Gary Hall is a Methodist presbyter who teaches practical theology at the Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education in Birmingham, England. He has written widely about Mertonian spirituality and will lead a guided retreat based on Thomas Merton’s spirituality as part of the yearlong celebration of Merton’s centenary.

Christine M. Bochen is a professor of religious studies at Nazareth College in Rochester, N.Y. She is a founding member and past president of the International Thomas Merton Society and co-editor of The Thomas Merton Encyclopedia.

Parker J. Palmer is a Quaker elder, educator, activist and founder of the Center for Courage & Renewal, an organization that fosters leadership skills. He wrote about the impact reading Thomas Merton had on his life and work for the blog On Being. Contact via the Center for Courage & Renewal in Seattle. Palmer lives in […]

Daniel P. Horan is the author of The Franciscan Heart of Thomas Merton and a columnist for America magazine, where he recently wrote an essay about why Merton still matters, especially to millennials. He blogs at Dating God. He is a Franciscan monk based in Boston.

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 […]

Paul Elie is a senior fellow with the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and director of the American Pilgrimage Project. He is an expert on religion in literature, the arts and media. He is the author of The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American […]

Stephen Lind is a visiting professor of business administration at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va. He is the author of a forthcoming book about religion in the work of Charles M. Schulz.

Raymond Arnold is a New York-based humanist activist and organizer of the first Secular Solstice service, a December celebration for atheists, humanists and other nonbelievers that incorporates light, darkness, ritual and song.

Ken Wilson serves as a co-pastor of Blue Ocean Faith Ann Arbor. He was also the founding pastor at the Vineyard Church of Ann Arbor, Mich., an evangelical church. He is the author of A Letter to My Congregation: An Evangelical Pastor’s Path to Embracing People who are Gay, Lesbian and Transgender in the Company of Jesus. He […]