Dr. Cynthia E Lumley, Principal
Cynthia Lumley MA PhD HonFBTS has been the Principal of Westfield House since August 2013. She was born in Canada but moved to the UK for higher education and is now a naturalised British citizen. Cynthia began her ‘second’ career – in theology – at Westfield House in 2007, after having gained a PhD in Radiation Biology for her work on “The effect of metabolism on radiosensitizing and chemopotentiating properties of nitro-heterocyclic compounds in vitro” and working in the pharmaceutical industry for almost 25 years. Her research at that time focused on toxicity testing of new medicines and the predictive value of animal tests for man, which lead to her election as the first female chairman of the British Toxicology Society (1996-1998).
Subsequent to her move to theology, she completed a Masters degree at Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne (CTSFW), USA, was commissioned as a deaconess in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (2010) and taught at CTSFW as Associate Director of Deaconess Studies before returning to the UK to become the Westfield House Principal. She received an MA in Christianity and the Arts from Kings College, University of London in 2016, and teaches that subject at Westfield House. Cynthia continues to be interested in the ways in which theological concepts can be communicated via visual art. Her current research interests also include liberal arts higher education and particularly the ways in which theology can be used as a linking discipline. She began an EdD programme at the University of Nottingham on this topic in 2021.
Dr. Boris Gunjević, Lecturer in Theology, Metaphysics & Hermeneutics
Director of Theological Studies
Dr Gunjević was ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Croatia (ELCC) in 1998 and was awarded his PhD in 2012 from the Catholic Theological Faculty in Zagreb, Croatia. He was ordained in 1998. In December 2013 he was colloquized into the pastorate of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in England. Since 2013 Boris has been a Tutor in Theology, Philosophy of Religion and Christian Doctrine at Westfield House. From 2004 until 2013 he was an Assistant Professor at the Theological Faculty ‘Matthias Flacius Illyricus’, Zagreb where he lectured in History of Philosophy, Liturgical Studies and Political Theology.
He has published five books: God in Pain: Inversions of Apocalypse (2012) with Slavoj Žižek, which has been contracted for publication into ten languages; Evangelicals not Angels (2007) with his wife Lidija, on the history of the Lutheran Church in Croatia; and monographs entitled Those Who are Here are From Here (2010), Crucified Subject: Without Grail (2010) and Everyday Alchemy: Synergy of the Weak (2016). He co-edited a book by Francois Laruelle entitled The Non-Philosophy Project.
He is a Research Associate at the Von Hügel Institute for Critical Catholic Enquiry (St. Edmund’s College). His research interests are primarily in establishing relationships between an archaeology of spiritual exercises in everyday life, mimetic theory and biopolitics. Other main areas of his research include a constructive metaphysical reading of the Bible and a critical inquiry into “small lights of grace” in theology, philosophy and literature. His current project is a reflection on forms of life and forms of discourse using the theoretical tools and concepts of Gilles Deleuze, Michel De Certeau and Giorgio Agamben.
Dr. Joel Richard Humann, Lecturer in Mathematics, Astronomy & Music
Preceptor of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Dr Humann’s current active area of research is in the field of Extragalactic Astrophysics and Cosmology. Having completed an MSc in Astrophysics at Liverpool John Moores University (2019), he is currently pursuing a second doctoral degree at the University of Hertfordshire, employing computational astrophysical techniques and simulations to study the morphology and emission of relativistic jets arising from the active galactic nuclei of radio galaxies. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Pharmacology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario in 1992, and a Diploma in Applied Music from Mohawk College in 1995. He has worked professionally as a double bass player since 1995 and continues to gig regularly throughout Cambridge, London and the East of England, and teaches double bass and electric bass in the classical, jazz and pop genres. Joel first came to the United Kingdom from Canada where he pursued postgraduate studies in theology, earning his PhD in 2011 at the University of Durham in the field of the Hebrew Bible, with a thesis entitled The Ceremony of the Red Heifer: Its Purpose and Function in Narrative Context. He maintains an active interest the Torah and the temple theology of middle Judaism and the intersections between religion, theology and cosmology in both the ancient and modern world. He also lectures on British Science Fiction literature.
Caroline Yates, Study Abroad Director
Caroline has over 15 years’ experience managing study abroad programmes and student exchanges. She was Institutional Erasmus Coordinator at the University of Cambridge and Study Abroad Advisor at Anglia Ruskin University, where she ran exchange programmes in North America and Europe. Caroline has held positions at two the Colleges of the University of Cambridge; Sidney Sussex and Jesus College, and has experience of working in several of the Faculties and Departments within the University.
Caroline shares her time between managing the Study Abroad programmes at Westfield House, and being on-site coordinator of the Valparaiso University Study Center in Cambridge. She runs a travel programme within the UK, taking the students to places of historical and cultural interest.
She holds a Natural Science degree from the University of Durham (1998), and a Professional Certificate in Skin and Follicle Science from University College Dublin (2022).
Dr Paul Holtorf, Visiting Lecturer in Theology
Paul attended Concordia University Nebraska, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in History and in the Pre-Seminary Program. He graduated from Concordia University Nebraska in 1987 and enrolled at Concordia Seminary St. Louis, Missouri. He received his Master of Divinity degree in 1991 and was extended a call to congregational ministry in the Nebraska District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. While serving in congregational ministry, he completed a Master of Parish Education degree from Concordia University Nebraska. He left congregational ministry to enroll in a Doctor of Philosophy program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He returned to congregational ministry in the Nebraska District until he received a call to teach at Concordia University Nebraska in the Theology, Philosophy, and Biblical Languages department in 1999.
At Concordia, he has served in a variety of administrative and teaching positions. Paul served as Dean of the Graduate Programs and currently serves as the department chair of the Theology, Philosophy, and Biblical Languages. He is also the program director of the Classical Lutheran Education Certificate. His focus of teaching is in the areas of Biblical interpretation, New Testament studies, religious history, and ministry courses involving vocation and service in contemporary culture. He has been a part of travel course experiences to Papua New Guinea and the Holy Land.
Dr Priscilla Garcia, Associate Lecturer in Human and Social Sciences
Priscilla holds a PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge and an MA in Anthropology from the University of California, San Diego. She has held various teaching appointments at different universities in Brazil the United States and the University of Cambridge, where she currently teaches undergraduate students from the Faculty of Human, Social, and Political Science.
Her research examines the relationship between Christian religious values, ethics, and politics, focusing on the different dimensions of ‘political engagement’ and their relation to the constitution of the individual and collective self, expressed in the church and in society. Conducting 18 months of fieldwork among Evangelical Christians from a conservative megachurch in Brazil, Dr Garcia’s research explores the presence of conservative Christians in politics and the recent return of Christian nationalism and conservativism to the public square. She is also interested in the articulations between cultural values and religious and political ritual, gender, and the use of language in the church and in the public sphere. Her interdisciplinary research engages social anthropology with the sociology of religion, philosophy, and theology.
Priscilla is also a member of Clare Hall, Cambridge and the Cambridge Interfaith Programme, Faculty of Divinity, at the University of Cambridge.
Dr Lidija Gunjević, Associate Lecturer in Theological and Classical Languages
Lidija first came to Cambridge, UK from Croatia as a visiting PhD student. She earned her PhD in 2014 from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia in the field of theology, with a dissertation entitled “Biblical Jubilee: Biblical Perspectives and the Interpretation of Jubilee in the Theology of Jürgen Moltmann”. Her thesis was published by Brill in 2018, Biblical Interpretation Series.
Recently, she worked on the Central and Eastern European Bible Commentary (one volume) as a Theological Editor for the Wisdom Literature; Book of Numbers; Book of Daniel and as an Author on the Commentaries on the Book of Leviticus; Psalms 1-41; Song of Songs and the Book of Jonah. The Bible Commentary was published by Langham Partnership, UK, in 2022.
Lidija is also a fully qualified and registered Psychotherapeutic Counsellor for children, adolescents and adults. She has earned her Postgraduate Diploma in Psychotherapeutic Counselling from the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, UK. Right now, she is working as a Psychotherapeutic Counsellor in Cambridge. Her particular interest is working with adolescents, undergraduate/postgraduate and PhD students.
Dr David Rogner, Visiting Lecturer in English Literature
David is Distinguished Professor of English at Concordia University Chicago, his alma mater, where he has taught since 1986. He received his M.A. from Central Missouri State University and his Ph.D. from Loyola University Chicago. He teaches courses in British literature, literary theory, humanities, and poetry writing. His research interests include Romantic poetry, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, hymnody, and art and poetry about the life of Christ. He has published poetry in various journals and written the texts for numerous hymns and choral anthems, including hymns in Lutheran Service Book and One and All Rejoice. For CUC’s Center for Church Music, he compiled and edited Dawnlight Breaks, an edition of the hymn texts of F. Samuel Janzow.
Dr Nyssa Wilton, Academic Skills Tutor
Nyssa Wilton supports the students at Westfield House with both writing and study skills. She is an experienced study skills tutor, having worked at both British and American universities. She has a PhD in Rhetoric and English literature from the University of Texas at Austin and is currently the Academic Skills Tutor at Trinity College, Cambridge.
Nyssa is passionate about teaching, and her primary teaching goals are to bolster students’ confidence and skills and to make implicit, unstated rules explicit.