Read an essay by beliefnet.com columnist Frederica Mathewes-Green about how cosmetic surgery can move people further away from the idea of being made in God’s image.

The Rev. Sheron Patterson is known for her books and her radio program, The Love Clinic. They focus on Christian relationships, particularly of African-American women. She is senior pastor of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Dallas.

Madeline Crabb is a Christian and self-proclaimed “modesty consultant” who believes that many Christian women need a dose of restraint in their appearance. Crabb is the author of Dressing to Please God: Clothing the Mind, Body, and Spirit, a Training Manual, which offers biblical guidelines for female fashion and personal care. She lives in Bloomington, Ind.

Richard Viladesau is author of Theological Aesthetics: God in Imagination, Beauty and Art (Oxford University Press, 1999), in which he discusses how beauty can reveal the divine. He is a professor of theology at Fordham University, a Catholic institution in New York, N.Y.

Lilian Calles Barger is an independent historian and the author of Eve’s Revenge: Women and a Spirituality of the Body, an examination of women’s relationships with their bodies and how that affects their Christianity. Contact via her website.

CIRCLE (The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement) at Tufts University in Medford, Mass., conducts research on the civic and political engagement of Americans between the ages of 15 and 25. It posts research on its Web site.

See “The Historically Low Summer and Year Round 2008 Teen Employment Rate,” a September 2008 study by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University.

The 2011 Volunteering in America study details volunteering trends nationally and provides data by state and city. It includes information about college students.

“Building Active Citizens: The Role of Social Institutions in Teen Volunteering” is a study by the Corporation for National and Community Service. Based on 2004 data, it found that 55 percent of teens volunteered through a formal organization that year.