Christian Smith

Dr. Christian Smith is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame. Smith is well known for his research focused on religion, adolescents and emerging adults, and social theory. Smith received his MA and PhD from Harvard University in 1990 and his BA from Gordon College in 1983. He was a Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for 12 years before his move to Notre Dame.

Michal Beth Dinkler

Dr. Michal Beth Dinkler is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Yale Divinity School. Professor Dinkler’s research lies at the intersection of New Testament and literary theory, focusing especially on the usefulness of narratological theories for the study of New Testament narratives. Her first book, Silent Statements: Narrative Representations of Speech and Silence in the Gospel of Luke (2013), demonstrates how close attention to speech and silence illuminates the plot, characterization, themes, and narrative rhetoric of Luke’s Gospel. Her second book, Literary Theory and New Testament Scholarship (YUP, in progress), guides students and scholars of the New Testament through the maze of heterogeneous phenomena associated with contemporary literary theory, and […]

Vanessa Zoltan

In addition to being the co-host of the popular podcast, Harry Potter & the Sacred Text,  Ms. Vanessa Zoltan is a research assistant at Harvard Divinity School. She graduated with her BA in English Literature and Writing from Washington University in St. Louis, her MS in Nonprofit Management from the University of Pennsylvania and her MDiv from Harvard Divinity School in 2015. She is working on a book about treating Jane Eyre as a sacred text. Her work with Jane Eyre and Harry Potter has been written about in The New York Times and covered on CNN. Vanessa blogs for the Huffington Post. She lives with 24 Harvard freshmen and her […]

Yara Gonzalez-Justiniano

Yara Gonzalez-Justiniano, originally from Puerto Rico, is a PhD student in Practical Theology at Boston University with concentration in Church and Society. Her research interests include Latinx theologies, cultural identity and memory studies, postcolonial theory, popular culture and popular religion. Yara is Under Care with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and is in the process of ordination. Yara, also works with different church communities in hopes of maintaining an open dialogue between academic endeavors and the church.

Paul Gorrell

Mr. Paul Gorrell is a poet and Founding Director of Peace Right Here, a non-profit organization working to recover and reshape imaginations to embrace, practice, and champion alternatives to violence.

Philip Browning Helsel

Rev. Dr. Philip Browning Helsel, is Assistant Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Previously he served for four years at Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. His current research interests include systemic pastoral care for oppression, migration as pastoral theology, collective trauma, and the care for families and kin networks, and pastoral care during a Trump presidency. He is author of Pastoral Power (Palgrave, 2015) a book in the New Approaches to Religion and Power Series that is the first full-length book in pastoral care to examine the Great Recession’s impact on mental health […]

Dominique Robinson

Rev. Dominique Robinson currently serves as the Youth & Young Adult Pastor at Shaw Temple AME Zion Church (Smyrna, GA).

Alaina Kleinbeck

Alaina Kleinbeck is Director of Youth Ministry Initiatives for the Duke Youth Academy for Christian Formation. Alaina has served youth ministries and organizations in suburban St. Louis, urban Houston, and Norway. She holds degrees from Concordia University Nebraska and Duke Divinity School. Before her time with the Duke Youth Academy, she was a Director of Christian Education working with middle school students.

John Leedy

Rev. John Leedy was raised in Houston, Texas and has been a life long Presbyterian. His calling into ministry began when he was a high school student and has since dedicated his life and work helping students understand their place in God’s world. John graduated from Abilene Christian University with a B.A. in Youth and Family Ministry and after marrying his wife, Krystal, in 2006, moved to Austin and completed a Master’s of Divinity degree from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 2011. John was ordained and installed as the Associate Pastor of Youth and Family Ministry at University Presbyterian Church […]

Miriam Acevedo

Miriam Acevedo is a Licensed Minister and directs the children’s programs at Damascus Christian Church in Hunt’s Point, the South Bronx, and is both a member of the faculty and Director of Operations at City Seminary of New York.

Tim Walsh

Tim Walsh is Director of Experiential Learning at Newport Academy, a teen rehabilitation center with the mission to provide teens and their families with care and treatment for trauma, mental health issues, eating disorders, and substance abuse. Walsh is a mental health professional, outdoor educator, certified recovery coach trainer, and recovery expert. He has more than 20 years of experience leading programs for young adults, adolescents, and families. Particularly, Tim has spent decades cultivating his expertise in program development. He is a thought leader in adventure-based counseling and recovery. However, his main areas of expertise include youth mentoring, outdoor leadership, […]

David C. Mahan

“It is at the level of the imagination that the fateful issues of our new world-experience must first be mastered” (Amos Wilder, Theopoetic).

This observation reflects a conviction that has inspired Dr. Mahan’s work as the Executive Director of the Rivendell Institute and a Christian scholar over the course of his nearly 30 years as a campus minister at Yale. In his commitment to serve the university, its students, faculty and staff he promotes a thoughtful, creative engagement with Christian faith in contemporary culture. Dr. Mahan’s fascination with the relationship between theology, the imagination and other academic disciplines has similarly guided […]