Thomas Anthony Shannon is professor of religion and ethics at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass. He wrote Made in Whose Image?: Genetic Engineering and Christian Ethics (Humanity Books, 2000) and co-wrote New Genetic Medicine: Theological and Ethical Reflections (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003).

Alicia McNary Forsey is a research professor at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, Calif. She authored an essay, “Attitudes About Money in Theological Schools.”

Gregory Schopen is a professor of South Asian Buddhism in the department of Asian languages and cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has written on the role of money in Buddhism, especially in India.

Michael David Bonner is a professor of Near Eastern studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He has written on money and Islam, including the entry “Wealth” in the Encyclopedia of the Qur’an.

Michael M. Mendiola was associate professor of Christian ethics for the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif. He wrote the article “Human Embryonic Stem Cells: Possible Approaches from a Catholic Perspective” for The Human Embryonic Stem Cell Debate (MIT Press, 2001). Mendiola passed away in 2008.

Dr. Irving Weissman is head of the stem cell research program at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. He opposes an effort to repeal California’s law legalizing embryonic stem cell research.

Jane Maienschein is a professor of history and philosophy of science at Arizona State University in Tempe. She wrote Whose View of Life?: Embryos, Cloning, and Stem Cells (Harvard University Press, 2003).

Roger J. Nemeth is a sociology professor at Hope College in Holland, Mich. He has written about finances and congregations, including an essay, “The Religious Basis of Charitable Giving in America: A Social Capital Perspective” for the volume Religion, Social Capital and Democratic Life.

Steven Jacobs is a professor of religious studies and holds the Aaron Aronov Chair of Judaic Studies at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. He can comment on altruism as a scholar of modern Jewish thought and from a post-Holocaust perspective.