Perry Hamalis, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at North Central College in Naperville, IL, was born and raised in the Chicago area.  He attended Boston College, earning a B.A. in Philosophy Summa cum Laude in 1992.  After undergraduate studies, he first finished a Master of Divinity degree at Holy Cross School of Theology before he and his spouse, Pat, returned to Chicago in order to pursue Ph.D. studies—his wife’s in Nursing at Loyola University and his in Ethics at the University of Chicago.  Dr. Hamalis finished his Ph.D. in 2004, focusing his research in the area of Christian social thought.

Dr. Hamalis’s broader interests include the themes of death and fear of death, politics and religion, and applied ethics.  While his works have been published among other places, in the Journal of Religion and the Encyclopedia of American Religion and Politics, his real passion is teaching and engaging others in conversation.

For him, the Ask God! program reflects a deep truth about human nature—we are inescapably relational creatures who long to understand and be understood.  Ask God!, he believes, provides a space for us to be truly human in this way, and to promote such searching and sharing within the lives of the viewers.

Together with his wife and his two children, Michael and Gia, Dr. Hamalis worships at Holy Apostles Greek Orthodox Church in Westchester, Illinois, where he also serves as a chanter and occasional preacher.  He is a firm supporter of interfaith dialogue and of the potential to transform both hearts and social structures through authentic and respectful conversation.