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).

Paul G. Schervish is a director of the Boston College Center on Wealth and Philanthropy and a sociology professor at the college in Chestnut Hill, Mass. He directed the studies “The Moral Biography of Wealth: Philosophical Reflections on the Foundation of Philanthropy,” “The Contradictions of Christmas: Troubles and Traditions in Culture, Home, and Heart,” and “The […]

Lori Hope Lefkovitz is a professor of gender and Judaism at Northeastern University and former director of Kolot: The Center for Jewish Women’s and Gender Studies. She can discuss general questions about gender and Judaism and the place of sexuality in the RRC’s curriculum on sexuality. Contact 215-576-0800 ext. 147, [email protected].

Ann Braude is director of the women’s studies in religion program at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass. She teaches a course titled “Religion, Gender and Politics: A Transnational Perspective.” Her books include Sisters and Saints: Women and American Religion.

The Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III is the priest-in-charge at Trinity Church in Boston, an Episcopal church. He was the ninth dean of the Washington National Cathedral, and he preached from the cathedral’s pulpit about global warming and the need for Christians to act. Email him through the contact form on Trinity Church’s website.

Mary Oates is a lecturer in economics at Regis College in Weston, Mass. She is an expert on Catholic philanthropy in America.

The Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College, a Jesuit school, examines the relationship between spirituality, wealth and giving. Paul Schervish is director.

The Center for Effective Philanthropy conducts research and gathers data on nonprofit groups to help philanthropists make effective donations. In October 2009, the center hosted an event in San Francisco titled “Foundation Effectiveness in a New Reality.” Contact through the website.

Robert Putnam is the Malkin Research Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University, where he studies civic connectedness, social capital, and religion and public life. He is author or co-author of more than a dozen books, including The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again and Bowling […]