Current Visiting Scholars

Lisa De Boer teaches the history of art at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. Professor De Boer earned her BA in German and Art History at Calvin College, and her MA and PhD in Art History at the University of Michigan, specializing in the art of Early Modern Northern Europe. Among other awards, Dr. DeBoer has been the recipient of a Javits Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship, and a Lilly Fellows Post-Doctoral Fellowship. Professor DeBoer’s current research focuses on the historical contexts and sociological forces that have reshaped the role of the visual arts in American churches--Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant--over the last sixty years. Her most recent publication in this area is a short essay titled “Faith in Art,” in Re-Enchantment (Routledge, 2009), edited by James Elkins and David Morgan.

Steve Guthrie is Associate Professor of Theology at Belmont University in Nashville Tennessee. He studied music theory at the University of Michigan before going on to earn his PhD in theology from the University of St. Andrews. In 2005 he came to Belmont University to launch a new program in Religion and the Arts. Dr. Guthrie's publications include Creator Spirit: The Holy Spirit and the Art of Becoming Human (Baker Academic) and Resonant Witness: Conversations between Music and Theology (ed. with Jeremy Begbie; Eerdmans). He has worked as a professional musician and church minister of music and continues to perform regularly in the Nashville area with the band "SixtyFour." During his time at Calvin he will be working on a monograph on theology and the cognitive science of music.

Andy Mc Coy recently completed his PhD in Theology at the University of St. Andrews under the supervision of Jeremy Begbie and Trevor Hart. He is a native of the Austin, TX area. His research and teaching interests lie in two primary areas: worship/liturgical arts and the intersection of theology and counseling. His dissertation concerned the interrelationship of lament and praise in response to human suffering. His current work is a publishing project on lament and the Psalms with a specific focus on a biblically-engaged theology of Christian worship amidst suffering.

In 2005, Richard Nenge earned his master's degree and taught religious studies at Nyadire Teacher's College in Mutoko, located in northeastern Zimbabwe. Due to political unrest, in 2009 Nenge got a job at the Open University of Zimbabwe, where he pioneered a program of religious studies. After more escalating threats against his life, Nenge contacted the Scholar Rescue Fund, a program of the Institute of International Education (IIE). James King, a 2004 Calvin graduate in middle eastern studies and the program officer for the Scholar Rescue Fund, put Nenge in touch with Calvin. While at Calvin, Professor Nenge will be contributing to several classes as well as dedicating study to his current research which links the impact of biblical teaching about women's roles with the treatment of HIV/AIDS.

Rune Øystese graduated from Teachers College in Bergen, and received his master's degree in Christianity at NLA University College, Norway. He is currently an Associate professor of Religious Education at NLA University College. Since 2002 Mr. Øystese has been active in the Faith Formation Reform in Church of Norway, perhaps the biggest effort for change in Church of Norway since the seventeenth century. Rune is also an active trainer of faith formation methods, and has conducted more than twenty three-day courses teaching the methods: Walk through the Bible for Children, Gudsrikeleiken (The Norwegian version of Godly Play, and developing and teaching what is called Bibelreisen (A travel through the Bible).

Vigdis Øystese graduated from Bergen Teacher College with a degree in Teacher Education and a major in music, and went on to receive her Cand.philol. (equivalent to M.A.) with a major in Scandinavian Studies at the University of Bergen. She is currently working on her doctoral thesis, focusing on the imagery in hymns in the Church of Norway. Vigdis is also an Assistant Professor, Department of Norwegian literature and language at NLA University College.

Lifeng Zhang graduated from Peking University and received his PhD degree in June 2004. He has been working in the metaphysics of modality and some related areas, extending his research to the philosophy of religion. He believes modality is of great importance to the philosophy of religion. His academic interest in philosophy of religion is due to reading such modal philosophers as David Lewis, Alvin Plantinga, and Robert Adams. Dr. Zhang will be studying Professor Plantinga’s philosophy of religion.