the Fellowship at the end of 1978. After a period as Secretary to the Fellows Council he was elected Vice-Master, an office he held for twenty five years. During this period he was responsible for petitioning the Earl Marshall for the grant of Arms for the College, as well as serving on the group of fellows charged with drafting Statutes that enabled the College to successfully petition the Privy Council for a Royal Charter. In 1986 he became Chairman of the College's newly established Development Committee and was responsible for coordinating and the delivery of the extensions to the Norfolk Building, the construction of the College Tower, the Library Building and the three residential buildings on the College's site. Retiring from the Governing Body in 2007 he was elected to a Life Fellowship.

Dr Cook read Chemistry at the University of Nottingham coming to Cambridge in 1959 to undertake his doctoral research in the Department of the then Regius Professor of Physic. From 1963-65 he was a Research Associate, Department of Biochemistry, University of Southern California School of Medicine, Los Angeles. He returned to Cambridge as a Member of the External Scientific Staff of the Medical Research Council, initially at the Strangeways Research Laboratory, moving in 1976 to the Department of Pharmacology, where the University granted him an Associate Lectureship. In 1977 he was a Canadian Commonwealth Research Fellow, Biological Sciences Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton. In 1986 he transferred his MRC appointment to the Department of Anatomy, now part of the Department of Physiology, Development & Neuroscience, where as an Affiliated Lecturer he is undertaking research in developmental neurobiology.

In 1978 Geoffrey Cook was ordained as the first permanent deacon in the newly erected Diocese of East Anglia. He has chaired the Diocesan Commission for Dialogue and Unity since 1984 and was a Member of the Committee for Christian Unity of the RC Bishops' Conference of England & Wales 1984-92. He served as a Member of the Governing Council of the Cambridge Theological Federation 2008-14 and is currently the RC Member, Methodist-Anglican Panel for Unity in Mission. Chairman of the Cambridgeshire Ecumenical Council 1990-92 he has Chaired Shared Churches (Ely) Limited, a company established by the mainstream churches in the County to build and own church centres in the newly developing townships, from 2003-to date. He is a Member of the Society of Ordained Scientists and a Member of the Advisory Board, Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, a Governor of Ipswich School, Suffolk and Chair of Governors, St Bede's Inter-Church School, Cambridge.

The Revd Dr Greg Peters, a smiling man with glasses and a beard, wearing a light blue button-up shirt, stands outdoors with green trees and blurred people in the background.

Rev Dr Greg Peters

Research Associate

Rev Dr Greg Peters

Research Associate

My research is on the history and theology of Christian monasticism, mainly how monastic theology is a unique theological methodology. I also research the history of monasticism and spirituality in the Anglican tradition. I actively contribute to academic, professional, and ecclesial communities.

Rev Dr Peters is Professor of Medieval and Spiritual Theology in the Torrey Honors College at Biola University, USA. He is also the Servants of Christ Research Professor of Monastic Studies and Ascetical Theology at Nashotah House Theological Seminary, USA. He is the author of "Reforming the Monastery: Protestant Theologies of the Religious Life," "The Monkhood of All Believers: The Monastic Foundation of Christian Spirituality," and "Peter of Damascus: Byzantine Monk and Spiritual Theologian," among other works. He serves on the Executive Committee of the Society of Anglican Theologians, the Executive Board of the American Benedictine Academy and is a board member of Anglican House Publishers. Professor Peters’ interest in Christian monasticism led him to pursue a Dottorato in Studi Monastici from the Pontificio Ateneo di Sant’Anselmo in Rome, the first non-monastic to earn the degree.

Though an expert on Christian monasticism, Professor Peters has also been involved in researching and writing on Anglicanism, including Edward Pusey’s support of the re-establishment of monasticism in the nineteenth-century Church of England and Anglican spirituality. To that end he has published "Anglican Spirituality: An Introduction" and several articles on Anglican monasticism. His interest in Anglicanism grew out of his appointment as Vicar of the Anglican Church of the Epiphany, La Mirada, USA.

Professor Peters is a Consulting Editor for the Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, is on the Editorial Board of Magistra: A Journal of Women’s Spirituality in History and is a regular reviewer for the American Benedictine Review. In addition to his appointment at St Edmund’s College, he is a Visiting Scholar at Wycliffe Hall, University of Oxford.

Academic Profile

Publications

  • Greg Peters, Anglican Spirituality, 2024, Cascade Books
  • Greg Peters, The Monkhood of All Believers: The Monastic Foundation of Christian Spirituality, 2018, Baker Academic
  • Greg Peters, Peter of Damascus: Byzantine Monk and Spiritual Theologian, 2011, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies
  • Greg Peters, “The ‘Reanimation Principle’ of Edward Bouverie Pusey: The Re-Establishment of Monasticism in the Church of England,” 2025, Anglican and Episcopal History

 

Rev Dr Roger Abbott, a middle-aged man with glasses and a grey moustache, sits in front of a bookcase filled with books. He wears a light blue shirt and looks directly at the camera.

Rev Dr Roger Abbott

Senior Research Associate

Rev Dr Roger Abbott

Senior Research Associate

My research interests focus on the science-faith interface of natural hazards and disasters and theodicies. I also have research interest in the field of trauma studies, theologies of trauma and pastoral care of trauma.

The Rev. Dr. Abbott has an passionate academic and practical interest in the causation natural hazard related disasters, in the human responses to them, recovery from them and mitigation of them from the perspective of the science-faith intersection. From 2012-2021 he has carried out projects in Haiti following the devastating 2010 earthquake, exploring how survivors’ religious beliefs influenced their response to and recovery from that catastrophic event. From 2015 to 2019 he worked on projects in New Orleans, the Philippines, and in Somerset, exploring the influence of faith beliefs on survivors’ relationships with God, with their communities, and with the natural environment. Since 2020 to date he has been conducting a project around the impacts of fear, anger, trust and hope on Christians during the pandemic. He is also currently researching faith a resilience in a joint project between The Faraday Institute and the National Preparedness Commission. Following over thirty years of church pastoral ministry, Roger gained his Ph.D. in a practical theology of disaster response, from the University of Wales, Trinity & St. David. He has taught Master’s modules on the pastoral response to trauma, has run a consultancy on pastoral care of trauma, and has been an active responder to traumatic incidents in the UK since 1989. He is a member of the British and Irish Association for Practical Theologians, The Society for the Study of Theology, and The Society for the Study of Christian Ethics.

Publications

  • Abbott Roger et al What Good is God? Crises, faith, and resilience. 2020 Oxford: Monarch
  • Abbott, Roger Philip et al Narratives of Faith from the Haitian Earthquake. 2019 Abingdon: Routledge
  • Abbott, Roger Philip “‘I Will Show You My Faith by My Works’ 2019 Religions 10, 213
  • Abbott, Roger Philip. Sit On Our Hands, or Stand On Our Feet? 2013 . Eugene: Or.: Wipf & Stock
  • Abbott, Roger Philip. 2012. “Trauma, Compassion, and Community.” Practical Theology. 5.1: 31-46
Reverend Dr Stephen Pepper, wearing a black clerical shirt with a white collar, stands against a plain light-coloured wall, looking directly at the camera with a neutral expression.

Rev Dr Stephen Pepper

Post Doctoral Research Associate

Rev Dr Stephen Pepper

Post Doctoral Research Associate

Rev Dr Stephen Chase Pepper, C.S.C. is a Roman Catholic priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross. Originally from Huntsville, Alabama, in the United States, “Chase” earned his Bachelor of Arts in political science and Catholic studies from Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey (2007), his Master of Divinity from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana (2014), and most recently his Doctor of Philosophy, in theology, from the University of Cambridge and St. John’s College as a Gates Cambridge scholar (2023).

Chase’s research treats broadly on the interdisciplinary intersections of Christian systematic theology and Dante studies, with more concentrated focus on the subjects of participation, beatitude, and intercessory prayer in Dante’s poetry. He has spoken on Dante in a variety of settings, from academic conferences and university lecture halls to parishes and prison reading groups, and he is motivated by questions about how Dante can serve as an imaginative and theological resource for building bridges across human divisions.

Inspired perhaps by his childhood fascination with astronomy and Dante’s own journey among the stars, Chase’s greatest dream is to become the first Catholic priest to say Mass in space.

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