Bernard McGinn is Naomi Shenstone Donnelley Professor Emeritus of Historical Theology and of the History of Christianity in the Divinity School and the Committees on Medieval Studies and on General Studies. Read his thoughts about how Columbus was on an apocalyptic mission, from the PBS show Frontline.

The Rev. Timothy S. Stevens, a United Church of Christ minister, is university chaplain at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. Northwestern offers an Interfaith Living and Learning Community – an interfaith dorm – so students of different religious backgrounds can live together in intentional community.

Byron L. Sherwin is a professor of Jewish studies at the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies in Chicago. He is a renowned Jewish theologian, ethicist, scholar of Jewish philosophy and mysticism.

Michael Fishbane is a professor of Jewish studies at the University of Chicago. His research specialties are Jewish mysticism and modern Jewish thought.

Rabbi Heather Altman, a Conservative rabbi, is a spiritual director, teacher, yoga instructor and healer based in Chicago.

The Gamaliel Foundation describes itself as a nonpartisan, faith-based organizing network of 72 affiliates in 26 U.S. states and five provinces of South Africa. The foundation is a leading advocacy group for comprehensive immigration reform.

The Rev. Gilberto Cavazos-González, a Friar Minor (Franciscan), is associate professor of spirituality and directs the Hispanic ministry program at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago. He writes a weekly column on Hispanic/Latino faith traditions.

Daniel A. Arnold is assistant professor of philosophy of religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is the author of Buddhists, Brahmins and Belief: Epistemology in South Asian Philosophy of Religion.

Michael T. Shelley is the director of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago’s Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice.