Abram Van Engen is an associate professor of english and a faculty affiliate of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis, where his interests include early American literature and culture, Puritanism, sentimentalism, and religion.

Alain de Botton is a philosopher who writes frequently about religion, arts and contemporary culture. He is the author of Religion for Atheists, in which he discusses what religious art and art forms can convey to nonbelievers. He is also outspoken on the role and format of most art museums. He lives in London. Contact via the form […]

James Najarian is editor of the journal Religion and the Arts at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Barbara Green is a professor of biblical studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif. Her research includes Christian spirituality and biblically based fiction.

Kathleen Deignan is a Catholic nun, theologian, singer, composer and Merton scholar. Many of her compositions are based on the writings of Merton and are recorded by Schola Ministries in Washington, D.C. She has served on the board of directors of the International Thomas Merton Society.

Michael W. Higgins is vice president for mission and Catholic identity at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn. He is the author of several books on Thomas Merton, including Thomas Merton: Faithful Visionary and Heretic Blood: The Spiritual Geography of Thomas Merton. Higgins is also an expert on the Catholic writer Henri Nouwen and on the path […]