The Rev. Cheryl B. Anderson is a professor of Old Testament at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill., and an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church.  

The Humanitarian Disaster Institute is an interdisciplinary research center based at Wheaton College in Illinois. The institute examines the humanitarian needs of underserved and vulnerable communities throughout the nation and world. Jamie Aten, whose research focuses on the psychology of religion and disasters, is founder and co-director.

The Easter Seals organization provides services, outreach and advocacy for people with autism, wounded veterans and others with disabilities. The nonprofit, which is more than 90 years old, is based in Chicago and has no religious affiliation.

Read an Aug. 7, 2012, story by Inside Higher Ed about seminary programs that combine master of divinity degrees with advanced business degrees.

Read an April 23, 2010, article in Christianity Today about the growth of church enrollment due to convenience brought by the internet.

Moody Theological Seminary was created in January 2010 from the cost-savings merger of two schools, Moody Bible Institute and Michigan Theological Seminary. The school has two campuses, one in Grand Rapids and one in Chicago. Contact Paul Wilson, associate dean of student services.

Michael E. Lee is associate professor of theology at the Jesuit-run Fordham University in New York. He teaches a course in liberation theologies and discussed his views on the subject in the March 2010 issue of U.S. Catholic.

Deborah De Rosa, an assistant English professor at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, wrote the chapter “Wizardly Initiations: Moral, Familial, and Social” for Harry Potter’s World: Multidisciplinary Critical Perspectives (Routledge; 2003).

Daniel Sack is a program officer at the Associated Colleges of the Midwest in Chicago and author of Whitebread Protestants: Food and Religion in American Culture (Palgrave Macmillan, 2001).