Margaret M. Mitchell teaches New Testament and the history of early Christianity at the University of Chicago Divinity School. She is the author of four books, including The “Belly-Myther” of Endor: Interpretations of 1 Kingdoms 28 in the Early Church (with Rowan A. Greer, 2007), and a number of articles.

Wes Bergen teaches religion at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kan., is the religion chairman for the Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Association and is also a pastor. He is currently working on a new book about ritual in Leviticus.

Charles W. Hedrick is an emeritus professor of religious studies at Missouri State University and has written extensively on early Christianity and ancient texts. His books include When History and Faith Collide: Studying Jesus (Hendrickson Publishers, 1999).

Margaret Starbird has written extensively about Mary Magdalene and the sacred feminine, including The Woman With the Alabaster Jar: Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail (Bear & Co., 1993), which is selling as a result of interest prompted by The Da Vinci Code. She has traveled widely in Europe, including pilgrimages to Black Madonna and Mary Magdalene shrines and […]

Joseph F. Kelly is chairman of the department of religious studies at John Carroll University and is also  active in the religious education apostolate of the Diocese of Cleveland. He is author of multiple religious books, including

Patrick N. Allitt is a professor of American history at Emory University in Atlanta. In his book Religion in America Since 1945: A History, he looks at the role religion has played in public school education. He is also an expert on religion and environmentalism and is author of the book A Climate of Crisis: America […]

The Rev. James W. Fraser is professor of history and education at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development at New York University. He wrote Between Church and State: Religion and Public Education in a Multicultural America.

Jon Butler is emeritus professor of American studies, history and religious studies at Yale University. He co-edited Religion in American Life, a 17-book Oxford University series that treats religion as an academic subject for children and young adults.

Dennis E. Smith teaches New Testament at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Okla., and is a fellow of the Westar Institute, which studies Jesus and early Christianity. He can speak about the role of Mary in the New Testament from a Protestant perspective.