Stuart Z. Charmé is a professor of religion at Rutgers University at the campus in Camden, N.J. For more than a decade, Charmé has interviewed Jewish children and teenagers about their religious beliefs and ideas – focusing particularly on how gender affects a child’s understanding of Jewish history and practice.

Thomas Lickona is a developmental psychologist and education professor at the State University of New York at Cortland. He also directs the Center for the 4th and 5th Rs (Respect and Responsibility), which emphasizes the development of character and ethics in children. He is the author of Character Matters: How to Help Our Children Develop Good Judgment, Integrity and Other Essential […]

Mollie Painton is a licensed psychologist and play therapist from Fort Collins, Colo., and founder of the SpiritPlay Institute. She is the author of the 2007 book Encouraging Your Child’s Spiritual Intelligence and says that spiritual children – compassionate and wise – can be healers and teachers for the world.

Kevin E. Lawson is a professor of Christian education at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University in La Mirada, Calif. He helped organize a national conference in 2003 on children’s spirituality (such conferences are being held every three years) and can speak about trends in children’s ministry.

Marcia McQuitty, an experienced preschool educator, is associate professor of childhood ministry at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

Brett Webb-Mitchell, a Presbyterian minister, is founder and director of the School of the Pilgrim in Carrboro, North Carolina, which encourages people to experience pilgrimages and other Christian practices. A former president of the religion division of the American Association on Mental Retardation, Webb-Mitchell is the author of God Plays Piano Too: The Spiritual Lives of […]

Phyllis Mark is coordinator of children’s meditation programs at the Birmingham Shambhala Meditation Center in Alabama. The center offers programs for children to learn about Buddhism and meditation.

Holly Catterton Allen is associate professor of Christian ministries and director of the Children and Family Ministry Program at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Ark. She frequently speaks and writes on children’s spirituality.

Catherine Stonehouse is Orlean Bullard Beeson Professor of Christian Discipleship at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky., and co-author of Children Matter: Celebrating Their Place in the Church, Family and Community.