Participant Biographies

The Very Reverend Nikodemos Anagnostopoulo

The Very Reverend Nikodemos Anagnostopoulos is an Orthodox priest of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, who serves as a parish priest at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Divine Wisdom in London. He completed his doctorate at Heythrop College, University of London, specializing in Muslim-Christian relations in Southeast Europe. His main research areas are Muslim-Christian relations and Eastern and Orthodox Christianity and liturgy. He studied social theology at Kapodistrian University of Athens.

John Borelli

John Borelli is special assistant for Catholic identity and dialogue to the president of Georgetown University. He received his doctorate from Fordham University, and served on the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and as a consultant to the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. His most recent book, co-edited by Ronald J. Sider, is Catholics and Evangelicals for the Common Good (Cascade Books, 2018). He is working on a manuscript on the development of Nostra Aetate conceived with Thomas F. Stransky, CSP, a founding staff member of the Secretariat for Christian Unity.

The Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA, PhD

The Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA, PhD, has served as Villanova University’s 32nd president since June 1, 2006. Under his leadership, the University has charted a course of significant transformation that includes embarking on an ambitious ten-year strategic plan, launching the University’s largest comprehensive fundraising campaign, initiating a vibrant physical campus renovation, and dramatically expanding student opportunities. 

Bolstered by this vision, the University has introduced new initiatives, become more nationally recognized for its academic prowess and broken University admission records. Father Donohue has also worked together with students, faculty, staff, alumni, and parents to strengthen the Villanova community and renew its commitment to the institution’s Augustinian, Catholic educational mission.

Kail C. Ellis, OSA

Kail C. Ellis, OSA is assistant to the president of Villanova University, dean emeritus of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, former vice president for academic affairs, and associate professor of political science. His doctorate in international relations is from The Catholic University of America. The founder-director of Villanova’s Center for Arab and Islamic Studies, he co-edits the Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. His latest book (as editor and contributor) is Secular Nationalism and Citizenship in Muslim Countries: Arab Christians in the Levant (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).

Martin Ganeri, OP

Martin Ganeri, OP is prior provincial of the Dominican Order in England. He teaches theology at Blackfriars Hall and the Blackfriars Pontifical Studium. He earned an MA in classics and Oriental studies and a MPhil in ancient Indian archaeology at Cambridge University. After joining the Dominicans, he earned a DPhil in theology at Oxford University. His research interests focus on theological engagement with other religions, especially with Hinduism. He also teaches courses in sacred scripture, phenomenology and theology of religions, and archaeology. His publications include Hindu Thought and Western Theism: The Vedanta Ramanuja (Routledge, 2015).

Sidney H. Griffith

Sidney H. Griffith is ordinary professor emeritus in the Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures at The Catholic University of America, where he earned a doctorate in 1977. His areas of interest are Syriac Patristics, Christian Arabic literature, and the history of Christian/Muslim relations. His latest book is The Bible in Arabic: The Scriptures of the “People of the Book” in the Language of Islam (Princeton University Press, 2013).

Elizabeth T. Groppe

Elizabeth T. Groppe is a professor in the Religious Studies Department at the University of Dayton.  A Roman Catholic systematic theologian, her areas of work include trinitarian theology, ecclesiology, liturgical and sacramental theology, theological anthropology, and interreligious dialogue. Her wide-ranging scholarship brings the wisdom of the Christian tradition to bear on twenty-first century challenges including ecological degradation, violence, racism, and the Catholic-Jewish dialogue.

Christian Krokus

Christian Krokus is associate professor and chair of the Department of Theology/Religious Studies at the University of Scranton. His masters and doctoral degrees are from Boston College. His teaching and research focus on Christian-Muslim comparative theology. He is author of The Theology of Louis Massignon: Islam, Christ, and the Church (Catholic University of America, 2017).

David Mark Neuhaus, SJ

David Mark Neuhaus, SJ teaches scripture at the Seminary of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem in Beit Jala, the Religious Studies Department at Bethlehem University, and the Salesian Theological Institute in Jerusalem. He holds a doctorate from the Hebrew University and pontifical degrees in theology and scripture from Centre Sèvres and the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. He is co-author, with Alain Marchadour, of The Land, the Bible, and History: Toward the Land that I Will Show You (Fordham University Press, 2007). From 2009 to 2017, he was Latin patriarchal vicar for Hebrew-speaking Catholics in Israel.

Anthony O’Mahony

Anthony O’Mahony is a fellow at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford. Among other appointments, he held the Sir Daniel and Countess Bernardine Murphy Donohue Chair in Eastern Catholic Theology in 2018 at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. His research Interests include the modern history of Eastern Christianity, ecumenical dialogue between Eastern and Western churches, Christian-Muslim-Jewish relations, and the religious and political history of Jerusalem. He co-edited Catholic Engagement with Islam: Louis Massignon and the Muslim World (Routledge 2019), and is working on a biography of Cardinal-Patriarch Gabriel Tappouni and the Syriac Catholic Church.

George Sabra

George Sabra received a doctorate in theology from the [Catholic] Faculty of Theology at the University of Tübingen. He is professor of systematic theology and president of the Near East School of Theology in Beirut. His other positions include lecturer at the American University of Beirut, representative of the Reformed Churches of the Middle East in the World Alliance of Reformed Churches – Oriental Orthodox Churches Dialogue Commission, member of the International Theological Dialogue Committee between the World Communion of Reformed Churches, and member of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU). He is editor of the Theological Review.

The Reverend Doctor Richard Sudworth

The Reverend Doctor Richard Sudworth was appointed secretary for inter-religious affairs to the Archbishop of Canterbury and national inter-religious affairs adviser for the Church of England in 2018. Previously, he was a parish minister in inner-city Birmingham, working in predominantly Muslim areas. He received his doctorate from Heythrop College, University of London. He is author of Encountering Islam: Christian-Muslim Relations in the Public Square (SCM Press, 2017).

Rocco Viviano, SX

Rocco Viviano is a member of the Japanese Province of the Xaverian Missionaries. He received a doctorate in theology from Heythrop College, University of London. He is the interreligious dialogue coordinator for the Kansai District of the Japanese Province, director of the Commission for Interreligious Dialogue for the Catholic Archdiocese of Osaka, director of the Commission for Ecumenism, and a member of the Interreligious Dialogue Committee of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan. His research interests are Catholic teaching on interreligious dialogue, Jewish-Christian relations, Christian-Muslim dialogue, the Christian-Buddhist encounter, and the Christian encounter with Shinto in Japan.