David Baggett, professor of philosophy at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., co-edited Harry Potter and Philosophy.

W. Christopher Stewart works at Templeton Religion Trust as its Vice President of Grant Programs.He is on leave of absence from teaching philosophy at Houghton College in Houghton, N.Y., and co-authored, with Houghton colleague Ben Lipscomb, a chapter for Harry Potter and Philosophy. 

Tom Morris, a philosopher, author and president of the Morris Institute for Human Values in Wilmington, N.C., contributed a chapter to a book on philosophy and Harry Potter from Open Court Publishing. Morris’ chapter concerns courage. Morris’ books include If Aristotle Ran General Motors (Henry Holt & Co., 1998) and Philosophy for Dummies (For Dummies, 1999).

Penny Linsenmayer of Houston, Texas, helped organize Nimbus 2003, the first international symposium about Harry Potter, held in July 2003. Linsenmayer founded the Harry Potter for Grownups Internet discussion group, which has nearly 7,000 members.

The Rev. Francis Bridger is dean of the Diocese of Brechin in Scotland. He was formerly ecclesiastical professor of Anglican studies and executive director of the Center for Anglican Communion Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. He is the author of A Charmed Life: The Spirituality of Potterworld.

Robert L. Brown is a professor of art history at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has written about Buddhism, asceticism, health and the body.

Jill Dubisch is a professor of anthropology at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. She has written about religious aspects of the health food movement in a journal about magic, witchcraft and the supernatural.

Marleen Williams is a clinical professor of counseling psychology at Brigham Young University, a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints school in Provo, Utah. She specializes in women’s mental health and focuses her research on eating disorders, depression, trauma and spirituality in women. She says religious beliefs that see the body as a God-given gift […]

Stacey Kole Shetler is a former Miss Arizona USA (1998) who speaks to young people about how her relationship with Jesus Christ helped her battle an eating disorder. She says anorexia is not uncommon in Christian households because it is the “good girl’s syndrome.” It does not involve a taboo substance, such as alcohol or drugs, […]