Unordained or untrained professional religious scholar
A lay theologian is a theologian "who is not ordained, or a theologian who has not been trained as a theologian".[1] Despite not being trained as theologian or ordained, lay theologians may have academic qualifications in other disciplines.
^Andrew Louth, Modern Orthodox Thinkers: From the Philokalia to the Present, InterVarsity Press, 2015, p. 247.