“On Faith” panelist Lyle Dukes is Senior Pastor and founder of Harvest Life Changers Church in Woodbridge, Virginia. He and his wife, co-pastor Deborah Dukes, have served the church since its inception in 1995. Among the church’s ministries are an international television program, a regional radio program, world missions outreach as well as Christian bookstores, a record label (The Sound of Harvest), a publishing company (Harvest Word Publishing), community self-improvement courses (GED program, computer and financial courses) and numerous community service projects (prison and social services outreach). He and his wife produced CDs featuring the Harvest Life Changers Church Mass Choir and solo performances by Deborah Dukes. Their most popular CDs include Through the Eyes of God and In His Presence. Dukes and his wife were recognized as one of gospel industry’s top couples by Gospel Today Magazine. Dukes, a U.S. Army veteran, also is the author of several books and articles including, Possessing The Kingdom Anointing, The Ministry In You, Let Us Pray, Give It To Me Straight and Three Steps In Defeating Temptation and the co-author of The What Works The Best Principle.

Karen Armstrong’s books about different religions, including her highly acclaimed “A History of God,” have made her one of the most prominent authors on religious history. The London-based “On Faith” panelist also is the author of three television documentaries and took part in Bill Moyers’ television series “Genesis.” Since September 11, 2001, she has been a frequent contributor to conferences, panels, newspapers, periodicals and broadcast media on the subject of Islam. Comparative theology is a particular interest of the author, who entered a Roman Catholic convent in 1962 at age 17, but after seven years as a nun left her order to pursue English literature at Oxford University. Her books, which have been translated into 40 languages, also include “Through the Narrow Gate,” “Islam: A Short History,” “Buddha,” a spiritual memoir, “The Spiral Staircase,” and most recently “The Great Transformation.”

Sherman A. Jackson is a professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies, a visiting professor of law, and a professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Michigan , Ann Arbor . He has served as Executive Director for the Center of Arabic Study Abroad (CASA) in Cairo , Egypt , is a member of the U.S.-Muslim World Advisory Committee of the U.S. Institute of Peace , and a co-founder of the American Learning Institute for Muslims (ALIM). The “On Faith” panelist is also a former member of the Fiqh Council of North America , past president of the Sharî‘ah Scholars' Association of North America (SSANA) and a past trustee of the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT). In addition to numerous articles on Islamic law, theology and history, Jackson is the author of Islamic Law and the State: The Constitutional Jurisprudence of Shihâb al-Dîn al-Qarâfî , On the Boundaries of Theological Tolerance in Islam: Abû Hâmid al-Ghazâlî's Faysal al-Tafriqa and, most recently, the controversial Islam and Blackamerican: Looking Towards the Third Resurrection . Jackson has lectured throughout the US and in numerous countries abroad. He has also taught at the University of Texas at Austin , Indiana University, Wayne State University and was recently offered a full-professorship at Stanford University , which he declined.

"On Faith" panelist Sulayman S. Nyang teaches in the Department of African Studies at Howard University in Washington, D.C. A scholar of African and Muslim affairs, Nyang, who is a native of the Republic of the Gambia, also served as his homeland's deputy ambassador to seven Middle Eastern and North African countries from 1975-78. Except for those three years, Nyang has taught at Howard since 1972, serving as acting director of the African Studies Program from 1973-75 and from 1986-1993, as chairman of the Department of African Studies. In 1993, he became senior consultant on the African Voices Project of the Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution..In 1997, Nyang became the first scholar to be named the Henry Luce Professor for Abrahamic Religions at the University of Hartford and Hartford Seminary. From 1999 to 2002 Professor Nyang served as a principal investigator and co-director of the Muslims in the American Public Square (MAPS) project sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trust and housed at Georgetown University's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. Now a U.S. citizen, Nyang has written extensively on African, Islamic and Middle Eastern affairs .His most widely-known book is Islam, Christianity and African Identity. He has also authored or co-edited Religious Plurality in Africa, with Jacob Olupona; A Line in the Sand: Saudi Arabia's Role in the Gulf War, with Evans Heindricks; and Islam:Its Relevance Today, co-edited with Henry Thompson. Nyang also wrote Islam in the United States of America (1999). His latest work is Muslims' Place in the American Public Square. Hopes, Fears, and Aspirations (2004), jointly edited with Zahid Bukhari and John Esposito of Georgetown University, and Mumtaz Ahmad of Hampton University). Nyang, who holds a doctorate in government from the University of Virginia, also serves on the advisory boards of several national African and Muslim organizations and was the first American Muslim president of the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington, D.C.

"“On Faith”" panelist John Shelby Spong served as Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark for 24 years before his retirement in 2000. His books, seeking to make contemporary theology accessible to lay readers, have sold over a million copies. His latest book, The Sins of Scripture: Exposing the Bible's Texts of Hate to Discover the God of Love (2005), examines the holy book of the Judeo-Christian tradition. A committed Christian who has spent a lifetime studying the Bible and whose life has been deeply shaped by it, Spong has been a visiting lecturer at universities, Including Harvard, and churches worldwide, delivering more than 200 public lectures each year to standing-room only crowds. His best-selling books include Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, A New Christianity for a New World, Why Christianity Must Change or Die, and Here I Stand.

Baroness Julia Neuberger is an ordained rabbi and member of Britian's House of Lords. The "On Faith" panelist also is a trustee of the British Council, Jewish Care, and the Booker Prize Foundation, as well as founding trustee of the Walter and Liesel Schwab Charitable Trust. She has served as Chairman of Camden & Islington Community Health Services NHS Trust and Chief Executive of the King's Fund—a major independent health charity. Currently she chairs the Commission on the Future of Volunteering in England . In the House of Lords, she is a Liberal Democrat member and in early 2006 she was Bloomberg Professor at Harvard University Divinity School . Neuberger writes, speaks, makes trouble, and has published several books, of which the latest is The Moral State We're In (2006). She is working on a book about old age, and thinking about a new book on death and dying, as well as one as a counterblast to Richard Dawkins on why religion is so important in the rather godless United Kingdom.

Richard Dawkins has been the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford since 1995. The "On Faith" panelist did his D.Phil under the Nobel Prize-winning zoologist Niko Tinbergen. After two years as an Assistant Professor of Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley, he returned to Oxford in 1970 as Lecturer in Animal Behaviour and a Fellow of New College. The British evolutionary biologist is noted for his writings defending evolution. An atheist, his latest book is The God Delusion(2006). He is the author of eight other books: The Selfish Gene (1976), The Extended Phenotype (1982), The Blind Watchmaker (1986), River Out of Eden (1995), Climbing Mount Improbable (1996), Unweaving the Rainbow (1998), A Devil's Chaplain (2003), and The Ancestor's Tale (2004). A Festschrift volume, Richard Dawkins: how a scientist changed the way we think was published in 2006 by Oxford University Press. Dawkins, who holds eight honorary degrees in science and literature, has also presented BBC science documentaries, including Nice Guys Finish First, The Blind Watchmaker and Seven Wonders of the World. On Channel Four he presented Break the Science Barrier with Richard Dawkins and Root of All Evil?. In 1991 he gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for Children on BBC under the general title Growing Up in the Universe. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature as well as a Fellow of the Royal Society. His medals and prizes include the Sillver Medal of the Zoological Society, the Michael Faraday Award of the Royal Society, the Nakayama Prize, the Cosmos International Prize, the Kistler Prize and the Shakespeare Prize.

Washington Post journalist, author and Washington DC insider, Sally Quinn founded and co-moderates On Faith, a blog from the Washington Post and Newsweek. Co-moderated by Newsweek editor and bestselling author Jon Meacham and hosted by a panel of renowned religious scholars of all denominations, On Faith is the first worldwide, interactive discussion about religion and its impact on global life. While researching an article about religion in Washington prior to the 2000 presidential campaign, Quinn noticed that while religion had an enormous influence on worldwide politics, it was a taboo subject in our nation’s capital. Following 9/11, Quinn’s interest in religion grew and her passion to understand it from a personal and political perspective took on new urgency and focus. Over the past decade, Quinn has pursued a religious education with the same drive and rigor she once gave to politics. Leveraging her rolodex from 30 years as a columnist, she sought out spiritual mentorship from religious leaders and scholars such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Reverend Jim Anderson, Father Bryan Hehir and John Esposito. To gain emotional and spiritual perspective, she traveled to many of the world’s holy sites in Rome, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Tibet, Delhi, Cairo, Ethiopia and Istanbul, and began attending several religious services and ceremonies a week at churches, temples and mosques. Quinn has written four books: “We’re Going to Make You a Star,” about her short-lived experience as a co-anchor for “CBS Morning News”; “Regrets Only,” her first novel; “Happy Endings,” its sequel, and “The Party,” in which Quinn offers an insider’s look at Washington entertaining and a personal view of the value of friendship. She is currently working on a book about religion in Washington.

Daniel C. Dennett is the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy, and Co-Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies, at Tufts University. His most recent book was Breaking the Spell (2006). The “On Faith” panelist also is Co-founder of the Curricular Software Studio at Tufts, and has helped design museum exhibits on computers for the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of Science in Boston, and the Computer Museum in Boston. Dennett has written over 300 scholarly articles on various aspects of the mind in scientific journals. His first book, Content and Consciousness, appeared in 1969. It was followed by Brainstorms (1978), Elbow Room (1984), The Intentional Stance (1987), Consciousness Explained (1991), Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995), Kinds of Minds (1996), and Brainchildren: A Collection of Essays 1984-1996 (1998). He co-edited The Mind's I with Douglas Hofstadter in 1981. Dennett completed his D.Phil degree work under Gilbert Ryle at Oxford in 1965, and has lectured at Harvard University, Pittsburgh and the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. He has received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Fulbright Fellowship, and a Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioral Science. In 1987 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He spends most of his summers on his farm in Maine, where he harvests blueberries, hay and timber, and makes Normandy cider wine, when he is not sailing. He is also a sculptor.

The Reverend William McD. Tully has been rector of St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in New York City since September 1994. The first professional calling of the “On Faith” panelist was to journalism, and he worked as a copy boy and local reporter at the Los Angeles Times. As a community worker for the Model Cities program at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Tully discerned an "underlying call" that turned him toward ordained ministry and study at the General Theological Seminary. After ordination in 1974, he served as curate at the Church of the Epiphany, Manhattan; associate rector at St. Francis Church, Potomac, Maryland; and then as rector of St. Columba's Church, Washington, D.C. The people and mission of St. Columba's taught Tully about church growth, Christian hospitality and hope for the future of the church. Working with a dedicated group of leaders, an enlarged clergy and professional staff at St. Bart’s, Tully has led the church in its growth and renewal. He loves his ministry and is always eager to meet and work with others who have found a home and a ministry at St. Bart's.

"On Faith" panelist Miroslav Volf holds the Henry B. Wright Chair of Theology at Yale Divinity School and serves as Director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture. A native of Croatia, he studied at the Evangelical-Theological Faculty in Osijek, Croatia before earning his Masters degree from Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, California . He also holds two doctoral degrees from the University of Tubingen, Germany. While teaching at Fuller, theologian Volf wrote Exclusion and Embrace , A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation, an exploration of how it is possible to forgive and love our enemies. The book was widely acclaimed as a readable, challenging, and relevant work on the reconciling message of Jesus in a world torn by violence and hatred. It received the 2002 Grawemeyer Award for Religion. Another of Volf's books, Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace was published as the Archbishop of Canterbury's Lenten study book for 2006. It explores how we give and forgive in light of God's generosity and Christ's sacrifice for us. Volf's most recent book is The End of Memory: Remembering Rightly in a Violent World (2006).

“On Faith” panelist Sam Harris is the author of the best-selling books Letter to a Christian Nation (2006) and The End of Faith (2005), which won the 2005 PEN Award for Nonfiction and has been translated into many foreign languages. Harris is a graduate in philosophy from Stanford University, has studied both Eastern and Western religious traditions, and is now completing a doctorate in neuroscience. He makes regular appearances on television and radio to discuss the danger that religion now poses to modern societies. His essays have appeared in Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, The Times of London and The Boston Globe.

“On Faith” panelist Michael Otterson has served as director of media relations for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1997. As senior spokesman for the church, Otterson has worked with most major publications, TV and radio networks, and other news media in the United States and overseas on issues ranging from the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City to the Church’s burgeoning international growth and diversity. A convert to the Mormon faith, he worked as a journalist for 11 years before being appointed director of the Church’s public affairs office in London in 1976 – the first such office outside the United States. After opening and managing a new Pacific Area public affairs office in Australia, Otterson moved to the United States in 1991 to help oversee the church’s international public affairs from its Salt Lake City headquarters. In a church that operates worldwide with a lay clergy, Otterson has served twice as a stake president (leader of a group of church congregations), in both England and Australia. He is now a US citizen.

Alan F. Segal is professor of religion and Ingeborg Rennert Professor of Jewish Studies at Barnard College, Columbia University. When appointed, the "On Faith" panelist was Columbia 's youngest full professor in the humanities. He served as chair of the Department between 1981-1984 and occasionally thereafter. Prior to Columbia, Segal taught at Princeton University for six years starting in 1974 and at the University of Toronto, where he was given a tenured position. While living in Israel on a 1977-78 Guggenheim Fellowship, he lectured at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University, and Bar Ilan University. In addition to the Guggenheim, he has been awarded fellowships from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Annenberg Institute. In 1988, at the Jubilee Celebration in Cambridge England, he was the first Jewish member of the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas to address the society. He is a member of the American Society for the Study of Religion and the American Theological Association. Segal holds degrees from Amherst College, Brandeis University, Hebrew Union College -- Jewish Institute of Religion , and Yale University , where he earned his doctorate. His studies have included English literature, psychology, anthropology, comparative religion, Judaica, Christian origins, and Rabbinics. His books include, Two Powers in Heaven (2002), Rebecca's Children: Judaism and Christianity in the Roman World (1986), The Other Judaisms of Late Antiquity (1987) and Paul the Convert: The Apostasy and Apostolate of Saul the Pharisee (1992) and Life After Death: A History of the Afterlife in Western Religion (2004).

For more than 40 years, “On Faith” panelist Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz has devoted himself to the monumental undertaking of translating and reinterpreting the Talmud, the vast collection of rabbinic writings that constitute Jewish civil and religious laws. Steinsaltz, who lives in Jerusalem, began this task in 1965, when he founded The Israel Institute for Talmudic Publications. The Steinsaltz Edition of the Talmud, of which 37 volumes have been published so far, has made the Talmud accessible to tens of thousands of Hebrew speakers. In 1989, he began producing an English edition of 22 volumes. Since 1994, 15 volumes have been published in French, and four have appeared in Russian. The Talmud project has been described as the most important Jewish publication endeavor of the 20 th Century. Steinsaltz has written some 60 books and hundreds of articles on a wide variety of topics, including Hasidism and the Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah. One of his most popular books is The Thirteen Petalled Rose , which he describes as “a little book for the soul.” In 1989, Steinsaltz established a Russian branch of Mekor Chaim--the first Jewish institution to receive official recognition in the former Soviet Union . He also founded the Aleph Society, and the Mekor Chaim Educational Institutions. In 1988, Steinsaltz received the prestigious Israel Prize--his nation's highest honor. He has lectured at major universities and research institutions in the United States and Europe, including Princeton University , Yale University , Columbia University , the Woodrow Wilson Center , Oxford University and the Sorbonne.

Katharine Jefferts Schori is the 26th Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church. The "On Faith”" panelist took office in November 2006 following her election in June at the 75th General Convention of the denomination. As Presiding Bishop, Jefferts Schori serves as chief pastor to the Episcopal Church's 2.4 million members in 16 countries and 110 dioceses. Prior to her 1994 ordination to the priesthood, Jefferts Schori was an oceanographer, having earned her doctorate in that field in 1983 from Oregon State University. She also is an active, instrument-rated pilot - a skill she applied when traveling between the congregations of the Diocese of Nevada, where she was elected bishop in 2000 and ordained to the episcopate February 2001. At the time of her election as bishop, she was assistant rector of the Church of the Good Samaritan in Corvallis, Oregon. As Primate, Jefferts Schori will join in consultation with other principal bishops of the 38 member Provinces of the worldwide Anglican Communion, seeking to make common cause for global good and reconciliation. She intends to make "Shalom" - peacemaking defined by the Prophet Isaiah and reiterated by Jesus in Luke's gospel - a ministry priority.

George Weigel is a Catholic theologian and Senior Fellow of Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington. He is the author or editor of eighteen books, including the New York Times bestseller Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II, which has been translated into twelve languages. The “On Faith” panelist’s most recent books include The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God, Letters to a Young Catholic and God's Choice: Pope Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic Church. Since 1999, he has been the Vatican analyst for NBC News, and he publishes frequently in newspapers and opinion journals around the world. A member of the Catholic Theological Society of America and the Council on Foreign Relations, he was awarded the papal cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice in 2000. In 2006, Weigel became the second non-Pole honored by the Polish government's highest award for contributions to Polish and world culture, the Gloria Artis Gold Medal.

Donna Freitas is Assistant Professor of Religion at Boston University. The "On Faith" panelist's literary and academic focus is the struggle of belonging and alienation with regard to faith, particularly among young adults, and especially young women. Freitas asks the 'Big Questions' (Why are we here anyway?) and delights in discovering the many forums in which to dabble with faith, religion, spirituality, and gender. A Catholic, she also is an ardent feminist. Her books include Becoming a Goddess of Inner Poise: Spirituality for the Bridget Jones in All of Us, (2005) and Save the Date: A Spirituality of Dating, Love, Dinner & the Divine. Freitas' most recent book project is Sex and the Soul, set for publication in 2007. It is based on a national study about the influence of sexuality and romantic relationships on the spiritual identities of America 's college students. Freitas' first novel, The Possibilities of Sainthood, which is about 15-year Antonia Lucia Labella, who aspires to become the first official living saint in Catholic history, is due for publication in 2008. Freitas can be reached through her website at www.donnafreitas.com.

Susan Jacoby is the author of "The Age of American Unreason," to be published in February by Pantheon. She began her writing career as a reporter for The Washington Post, and has been a contributor to a wide range of periodicals and newspapers for more than 25 years on topics including law, religion, medicine, aging, women's rights, political dissent in the Soviet Union and Russian literature. Jacoby has been the recipient of grants from the Guggenheim, Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, as well as the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 2001-2002, she was named a fellow at the Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. Jacoby’s other books include Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism (2004); Wild Justice: The Evolution of Revenge, a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1984, and Half-Jew: A Daughter's Search for Her Family's Buried Past. She is working on a book about the relationship between American anti-intellectualism and political polarization, to be published by Pantheon in 2008. Her photo is by Chris Ramir.

Syndicated political columnist and “On Faith” panelist Cal Thomas has a twice-weekly column that appears in over 500 newspapers around the world. A graduate of American University, Thomas is a veteran of broadcast and print journalism. He has worked for NBC, CNBC, PBS television, and the Fox News Channel where he currently appears on the weekly media critique show, “Fox News Watch.” Thomas has authored ten books, including Blinded by Might: Can the Religious Right Save America?, A Freedom Dream, Public Persons and Private Lives, Book Burning, Liberals for Lunch, Occupied Territory, The Death of Ethics in America, Uncommon Sense and Things That Matter Most. His latest was The Wit and Wisdom of Cal Thomas. In 1995, Thomas was honored with a Cable Ace Award nomination for Best Interview Program. Other awards include a George Foster Peabody team reporting award, and awards from both the Associated Press and United Press International. Common Ground, which Thomas writes for USA Today, offers insightful discussion of contentious social issues with his friend and political counterpart, Bob Beckel. The two are working together on a book to be published in 2007.

The Rev. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, is the 11th President of Chicago Theological Seminary. She has been a Professor of Theology at the seminary for 20 years and director of its graduate degree center for five years. Her area of expertise is contextual theologies of liberation, specializing in issues of violence and violation. An ordained minister of the United Church of Christ since 1974, the “On Faith” panelist is the author or editor of thirteen books and has been a translator for two translations of the Bible. Her works include Casting Stones: Prostitution and Liberation in Asia and the United States (1996) and The New Testament and Psalms: An Inclusive Translation (1995). Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Thistlethwaite has been working diligently to promote peace, including a presentation at the U.S. Institute of Peace, which appears in one of their special reports. Most recently she edited and contributed to Adam, Eve and the Genome: Theology in Dialogue with the Human Genome Project (2003).

Nicholas Thomas Wright is Anglican Bishop of Durham, England. The "On Faith" panelist taught New Testament studies for 20 years at Cambridge, McGill and Oxford Universities before becoming Dean of Lichfeld in 1994. He was named Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey in 2000, and consecrated bishop in 2003. He has written hundreds of articles and more than 40 books, including Judas and the Gospel of Jesus (2006) and Evil and the Justice of God (2006). He has served as Visiting Professor at numerous institutions including Harvard Divinity School, Gregorian University in Rome and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Dr Wright holds four degrees, including a divinity doctorate from Oxford University, and honorary degrees from several universities and colleges.

Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, better known as "Reb Zalman," is a foremost authority on Hasidism and Jewish mysticism. Born in Poland and raised in Vienna, the “On Faith” panelist fled Nazi oppression and arrived in the United States in 1941. He enrolled in the Lubavitcher Hasidim yeshiva and was ordained by Lubavitch in 1947. After serving as a congregational rabbi in Massachusetts, and earning a master’s degree in pastoral counseling at Boston University, Schachter-Shalomi taught at the University of Manitoba, Canada (1956-1975). In 1968, he earned his Doctor of Hebrew Letters from Hebrew Union College. He also was "divorced" from the Lubavitcher Hasidim because of his controversial engagements with modern culture and other religions. Continuing as an "independent" hasid, Schachter-Shalomi taught the experiential dimensions of Hasidism as one of the world's great spiritual traditions. In 1969, he founded ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal with a small circle of students. In 1975, he moved to Temple University where he was professor of Jewish Mysticism and Psychology of Religion until 1987. Schachter-Shalomi has participated in interfaith discussions throughout the world, including the widely influential dialogue with the Dalai Lama, documented in the book, The Jew in the Lotus. In another interfaith endeavor, Schachter-Shalomi studied Sufism in California, which led to his initiation as a sheikh in the Sufi Order of Hazrat Inayat Khan in 1975. Ten years later, Schachter-Shalomi made a 40-day retreat at New Mexico’s Lama Foundation and emerged with a new teaching that became the foundation of his book, From Age-ing to Sage-ing, and the catalyst for the Spiritual Eldering movement. He also is the author of Wrapped in a Holy Flame: Teachings and Tales of the Hasidic Masters. His latest book is Jewish with Feeling: A Guide to Meaningful Jewish Practice, written with Joel Segel. In 1995 he accepted the World Wisdom Chair at the Naropa Institute (now Naropa University) in Boulder, Colorado, where he taught contemplative Judaism and ecumenical spirituality. Retiring from Naropa in 2004, Schachter-Shalomi co-founded The Desert Fellowship of the Sufi-Hasidic Maimuni al-Badieh Order with Netanel Miles-Yepez, combining Jewish Hasidic tradition with Islamic Sufi tradition. He lives in Boulder.

The Reverend William J. Byron, S.J., a former president of Catholic University, is on leave this year from his position as research professor at the Sellinger School of Business and Management, Loyola College in Maryland to serve as president of St. Joseph's Preparatory School in Philadelphia. The “On Faith” panelist served as interim president of Loyola University , New Orleans in 2003-04 and for three years prior to that, was pastor of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Washington , D.C. From 1992 to 2000, he taught "Social Responsibilities of Business" at Georgetown University , where he was Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Ethics and served as rector of the Georgetown Jesuit Community. He was president of Catholic University for a decade (1982-92). Byron writes a syndicated bi-weekly column, Looking Around , for Catholic News Service, and is the author of a dozen books, including A Book of Quiet Prayer (2006); The Power of Principles: Ethics in the New Corporate Culture (2006) and Answers from Within: Spiritual Guidelines for Managing Setbacks in Work and Life (1998) . A founding director and past chairman of Bread for the World , Byron was also named the 1999 recipient of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities' Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for his contributions to the advancement of Catholic higher education. In that same year, he received the Council of Independent Colleges' Academic Leadership Award. Byron, who holds a doctorate in economics as well as theology degrees, served in the U.S. Army's 508 th Parachute Infantry Regiment before entering the Jesuit order in 1950. He was ordained a priest in 1961.

Irish-born John Dominic Crossan is a professor emeritus in the religious studies department at DePaul University in Chicago. Between 1950 and 1969, he was a member of a 13th-century Roman Catholic religious order, the Servites, and remained an ordained priest from 1957 to 1969. He has delivered lectures to secular and lay audiences from Scandinavia to Australia to Japan to South Africa. The On Faith panelist has authored 23 books and his writings have been translated into 11 languages. His work focuses on the historical Jesus, earliest Christianity and the historical Paul. Core titles include “The Historical Jesus,” “The Birth of Christianity” and “In Search of Paul,” co-written with archaeologist Jonathan L. Reed. Dr. Crossan’s next book, “God & Empire: Jesus Against Rome Then and Now,” is scheduled for publication in February. The professor earned a doctor of divinity degree at St. Patrick’s College in Maynooth, Ireland and a humanities doctorate at Stetson University in Florida. The American Academy of Religion and DePaul and Stetson universities have recognized him with awards for scholarly excellence. His Web site is www.johndominiccrossan.com.

"On Faith" panelist Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo is Professor Emeritus of Puerto Rican and Latino Studies at Brooklyn College and Distinguished Scholar of the City University of New York. He has written more than 40 scholarly articles and authored nine books, including the four-volume PARAL series on religion among Latinos. His book Prophets Denied Honor (1980) is considered a landmark in Catholic literature. With his spouse, Ana María Díaz-Stevens, he authored Recognizing the Latino Religious Resurgence , which was named an Outstanding Academic Book for 1998 by Choice magazine. A spokesperson for civil and human rights, he has testified before the U.S. Congress and the United Nations and was named by President Jimmy Carter to the Advisory Board of the U.S. Commission of Civil Rights for two terms. Presently, he directs the Research Center for Religion In Society and Culture (RISC).