Dr. Amy-Jill Levine is University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of New Testament Studies, and Professor of Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School and College of Arts and Sciences.
Her recent books include The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus (HarperOne), the edited collection, The Historical Jesus in Context (Princeton) as well as the fourteen-volume series, Feminist Companions to the New Testament and Early Christian Writings (Continuum).
A self-described "Yankee Jewish feminist who teaches in a predominantly Christian divinity school in the buckle of the Bible Belt," Professor Levine combines historical-critical rigor, literary-critical sensitivity, and a frequent dash of humor with a commitment to eliminating anti-Jewish, sexist, and homophobic theologies.
Dr. Rosemary Radford Ruether has been a pioneer Christian feminist theologian for over three decades, and among the most widely read feminist theologians in North America. Her book, Sexism and God-Talk, is a classic in the field of feminist theology. Dr. Ruether has written and edited close to twenty books and hundreds of articles and reviews. She currently is Visiting Professor of Feminist Theology at Claremont School of Theology and Clare-mont Graduate University.
Dr. Rachel Adler is Professor of Modern Jewish Thought and Judaism and Gender at Hebrew Union College—Los Angeles. She was one of the first theologians to integrate feminist perspectives and concerns into the inter-pretation of Jewish texts and the renewal of Jewish law and ethics. She is the author of Engendering Judaism (1999) which won the National Jewish Book Award for Jewish Thought. Professor Adler is currently writing about the theological challenges posed by suffering.
Dr. Mehnaz Afridi, a Muslim scholar, teaches Judaism and Islam at Antioch University, Los Angeles and has taught at Loyola Marymount University. Originally from Pakistan, raised in Europe and the Middle East, she brings a multicultural perspective to Islam. Her deep interest in Judaism and Modern Jewish Diaspora has led her to numerous interfaith confer-ences, invitations by non-Muslims to expound on the intellectual and theological similarities between Jews and Muslims.
Philip Goldberg, author of American Veda: From Emerson and the Beatles to Yoga and Meditation, How Indian Spirituality Changed the West, is a spiritual counselor, meditation teacher and ordained Interfaith Minister who lives in Los Angeles where he founded Spiritual Wellness and Healing Associates (SWAHA). He also lectures and leads workshops throughout the country, is Director of Outreach for SpiritualCitizens.net. and blogs regularly on the Huffington Post and Intent.com.
Rabbi Mordecai Finley is the spiritual leader of Ohr HaTorah Synagogue. He has been teaching Jewish spirituality, mysticism and related fields of study over 25 years. One of the founding fac-ulty of the Academy for Jewish Religion, Cali-fornia Campus, he is also a long time member of the faculty in the Department of Continuing Education at the American Jewish University.
Rabbi Finley teaches weekly seminars in Spiri-tual Formation and Moral Psychology, as well as classes on the Kabbalah and other areas of Jewish mysticism. He holds a doctorate in Re-ligion-Social Ethics from the University of Southern California School of Religion.
