Areas of Expertise
Religious History, Religion and Politics, Evangelicalism

Bio 
Dr. Daniel G. Hummel is the director of The Lumen Center and a Foundation Fellow. Dr. Hummel is the author of two books on U.S. religion, culture, and politics: The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism: How the Evangelical Battle Over the End Times Shaped a Nation and Covenant Brothers: Evangelicals, Jews, and U.S.-Israeli Relations. His scholarly articles have been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Church History and Religion & American Culture. He is currently working on a book for Eerdmans exploring the role of spiritual practices and disciplines in the history of modern American evangelicalism.  

Dr. Hummel writes on historical and newsworthy topics related to U.S. religion, politics, and foreign relations. His work has been published by Christianity Today, Washington Post, Aeon, First Things, New Lines Magazine, Current, and more. He has been interviewed or quoted at NPR, The Guardian, The Atlantic, and elsewhere.  

External Appointments

• Honorary Research Fellow, History Department, UW-Madison
• Editor, The Raised Hand
• Co-creator and editor, Voices & Visions

Experience

• Honorary Research Fellow, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2019-present 
• Lecturer, Department of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2016, 2022 
• Robert M. Kingdon Fellow, Institute for Research in the Humanities, 2017-18 
• History and Public Policy Postdoctoral Fellow, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 2016-17 

Selected Writing and Public Engagement

• The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism: How the Evangelical Battle Over the End Times Shaped a Nation (Eerdmans, 2023). 
• Israel’s Current Crisis Exposes Christian Zionism’s Contradictory Ideals, New Lines Magazine, July 2023.
• When the Best Bible-Reading Tool Made Bible-Reading Worse, Christianity Today, Dec 2022.

Education

• Ph.D., U.S. History, University of Wisconsin-Madison  
• M.A. and B.A, Colorado State University 

Link to CV

Areas of Expertise
Epistemology, Philosophy of Religion, Ethics of Orphan Care      

Bio 
Dr. Tony Bolos is the Program Advisor for The Lumen Center and a Foundation Fellow.   Dr. Bolos has served both as an academic and a non-profit executive.  Prior to moving to Madison, he served as the Executive Director of New Hope Peru, an organization dedicated to family-based solutions for vulnerable children. While in Peru, he worked closely with government officials to launch a pilot foster care program in Southern Peru.  

Before moving to Peru, he taught philosophy at the Honors College and for the Department of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. His academic articles in philosophy have appeared in Synthese, Ratio, Erkenntnis, and Faith and Philosophy. Dr. Bolos has a forthcoming edited volume with Routledge on the basics of Christianity. You can see more of his academic articles on his PhilPapers page.  

External Appointments

• Director of Learning and Formation, Stephen & Laurel Brown Foundation

Selected Writing and Public Engagement

• Sensitivity Theorists Aren’t Unhinged, with James Henry Collin Erkenntnis (2020)
• A Functionalist Account of Human Uniqueness. Faith and Philosophy (2018)
• A sensitive virtue epistemology, with James Henry Collin Synthese (2018)

Experience 

• Executive Director, New Hope Peru, 2018-2022  
• Assistant Professor, The Honors College and the Department of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University, 2014-2018  
• Templeton Post-doc Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies at Shalem College, Jerusalem, 2013-2014.  

Education 

• Ph.D., MSc., Philosophy, The University of Edinburgh  
• M.A., Philosophy of Religion, Denver Seminary  
• B.A., Biblical Studies, Crown College

Link to CV

Bio
Susan M. Swanke is the Manager of Academic Programs for the Lumen Center. She aids the director in the strategy and building of the Center and the daily running of the academic programs and events. Swanke’s academic interests include theology, philosophy, psychology, and Christian anthropology. She is currently studying the work of Pope John Paul II on Christian anthropology commonly referred to as the Theology of the Body.

Swanke has an MA in Systematic Theology from Christendom Graduate School, Virginia and a BS in Education and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Education 

• M.A., Systematic Theology, Christendom Graduate School, VA 
• B.S., Spanish, ESL, Education, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, WI

Areas of Expertise
Studio Art, Art History, Literature, and Spiritual Formation

Bio
Cameron J. Anderson is a Distinguished Fellow at The Lumen Center. Anderson is the author of The Faithful Artist: A Vision for Evangelicalism and the Arts and co-editor of God in the Modern Wing: Viewing Art with Eyes of Faith and Faith+Vision: Twenty-Five Years of Christians in the Visual Arts. Additionally, he has contributed chapters to four other published books.

Anderson maintains a regular studio practice, his essays have been published in SEEN Journal, Image Journal, and online with the Emerging Scholars Network, and he is a popular conference speaker.

External Appointments

• Associate Director, Upper House

Selected Writing and Public Engagement

• The Faithful Artist, InterVarsity Press, 2016.
• God in the Modern Wing, InterVarsity Press, 2021.
• The Art of Wisdom, Where Wisdom May Be Found, Wipfnstock Press, 2019.

Experience

• Executive Director, CIVA (Christians in the Visual Arts), 2009-2019. 
• National Director, Graduate & Faculty Ministries, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, 1993-2009. 
• Campus Staff, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, 1979-1993. 
• Art Educator, Notre Dame High School, 1977-1979. 

 
Education

• Post-graduate course work in art history and aesthetics, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 
• M.F.A, Cranbrook Academy of Art 
• B.F.A., University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

Link to CV

Areas of expertise
The letters of St. Paul, especially salvation, anthropology and ethics; the parables of Jesus; literary approaches to the Gospels; biblical hermeneutics

Bio
Having concluded his tenure as Dean and President of Nashotah House Theological Seminary in 2024, Dr. Garwood P. Anderson begins a role as Distinguished Fellow in Biblical Studies for the Lumen Center. Dr. Anderson’s 40 years in diverse ministry roles has centered on teaching, scholarship, academic leadership, and mentoring emerging leaders. Following 18 years in campus ministry with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Anderson served on the faculty of Asbury Theological Seminary and then on the faculty of Nashotah House, where he currently serves as the Donald J. Parsons Distinguished Professor of Biblical Interpretation.

Dr. Anderson has published articles and reviews in numerous academic journals and contributed numerous articles to major reference works. His current research focus is on the intersection of Pauline anthropology and ethics. Anderson is a frequent guest lecturer and preacher in parish, diocesan, and campus ministry settings. He is a regular contributor to The Living Church Covenant blog.

He is married to Dawn for 41 years; they have three married children and three grandchildren.

Experience

• Donald J. Parsons Distinguished Professor of Biblical Interpretation, Nashotah House Theological Seminary, 2024 to present
• Dean and President, Nashotah House Theological Seminary, 2017-2024
• Professor of New Testament and Greek, Nashotah House Theological Seminary, 2007-2024
• Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies, Asbury Theological Seminary, 2002-2007
• Campus Staff, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, 1984-2001

Selected Publications

• Paul’s New Perspective: A Soteriological Journey. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2016
• “Law” and “Freedom/Liberty” in Dictionary of Paul and His Letters. Edited by Scot McKnight, Lynn Cohick, and Nijay Gupta. 2d edition. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2023.
• “The Pauline Mind and the New Perspective on Paul” in The Pauline Mind. Ed. Stanley E. Porter and David I. Yoon. Routledge Religious Minds. (New York: Routledge, forthcoming).
• “A Petrine Vision for the Church” in Searching the Scriptures: Essays in Honor of Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev. Ed. James Buchanan Wallace. (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Press, forthcoming).

Education

• Ph.D., Theology, Marquette Universtiy
• M.A., New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
• B.A., Music, University of Wisconsin -- Eau Claire

Link to CV

Areas of expertise
Early American history, American religious history, religion and politics, historical thinking, American evangelicalism

Bio
Dr. John Fea is Distinguished Fellow at the Lumen Center. Dr. Fea is the author or editor of six books, including Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?: A Historical Introduction, Why Study History?: Reflecting on the Importance of the Past; and Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump. He is co-editor of Confessing History: Explorations in Christian Faith and the Historian’s Vocation.

Dr. Fea’s work has appeared in Christianity Today, Washington Post, Aeon, The Atlantic, Commonweal, The Journal of American History, Christian Century, Inside Higher Education, USA Today, and The William & Mary Quarterly. He speaks regularly at colleges, churches, school and teacher groups, civic groups, historical societies, and academic conferences and has appeared on NBC News, CNN, C-SPAN, MSNBC, National Public Radio, and dozens of radio programs across the country. He is a Distinguished Lecturer with the Organization of American Historians.

External Appointments

• Executive Editor of Current (CurrentPub.com)
• Advisory Board, Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History

 
Experience

• Assistant Professor to Distinguished Professor of History, Messiah University, 2002-2025
• Department Chair, Messiah University Department of History, 2010-2018
• Lilly Fellows in Arts and the Humanities, Valparaiso University, 2000-2002

Selected Recent Writing

• Religion and Revolution, Commonweal, July 2, 2024
• What I Wish More People Knew About Evangelicalism, The Atlantic, Feb. 7, 2024
• ‘God and Country’ Preaches to the Choir, Christianity Today, Feb. 16, 2024.
• “Christian Activists as Historians,” Fides Et Historia, Winter/Spring 2022)

Education

• Ph.D, U.S. History, State University of New York at Stony Brook
• M.Div, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
• M.A. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
• B.S. Cairn University

Link to CV

Areas of Expertise
Ecology; climate change; biodiversity; creation care and environmental stewardship; science and faith; science literacy, denialism and communication

Bio
Dr. Rick Lindroth is a Distinguished Fellow of The Lumen Center. Dr. Lindroth was formerly Distinguished Achievement Professor of Ecology and Associate Dean for Research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His research focused on ecology (including global change) of forest ecosystems. His work spanned the range from small individual projects to large multi-institutional, multi-national projects, with funding primarily from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Dept. of Energy, and the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. As Associate Dean for Research he functioned as Chief Research Officer for a University of Wisconsin college with a ~$100 million/year research portfolio. He has been a Fulbright Fellow and is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Ecological Society of America, the Entomological Society of America, and the American Scientific Affiliation. Dr. Lindroth has authored/coauthored ~250 scientific journal articles and book chapters.

Currently, Dr. Lindroth speaks and writes to public and faith-based groups about environmental stewardship, climate change, biodiversity, and science denialism/communication. He has been interviewed for numerous podcasts and news outlets, and profiled in The Washington Post.

External Appointments

• Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor (Ecology), Emeritus. University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Board of Directors, A Rocha USA
• Voices Speaker’s Bureau, BioLogos

Selected Writing and Public Engagement

• Rutlen Lecture on Faith and Creation: Science, truth, and Christian faith in a time of eco-crisis. Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. Feb. 27.
• A liturgy of land and call to creation connection. BioLogos article, 2022.
• Our climate crisis: 2 degrees, 11 years, 17 words. BioLogos article, 2019.
• Entering the sixth extinction: evolution, diversity and the stewardship of life. BioLogos article, 2018.

Experience

• Distinguished Fellow, The Lumen Center, 2023-present
• Professor, Department of Entomology; affiliate professor: Department of Integrative Biology, Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, Molecular and Environmental Toxicology Center, and Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1988-2023
• Associate Dean for Research, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2010-2016
• National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1985-1987

Education

• Ph.D., Ecology, University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign)
• B.S., Fisheries and Wildlife Biology, Iowa State University

Selected Honors/Awards

• Distinguished Faculty Postdoc Mentoring Award, UW-Madison, 2022
• Hilldale Award in Biological Sciences, UW-Madison, 2020     
• Elected Fellow, American Scientific Affiliation, 2020
• Elected Fellow, Entomological Society of America, 2017.
• Elected Fellow, Ecological Society of America, 2016.
• Vilas Distinguished Achievement and Douglas D. Sorenson Professor, UW-Madison, 2016
• Kellett Mid-Career Faculty Research Award, UW-Madison, 2010
• Silverstein-Simeone Award in Chemical Ecology. International Society of Chemical Ecology, 2009
• Commencement address, School of Integrative Biology, Univ. of Illinois-Urbana, 2009
• Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2006
• Fulbright Senior Scholar Award, Council for International Exchange of Scholars, 1997
• H.I. Romnes Award, UW-Madison, 1996
• Glenn Pound Award for Excellence in Research, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, UW-Madison, 1994

Link to CV

Areas of Expertise
American literature, faith and fiction, Christianity and culture, writing and composition, media studies, scholarly editing, university and nonprofit communications

Bio
Cassandra Nelson is a visiting fellow at the Lumen Center and an associate fellow at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. Her scholarship centers on faith and technology in American literature and contemporary culture, and has appeared in publications including Plough, Comment, Common Good, First Things, and The Point. Her first book, A Theology of Fiction, began as an essay of the same name for First Things and will be published in substantially expanded form by Wiseblood Books in early 2025.

In addition to her writing, Dr. Nelson has extensive editorial experience. Her work as a scholarly editor includes an edition of Samuel Beckett’s More Pricks than Kicks (1934) for Faber and Faber in 2010. She is currently at work on a collection of short stories by Betty Wahl, which is under contract with Catholic University of America Press as part of their Catholic Women Writers series. In addition, she serves as the editor of Metaxy, a monthly newsletter on moral ecology and character education published the Moral Ecology Trust.

From 2015 to 2018, she taught literature and composition at the United States Military Academy, where she developed a profound interest in effective and inspiring writing pedagogy for first-year undergraduates, virtue ethics, and character education.

External Appointments

• Associate Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia
• Editor, Metaxy, The Moral Ecology Trust

Selected Writing and Public Engagement

• VIDEO: From the Golden Mean to Median Humans: Technology and the Sinking Middle, Front Porch Republic 2023 Conference, Madison, WI, October 21, 2023.
• Tradition and the Individual Christian Talent: The Prospects for Catholic Fiction in the Twenty-First Century (review essay of two books about Catholic fiction), The Hedgehog Review 25.3 (Fall 2023), 142–147.
• Authority is Dead, Long Live Authority, Comment (Cardus), July 21, 2022.
• ‘Hard Liberty’: The Hellish Internet’s False Promise, Plough Quarterly, March 25, 2021.

Education

• Ph.D., English, Harvard University
• M.A., Editorial Studies, Boston University
• B.A., English, Boston University

Selected Honors/Awards

• Who’s Afraid of the Still, Small Voice? named an editor’s pick (and top 5th most read article of 2023) by Common Good magazine
• Meringoff Nonfiction Award, Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers, for Manichaeism and the Movies: Flannery O’Connor and the Roman Catholic Response to Film and Television at Midcentury (2014)

Link to CV

Areas of Expertise
Paul’s letters, biblical reception history, early Christian biblical interpretation and theology, theological interpretation of Scripture

Bio
Dr. Devin L. White serves the Lumen Center as its Fellow in Biblical Studies. Dr. White is the author of two books. The first, Teacher of the Nations, examines Paul’s reception of ancient educational traditions in 1 Corinthians. The second, Christ Reads in Me, is completed and awaiting publication. In it, Dr. White explores Origen of Alexandria’s reception of Paul’s hermeneutics and argues that Paul’s biblical interpretation remains a viable model for Christian exegesis of Scripture. Dr. White’s scholarly articles have appeared in various peer-reviewed journals and edited collections. He is beginning research on a third book, tentatively exploring the book of Colossians and its implications for Christian engagement with liberal democratic politics.

Dr. White enjoys working with a range of audiences, academic and popular. In addition to his published scholarship and service as an academic instructor, he frequently preaches and facilitates learning experiences in local churches.

External Appointments

• Associate Pastor of Christian Education, High Point Church (Madison, WI)

Experience

• Associate Pastor, High Point Church (Madison, WI) (2021-2024)
• Research Fellow in Biblical and Early Christian Studies, Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, Australian Catholic University (2017-2021)
• Adjunct Professor of New Testament Studies and Research Aid to the Dean, Candler School of Theology, Emory University (2016-2017)

Selected Writing and Public Engagement

• Christ Reads in Me
• Teacher of the Nations
• The Moral Miracle: Lectures on Romans 1-8

Education

• Ph.D. New Testament Studies, Emory University (2016)
  M.T.S. Biblical Studies, Candler School of Theology, Emory University (2010)
  B.A. Classics, Meijer Honors College, Grand Valley State University (2008)

Link to CV

Areas of expertise
European intellectual and religious history in the early modern era; history of Christianity; history of theology and biblical scholarship

Bio
Dr. Eric Carlsson is a Foundation Advisor for the Lumen Center. He also directs the Upper House Fellows Program and serves as Teaching Professor in the Department of History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is a historian of early modern Europe, with a research focus on the intersection of religion and Enlightenment thought, c. 1650-1800. At UW—Madison, he teaches a range of courses on European intellectual and religious history, the Enlightenment, and the history of Christianity. He has published articles on the history of Protestant theology in Germany in the eighteenth century and is currently writing a book on the seminal theologian and biblical scholar Johann Salomo Semler and the creation of Protestant “liberal theology” in the context of the German Enlightenment’s debates over the nature and place of religion in modern society.

External Appointments

• Teaching Associate, Department of History, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2010-present
• Director of Upper House Fellows Program, 2020-present

 Selected Writing and Public Engagement

• The Protestant Enlightenment. In The Oxford History of Modern German Theology, vol. 1, ed. Grant Kaplan and Kevin Vander Schel, 80-101. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023.
• Eighteenth-Century Neology. In The Oxford Handbook of Early Modern Theology, 1600-1800, ed. Ulrich Lehner, Richard Muller, and A. G. Roeber, 642-50. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
• Pietism and Enlightenment Theology’s Historical Turn: The Case of Johann Salomo Semler. In The Pietist Impulse in Christianity, ed. Christian T. Collins Winn, Christopher Gehrz, G.  William Carlson, and Eric Holst, 97-106. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2011.

Education

• Ph.D., History, University of Wisconsin–Madison
• M.A, History, University of Wisconsin–Madison
• M.Div., Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
• B.A., History, University of Michigan

 
Selected Honors/Awards

• Fellowship for Enlightenment Studies, Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für die Erforschung der Europäischen Aufklärung, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, 2023
• Excellence in Teaching and Student Engagement Award, Department of History, UW–Madison, 2023
• Fellow of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Teaching Academy, 2020-present
• Distinguished Honors Faculty Award, College of Letters & Science, UW–Madison, 2016
• University Housing Honored Instructor, UW–Madison, 2011, 2016

Link to CV

Areas of Expertise
Foreign policy, social justice, human rights, human trafficking, child protection, women’s wellbeing and land rights, international religious freedom

Bio
Dr. Jean Geran is a Foundation Advisor for the Lumen Center. Dr. Geran has extensive experience translating research into practice through her work in the academy, international organizations, think tanks and public service. She has held positions at the US Department of State and the National Security Council (White House) where she worked on an array of social justice issues including human rights, child protection, trafficking in persons, refugee policy, migration, governance, and women’s wellbeing. She was a Diplomacy Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) from 2001-2003 and has served as a representative of the United States to several bodies of the United Nations and other international organizations. She has appeared on BBC World News and was a regular contributor to Foreign Policy Magazine from 2009 to 2016.

Dr. Geran has experience speaking and teaching on human rights and related issues as an Adjunct Professor at George Washington University and as a Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

External Appointments

• Instructor, Upper House Fellows Program
• Director for Human Rights, Child Protection and Global Policy, 4W-STREETS, 2014-Present
• Leadership Circle, 4W (Women & Wellbeing in Wisconsin & the World) initiative
• Scientific Committee for the UNESCO Chair on Gender, Wellbeing and a Culture of Peace
• Affiliated Scholar, Center for Southeast Asian Studies

Selected Writing and Public Engagement

• Two-Way STREETS: An Anti-Human Trafficking Online Conversation Series. Social Transformations to End Exploitation and Trafficking for Sex (STREETS) Project. 4W Initiative, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• Policies and Services for Survivors of Sex Trafficking: A Report of the 4W STREETS of Hope Fora at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, July 2015 – September 2018. UNESCO Working Paper Series 004-04-2020. 4W Initiative, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• Shrinking States, Growing Statelessness. Shadow Government, Foreign Policy Magazine. June 29, 2016

Experience

• Foundation Advisor, The Lumen Center and Upper House, 2023-present
• Senior Fellow, Sagamore Institute, 2013-2017
• Member, Policy Planning Staff, US Department of State, 2006-2008
• Adjunct Professor, George Washington University, 2007
• Director for Democracy and Human Rights, National Security Council, 2004-2005
• Foreign Affairs Officer, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, US Department of State, 2001-2004
• Researcher, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1995
• Research Consultant, The World Bank, 1994

 
Education

• Ph.D., Development Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison 
• M.S., Resource Development, Michigan State University
• B.S.B.A., Georgetown University

 
Selected Honors/Awards

• Superior Honor Award for Secretarial Initiatives, US Department of State, 2007
• Distinguished Young Alumni Award, University of Wisconsin Alumni Association, 2006
• Superior Honor Award for Service in Iraq, US Department of State, November 2003
• Superior Honor Award for Human Rights Documentation in Burma, US Department of State, December 2003
• Diplomacy Fellowship, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2001-2003
• Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship – Thai, 1997-2001

Link to CV