Wendy Cadge is an associate professor of sociology at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. She has written widely about homosexuality and Christianity, especially as it pertains to mainline Protestantism.

The Very Rev. Ian Markham is the dean and president of Virginia Theological Seminary. He is an expert on mainline Christianity, and he wrote a book, with the Rev. Martyn Percy of Oxford, called Why Liberal Churches Are Growing. Markham is also the author of Against Atheism: Why Dawkins, Hitchens and Harris Are Fundamentally Wrong.

Catherine A. Brekus is an American religious historian at the University of Chicago Divinity School. She is especially interested in early America and co-wrote a book titled American Christianities: A History of Dominance and Diversity.

Garry Wills teaches cultural history at Northwestern University in Illinois and is a prolific author of books about American history, government and religion.

Young children struggle with issues of beauty, too. Etan Boritzer’s book What is Beautiful? (Veronica Lane Books, 2002), aimed at children ages 4 to 10, explores religious and physical aspects of beauty by emphasizing “the inside stuff.”

Read an essay by Rebbetzin Feige Twerski, who is Jewish, about the relationship between beauty and God as expressed in the form of the human body.

Read an essay by beliefnet.com columnist Frederica Mathewes-Green about how cosmetic surgery can move people further away from the idea of being made in God’s image.

The Rev. Sheron Patterson is known for her books and her radio program, The Love Clinic. They focus on Christian relationships, particularly of African-American women. She is senior pastor of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Dallas.

Madeline Crabb is a Christian and self-proclaimed “modesty consultant” who believes that many Christian women need a dose of restraint in their appearance. Crabb is the author of Dressing to Please God: Clothing the Mind, Body, and Spirit, a Training Manual, which offers biblical guidelines for female fashion and personal care. She lives in Bloomington, Ind.