Paul A. Offit is director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphiaas well as the Maurice R. Hilleman professor of vaccinology and a professor of pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.. He is also an author, most recently of the book “Bad Faith: When Religious Belief Undermines […]

Jonathan Romain is a British Reform rabbi and commentator on ethical issues. He is the minister at Maidenhead Synagogue in Berkshire, England. He contributes to The Times of London, The Independent, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, and The Jewish Chronicle, among others.

Abed Awad is an attorney and public speaker based in New Jersey and New York. He focuses on general civil litigation, including complex matrimonial law, commercial law, Islamic law and international law. Awad has an academic knowledge of shari’a and the laws of Arab countries. He holds a J.D. and a master’s degree in Near and Middle East Studies from the University of […]

Asifa Quraishi-Landes is a professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Law and specializes in comparative Islamic and American constitutional law. She is currently focusing on modern Islamic constitutional theory. Quraishi is a 2009 Carnegie Scholar and 2012 Guggenheim Fellow.

Cristóbal Serrán-Pagán y Fuentes is an associate professor of philosophy and religious studies at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Ga. He is leading a daylong celebration of Thomas Merton and the Spanish mystics Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross as part of the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University’s 100th anniversary celebration of […]

Kathleen Deignan is a Catholic nun, theologian, singer, composer and Merton scholar. Many of her compositions are based on the writings of Merton and are recorded by Schola Ministries in Washington, D.C. She has served on the board of directors of the International Thomas Merton Society.

Jonathan Montaldo is one of the foremost Thomas Merton scholars and interpreters of  his writings. Montaldo has served as associate director of the Merton Institute for Contemplative Living, director of a retreat center near Merton’s Abbey of Gethsemani and director of the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University. Montaldo is also editor of the 10-volume Bridges to Contemplative […]