Lisa Sharon Harper is co-founder of New York Faith & Justice, a network of churches, organizations and individuals that work to end poverty and poverty-related violence in New York City.

Michael N. Nagler founded the Peace and Conflict Studies program at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is an emeritus professor. He is the author most recently of The Search for a Nonviolent Future: A Promise of Peace for Ourselves, Our Families and Our World (Inner Ocean, 2004), and he is a follower of the Indian […]

Arm in Arm, the Crisis Ministry of Princeton and Trenton, N.J., sponsors “Community Action Poverty Simulations,” in which people of different faiths learn what it is like to live in poverty. The organization targets hunger, homelessness and poverty with a variety of programs.

Heather Larkin is an assistant professor in the school of social welfare at the State University of New York in Albany. She has done research on the impact that childhood neglect and abuse has had on homeless people in Albany and Petaluma, Calif.

Jan G. Linn is author of Big Christianity: What’s Right with the Religious Left (Westminster John Knox, 2006) and a co-pastor of Spirit of Joy Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Minneapolis. A former college and seminary professor, Linn calls himself a “recovering fundamentalist” who wants to reclaim the idea of Christianity as generous, or liberal, and tolerant.

Stephen Wizner is William O. Douglas Clinical Professor of Law and Supervising Attorney at Yale Law School in New Haven, Conn. One of his areas of expertise is poverty law, and he has participated in conferences on law and religion.

Sister Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun, lecturer and writer, has been especially active on peace issues. She was a guest on an April 16 Meet the Press panel about faith and politics.

Aviva Luz Argote is executive director of the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.

Robert Jensen is a an associate professor of journalism at the University of Texas-Austin, where he teaches media law, ethics and politics. He is the author of the 2009 book, All My Bones Shake: Seeking a Progressive Path to the Prophetic Voice, which recounts his return to church and his commitment to progressive social activism.