Contributors

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  Jana Harmon

  Senior Fellow For Christian Apologetics, CSLI
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Team Members

Jana Harmon
Senior Fellow For Christian Apologetics, CSLI
Jana Harmon, Ph.D, is the Senior Fellow For Christian Apologetics for the C.S. Lewis Institute and a Teaching Fellow for C.S. Lewis Institute Atlanta. She serves on the Atlanta Advisory Board and as an Adjunct Professor of Cultural Apologetics at Biola University. Her doctoral research studied the religious conversion of atheists to Christianity looking at the perspectives and stories of 50 former Atheists. She views apologetics through a practical, evangelistic lens. She is the host of the podcast eX-skeptic for the C.S. Lewis Institute. Jana received her PhD from the University of Birmingham, England.
 
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  Rich Suplita

  Apologist
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Team Members

Rich Suplita
Apologist
Rich Suplita, Apologist, is a former atheist and neuroscience professor who serves at the University of Georgia.
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  Randy Newman

  Senior Fellow for Apologetics and Evangelism, CSLI
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Team Members

Randy Newman
Senior Fellow for Apologetics and Evangelism, CSLI
Randy Newman (1956-2024) was the Senior Fellow for Apologetics and Evangelism at the C.S. Lewis Institute. He taught at several evangelical seminaries. After serving for over 30 years with Campus Crusade for Christ, he established Connection Points, a ministry to help Christians engage people’s hearts the way Jesus did. He has written seven books, Questioning Evangelism, Corner Conversations, Bringing the Gospel Home, Engaging with Jewish People, Unlikely Converts: Improbable Stories of Faith and What They Teach Us About Evangelism, Mere Evangelism. and his most recent, Questioning Faith: Indirect Journeys of Belief through Terrains of Doubt. Randy has also written numerous articles about evangelism and other ways our lives intertwine with God’s creation. He earned his MDiv and PhD in Intercultural Studies from Trinity International University. Randy went home to be with the Lord in May 2024.
 
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  Diana Pavlac Glyer

  Author
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Team Members

Diana Pavlac Glyer
Author

Diana Pavlac Glyer, Author, is a writer, speaker and teacher whose work centers on C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and the Inklings. She is the author of Bandersnatch and A Compass for Deep Heaven. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Chicago and teaches in the Honors College at Azusa Pacific University in California.
 
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  Aaron Welty

  Motivational Speaker
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Team Members

Aaron Welty
Motivational Speaker
Aaron Welty was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy as a new born, he overcame those early years of low expectations to serve as the Senior Legislative Assistant for Michigan’s 11^th Congressional District, wherein he focused on a variety of policy issues. He graduated from Cedarville University in 2006 with a degree in Public Administration. Prior to working on Capitol Hill, Aaron worked in Marketing and Media at The Heritage Foundation. Passionate about the ideas of individual purpose and destiny, his unique story of faith, family, perseverance and chasing dreams has been shared on NBC Nightly News, various radio programs, Roll Call – a nationally syndicated newspaper – and Facing Life Head On, a life-issues focused television program.
 
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  Aimee Riegert

  CSLI Fellow
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Team Members

Aimee Riegert
CSLI Fellow
Aimee Riegert, CSLI Fellow, earned bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and foreign language studies from Southern Methodist University. In addition to supporting various national security efforts in Northern Virginia, she has worked as an itinerant high school math teacher and drama coach, and has served in women’s ministries, praise teams, on the adult support team for Young Life and as a “mentor mom” for MOPS International ministries, as well as English instructor in several ESL programs in Japan. She is a graduate of the C.S. Lewis Institute Year One Fellows Program.
 
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  Michael Ward

  Professor
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Team Members

Michael Ward
Professor
Michael Ward is a member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford and Professor of Apologetics at Houston Baptist University. He studied English at the University of Oxford, theology at the University of Cambridge, and he earned his PhD in Divinity at the University of St. Andrews. He is the author and editor of multiple books, most notably the award-winning Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis, After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man and The Cambridge Companion to C.S. Lewis. On the fiftieth anniversary of Lewis’s death, Dr. Ward unveiled a permanent national memorial to Lewis in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey, London.

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  Alexandra Dieckmann

  Writer
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Team Members

Alexandra Dieckmann
Writer
Alexandra Dieckmann graduated from Liberty University with a BS in Journalism. Alexandra has worked in several career fields since graduating including both print and broadcast news. As a former reporter, her written work has been published in The Long Island Herald, on Long Island, NY. Alexandra has also published freelance articles for organizations such as The Arts at Henson-Parks, Inc., a non-profit in Jamaica, NY, and Reformation Metro New York, Inc., a regional church outreach program.
 
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  Leah Libresco

  Author
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Team Members

Leah Libresco
Author
Leah Libresco, Author, is a former atheist whose search to find the grounding of objective morality led her to God. She is the author of: Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option.

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  C.S. Lewis Institute

  Author
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Team Members

C.S. Lewis Institute
Author
C.S. Lewis Institute, in the legacy of C.S. Lewis, works to develop wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ who will articulate, defend, share, and live their faith in personal and public life. Founded in 1976 by Dr. James Houston and James R. Hiskey, the Institute provides leading teachers who address important issues of the day from the perspective of Biblical orthodoxy, while also providing discipleship for individuals in small groups.
 
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  Joseph A. Kohm

  Vice President for Development, CSLI & CSLI City Director, Virginia Beach
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Team Members

Joseph A. Kohm
Vice President for Development, CSLI & CSLI City Director, Virginia BeachJoseph A. Kohm, C.S. Lewis Institute Vice President for Development and City Director for Virginia Beach. Joe is an attorney and formerly worked as a Certified Major League Baseball Player Agent. He earned his Master’s in Management Science from the State University of New York at Oswego and both his J.D. and M.Div. from Regent University. Joe is the author of The Unknown Garden of Another’s Heart: The Surprising Friendship between C.S. Lewis and Arthur Greeves (Wipf and Stock, 2022.)  
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  Cameron McAllister

  Director of Apologetics, CSLI
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Team Members

Cameron McAllister
Director of Apologetics, CSLICameron McAllister is Director of Apologetics for the C.S. Lewis Institute. He cofounded Thinking Out Loud, where he’s a speaker, writer and one half of the Thinking Out Loud podcast, a weekly podcast about current events and Christian hope. He and his father co-authored Faith That Lasts: A Father and Son on Cultivating Lifelong Belief. A staff writer with Christ & Pop Culture, Cameron’s writing has appeared in Christianity Today, Relevant Magazine, Think Christian, and Fathom Magazine. He holds a master’s degree in apologetics from Houston Baptist University. Cameron and his wife Heather live in the Atlanta area with their two children. Support the ministry of Cameron with CSLI.  
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  David C. Downing

  Author
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Team Members

David C. Downing
Author
David C. Downing, Author, is the Co-Director of the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College in Illinois. He earned his PhD from UCLA and has written four scholarly books on C.S. Lewis: Planets in Peril (1992), The Most Reluctant Convert (2002), Into the Wardrobe (2005), and Into the Region of Awe (2005.) Downing also provided a critical introduction and over 400 explanatory notes to the new edition of C.S. Lewis's The Pilgrim's Regress, originally published in 1933 and reissued by Eerdmans in the Wade Center Annotated Edition (2014). Downing is a consulting reader on C.S. Lewis for the Publications of the Modern Languages Association (PMLA), as well as Christian Scholars Review and Religion and Literature.