Pope Benedict’s first encyclical. An encyclical is considered one of the most authoritative documents from the pen of the pope, and a new pontiff’s first encyclical is considered something of a “mission statement” for the rest of the pontificate. Benedict’s first, Deus Caritas Est, or God is Love, was considered surprising by some in that […]

Article by the Rev. Richard John Neuhaus about American dissent to official Vatican positions on sexuality as well as criticism of some of Pope Benedict’s early appointments of bishops including promoting the archbishop of San Francisco, William Levada, to succeed himself at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as the church’s doctrinal gatekeeper and the […]

Carol J. Adams is an independent scholar and self described “feminist-vegan” based in Dallas, Texas. She writes and lectures widely. She has written about the relationships between religion and animals.

Lorenzo Cohen is a professor of medicine and director of the integrative medicine program at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Cohen has investigated the benefits of different forms of yoga for women undergoing breast cancer treatment.  

Ingrid Mattson holds the London and Windsor Community Chair in Islamic Studies at Huron University College at Western University in London, Ontario, where she studies Islamic ethics, Muslim women and Christian-Muslim relations. She previously taught at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, where she developed the first accredited graduate program for Muslim chaplains in the U.S.  

R. Marie Griffith is the John C. Danforth Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis. For 12 years, she served as director of the university’s John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics. She has written on women in charismatic and Pentecostal movements.

Estrelda Alexander is president of William Seymour College in Bowie, Md., and author of The Women of Azusa Street (The Pilgrim Press, 2005), which explores the major role of women in the birth and success of Pentecostalism, especially among African-Americans.

John Jefferson Davis is a professor of systematic theology and Christian ethics at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass. He has expertise in world religions, theology, homosexuality, abortion, medical ethics, just war, bioethics, environmental ethics, intelligent design, business ethics and biblical ethics. He teaches a course titled “Christian Ethics: Issues Facing the Church Today.”

Article on Beliefnet.com reprinted from Charisma News Service.