Meet Our Faculty

We are very proud of our CRI faculty. From the inception of CRI nine years ago, we have been honored by an outstanding faculty, most of whom are professors at the major universities and seminaries of America. They are distinguished academics and superior teachers.

Mark Francisco Bozzuti-Jones. Mark is now a priest at Trinity Church Wall Street in New York. A former Jesuit, Mark is married to Kathy Bozzuti-Jones, the director of children, youth and families ministries at St. Bart’s. Mark was educated at the Jesuit institutions in the United States, and served as a missionary in Latin America.

Richard Brookhiser. Rick has been a columnist for Time Magazine, a regular contributor to National Review, and the author of many books about the founding fathers of our country. Rick is a graduate of Yale University. He, with his wife Dr. Jeanne Safer, are frequent teachers at CRI.

James H. Charlesworth. A long-time professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, where he is Collard Professor of New Testament, Jim Charlesworth is one of the leading experts on the Dead Sea Scrolls. He has published many books concerning the Second Temple period. Professor Charlesworth earned his doctorate at Duke.





Michael Collins. Michael is a familiar face around St. Bart’s, where he serves as the Verger (the major domo of all worship services.) Scholarly and thoughtful, he has made a life-long study of philosophy, which he began as a student at the University of California at Berkeley.

Michael Cook. Rabbi Cook is one of Judaism’s most probing scholar of the New Testament. His new book, Modern Jews Engage the New Testament, was stimulated by a series of lectures, which he gave at CRI several years ago. A teacher of great skill and a delightful lecturer, Michael has much to teach Christians about their holiest book. He is professor of inter-testamental literature at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati.

William Danaher. Bill Danaher earned his doctorate in Christian ethics at Yale, after which he served as a professor at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, and later at General Theological Seminary in New York. He is the newly appointed dean of theology at Huron University College in Canada. He is a new CRI faculty member.

Reuven Firestone. Reuven is probably the Jew who knows most about Islam in the world today. The holder of a doctorate from New York University, he is the author of the second volume in the CRI book series, Who Are the Real Chosen People. This book is based on a series of lectures he gave at CRI years ago. He is professor of Medieval Judaism and Islam at the Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles.

Deirdre Good. A professor of New Testament at General Theological Seminary, Deirdre has taught at CRI almost since its inception. She earned her doctorate at Harvard, and is one of CRI’s most popular teachers.

Don W. Harrell. Don’s classes in literature (poetry, novels, short stories) with a religious focus, are popular with a wide range of students. Don earned his doctorate in English at Vanderbilt, and after a career in Washington at the U.S. Senate and at TIAA-CREF, he is a regular at CRI.

Bradford Hinze. Brad and his wife Christine are both professors of theology at Fordham University. They both earned their doctorates at the University of Chicago. Brad’s probing intellect was made manifest in his previous CRI lecture. Don’t expect any routine ideas from him.

Alexei Khamin. Alexei returns to teach another class on the Russian Orthodox Church, and our necessity to understand it to fully understand Russia. A former Orthodox priest, he was ordained in the Episcopal Church a year ago. He is a member of the Anglican Mission to the UN. He earned his doctorate at Drew University.

J. Christopher King. With a doctorate in theology from Oxford University, Chris King has been an exciting teacher of ideas at CRI. An Episcopal priest and dedicated teacher, he returns to CRI to explore the Hebrew “Song of Songs” and its role as a love poem in Christian thinking.

Jonathan Kirsch is the author of ten books, including best-seller The Harlot by the Side of the Road: Forbidden Tales of the Bible. Kirsch is also a book columnist for the Los Angeles Times, a broadcaster for NPR affiliates KCRW-FM and KPCC-FM in Southern California, an adjunct professor on the faculty of New York University, and an attorney specializing in publishing law and intellectual property in Los Angeles. We welcome him back to CRI

Terrance Klein. Father Klein teaches theology at Fordham. He earned his doctorate at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, as well as a master’s degree from Notre Dame. His robust classes perhaps reveal his hobby of weight-lifting. Known for his wry approach to “great issues,” he charms his students while teaching them to understand more than they ever expected.

Amy-Jill Levine. A “nice Jewish girl” from Boston, A-J earned her doctorate at Duke and teaches New Testament at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. She is one of the most stimulating teachers we have every had at CRI, as well as being the author of numerous books, with a feminist slant. We welcome her back to CRI.

Daniel F. Polish. Rabbi Dan Polish is a long time CRI teacher, whose wide range of classes in Hinduism, Bible, and religious philosophy are a popular part of the CRI program. He earned his doctorate at Harvard in the history of religion.

Hussein Rashid. Hussein just completed his doctoral work at Harvard. He has been a regular CRI faculty member for the last several years, teaching courses in Islam, Qur’an and related fields. His courses evaluations are routinely raves.

Leonard Schoolman. Rabbi Schoolman is the founding director of the Center for Religious Inquiry, and he regularly teaches classes in Judaism, Bible and Hebrew. He is a graduate of the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, where he was ordained, and earned his master’s and doctoral degrees. He is author of The Changing Christian World: A Brief Introduction for Jews (2008.)

Phyllis Trible. Perhaps one of the first (or the first) feminist Bible scholars, Phyllis Trible spent most of her academic career at Union Theological Seminary in New York, where she recently retired as Baldwin Professor of Sacred Literature. We are delighted to have her back at CRI.