Walter Bradley

Dr. Bradley received his B.S. in Engineering Science and his Ph.D. in Materials Science from the University of Texas in Austin.  He taught for eight years at the Colorado School of Mines before assuming a position as Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University (TAMU) in 1976.

During his 24 years at Texas A&M, Dr. Bradley served as Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University and as Director of the Polymer Technology Center, and received five College of Engineering Research Awards. He has received over $4,500,000 in research grants and has published over 140 technical articles and book chapters. He has also co-authored The Mystery Of Life’s Origin: Reassessing Current Theories. He is a Fellow of the American Society for Materials and of the American Scientific Affiliation and serves as a consultant for many Fortune 500 companies. He currently serves as Distinguished Professor of Engineering at Baylor University.

Todd Beall

Todd S. Beall is Professor of Old Testament at Capital Bible Seminary in Lanham, Maryland. After earning his B.A. degree in English from Princeton University and his Th.M. degree from Capital Bible Seminary, Todd was awarded a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from the Catholic University of America. He is a member of the National Association of the Professors of Hebrew, the Evangelical Theological Society, and the Society of Biblical Literature.

Jeremy Begbie

Jeremy Begbie is the Thomas A. Langford Distinguished Professor of Theology at Duke Divinity School. Previously associate principal of Ridley Hall, Cambridge, he has also been honorary professor at the University of St Andrews, where he directed the research project, Theology Through the Arts at the Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts. He is a senior member of Wolfson College and an affiliated lecturer in the faculty of music at the University of Cambridge.

Jeremy studied philosophy and music at Edinburgh University, and theology at Aberdeen and Cambridge. A professionally trained musician, he has performed extensively as a pianist, oboist and conductor. He is an ordained minister of the Church of England, having served for a number of years as assistant pastor of a church in West London.

He is author of a number of books, including Voicing Creation's Praise: Towards a Theology of the Arts (T & T Clark); Theology, Music and Time (CUP), and Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music (Baker/SPCK), which won the Christianity Today 2008 Book Award in the Theology/Ethics Category. Most recently, he has published Music, Modernity, and God (OUP). He has taught widely in the UK and North America, and delivered multimedia performance-lectures across the world, from Israel to Australia and Hong Kong.

Eric Bryant

Eric serves with Gateway Church in Austin as Lead Pastor for Gateway South and as part of the teaching team along with Senior Pastor John Burke. Known for their mottos: “no perfect people allowed” and “come as you are, but don’t stay that way.”

From 1998-2010, Eric served as part of the leadership team with Erwin McManus at Mosaic in Los Angeles, a church known for its creativity and diversity. The four years prior to that he helped plant a church in Seattle, WA.

Eric is the author of Not Like Me: Loving, Serving, and Influencing Our Divided World, mentor of the Doctorate of Ministry in Global Leadership cohort with Bethel Seminary, and creator of The Church Growth Workshop.

Eric lives with his wife, Deborah, his son Caleb and his daughter Trevi near downtown in Austin, TX.

Jack Collins

C. John (Jack) Collins is professor of Old Testament, Covenant Theological Seminary, St. Louis, MO., where he has been on the faculty since 1993. His educational background includes BS and MS degrees  (computer science and systems engineering), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA; M. Div, Faith Evangelical Lutheran Seminary, Tacoma, WA; and PhD, School of Archaeology and Oriental Studies, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, England.  His areas of interest include text-linguistic approach to Hebrew grammar and lexicography, science and faith, and the works of C.S. Lewis. His published books include Science and Faith: Friends or Foes?, Genesis 1-4: A Linguistic, Literary, and Theological Commentary, and The God of Miracles: An Exegetical Examination of God’s Action in the World. 

Larry Coulter

Larry is the Senior Pastor for Lakeway Church in Austin, Texas. A native of Tyler, Texas, Larry has degrees from Texas A&M University and Princeton Theological Seminary. Prior to the appointment at Lakeway Church, he served as the senior pastor at Shepherd of the Hills Presbyterian Church in Austin for 16 years. He also served as senior pastor at St. Thomas Presbyterian Church in Houston and youth minister in Laguna Beach, California. He is married to Kim, who is a full-time artist.

Throughout his ministry, Larry has served in the leadership of a variety of ministries and mission organizations as part of serving his local church. He is on the advisory board for Fuller Theological Seminary and the Alumni Council at Princeton Seminary. In Austin, he is a part of a strategic council that helped found Christ Together, a national network of churches and pastors committed to sharing the love of Christ locally and nationally.

Both Kim and Larry Coulter also serve on the advisory board of the Brehm Center for Worship, Arts and Theology, an innovative training center at Fuller that seeks to revitalize the church and culture through the arts.

Andy Crouch

Andy Crouch is partner for theology and culture at Praxis, an organization that works as a creative engine for redemptive entrepreneurship. His two most recent books—2017's The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place and 2016's Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk and True Flourishing—build on the compelling vision of faith, culture, and the image of God laid out in his previous books Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power and Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling.

Andy serves on the governing boards of Fuller Theological Seminary and the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. For more than ten years he was an editor and producer at Christianity Today, including serving as executive editor from 2012 to 2016. He served the John Templeton Foundation in 2017 as senior strategist for communication. His work and writing have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, and several editions of Best Christian Writing and Best Spiritual Writing—and, most importantly, received a shout-out in Lecrae's 2014 single "Non-Fiction."

From 1998 to 2003, Andy was the editor-in-chief of re:generation quarterly, a magazine for an emerging generation of culturally creative Christians. For ten years he was a campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Harvard University. He studied classics at Cornell University and received an M.Div. summa cum laude from Boston University School of Theology. A classically trained musician who draws on pop, folk, rock, jazz, and gospel, he has led musical worship for congregations of 5 to 20,000. He lives with his family in Pennsylvania.

Lyle Dorsett

Lyle W. Dorsett was the second director of the Marion E. Wade Center, serving from 1983 to 1990. A prolific author and accomplished speaker and teacher, Dr. Dorsett received his B.A. in history (1960) and M.A. in history (1962) from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and his Ph.D. in history from the University of Missouri-Columbia (1965). He began his teaching career at the University of Missouri, moving briefly to the Univ. of Southern California and University of Colorado at Denver, before he joined the history department at the University of Denver.

Specializing originally in urban history, Dr. Dorsett's academic career took a turn after he published a biography of Joy Davidman (C.S. Lewis's wife), titled And God Came In. His great interest in the writings of Lewis led him to accept the position of director of the Wade Center after Dr. Kilby's retirement. During Dr. Dorsett's tenure at the Wade, he began the oral history project which is a significant resource of original material relating to the seven Wade authors and which now numbers over 70 recorded interviews.

In 1990, Dr. Dorsett left the position of Wade Center director in order to return full-time to the classroom. He served for a brief time as the Director of Urban Studies at Wheaton, but eventually, his developing interests in evangelism and revival led him to join the Wheaton College Graduate School as Professor of Christian Formation and Ministry. In 2005, he moved to Birmingham, Alabama to become the Billy Graham Professor of Evangelism at Beeson Divinity School. He retired from Beeson in spring 2018.

The author of eighteen books, including three works on C.S. Lewis, Dr. Dorsett's most recent Wade Center related work is Seeking the Secret Place: The Spiritual Formation of C.S. Lewis. He and his wife Mary have two children and four grandchildren. Dr. Dorsett continues to be connected to the work of the Wade as Director Emeritus of the Wade Center, and Emeritus member of the Wade Board.

J. Ligo Duncan III

Ligon Duncan is the Senior Minister of the historic First Presbyterian Church (1837), Jackson, Mississippi, Distinguished Visiting Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary, President of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, Convener of the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy, Chairman of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, Chairman of the Mississippi Joint Committee on Campus Work (RUF), Convener of the Twin Lakes Fellowship, and served as the 32nd Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in America (2004-2005), the youngest minister ever to fill that post. Born in Greenville, South Carolina, and reared in a Christian home, he is a ninth generation Presbyterian elder. He did his studies at Furman University, Greenville, SC (BA); Covenant Theological Seminary, St. Louis (MDiv, MA, cum laude); and the University of Edinburgh, Scotland (PhD). He and his wife Anne (herself an accomplished Christian Educator and graduate of Furman University, BA; Gordon-Conwell Seminary, MRE; Reformed Theological Seminary, MA) are the delighted parents of a daughter, Sarah Kennedy, and son, Jennings.

 Duncan has written articles and columns for various newspapers, magazines, and journals including: the Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology, the Christian Observer, Tabletalk, Modern Reformation, RTS Ministry and Leadership, and the Australian Presbyterian. In addition, he has authored, edited, and co-authored many books including: The Westminster Confession in the 2lst Century (3 Vols., Mentor); Give Praise to God: A Vision for Reforming Worship (P&R, 2003); Women’s Ministry in the Local Church (Crossway, 2006); Preaching the Cross (Crossway, 2007); Fear Not: Death and the Afterlife from a Christian Perspective (Christian Focus Press, 2008); In My Place Condemned He Stood (Crossway, 2008); Does Grace Grow Best in Winter? (P&R, 2009); Gospel Clarity (EP Books, 2010).

Darrel Falk

Darrel Falk is Senior Advisor for Dialogue at BioLogos. He is the author of Coming to Peace with Science: Bridging the Worlds Between Faith and Biology and speaks frequently on the relationship between science and faith at universities and seminaries. From 2010 to 2012, he served as president of BioLogos. Under his leadership, the BioLogos website and daily blog grew to thousands of readers and hundreds of authors, the Biology by the Sea workshop trained Christian biology teachers, and private workshops in New York were a forum for conversation and worship with top evangelical leaders. As president, he brought BioLogos into conversation with Southern Baptist leaders and with Reasons to Believe, and today he continues to be a key member of those dialogues.

Falk received his B.Sc. (with Honors) from Simon Fraser University, and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Alberta. He did postdoctoral work at The University of British Columbia and the University of California, Irvine before accepting a faculty position at Syracuse University in New York. Darrel’s early research focused on Drosophila molecular and developmental genetics with funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. In 1988 he transitioned into Christian higher education in the biology department at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, where he is now Emeritus Professor of Biology. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Genetics Society of America, and the American Scientific Affiliation.

Os Guinness

Os Guinness is an author and social critic. Great-great-great grandson of Arthur Guinness, the Dublin brewer, he was born in China in World War Two where his parents were medical missionaries. A witness to the climax of the Chinese revolution in 1949, he was expelled with many other foreigners in 1951 and returned to Europe where he was educated in England. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of London and his D.Phil in the social sciences from Oriel College, Oxford.

Os has written or edited more than thirty books, including The Call, Time for Truth, Unspeakable, A Free People’s Suicide, and The Global Public Square. His latest book, Last Call for Liberty: How America’s Genius for Freedom Has Become Its Greatest Threat, was published in 2018.   Since moving to the United States in 1984, Os has been a Guest Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies, a Guest Scholar and Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Senior Fellow at the Trinity Forum and the EastWest Institute in New York.

He was the lead drafter of the Williamsburg Charter in 1988, a celebration of the bicentennial of the US Constitution, and later of “The Global Charter of Conscience,” which was published at the European Union Parliament in 2012. Os has spoken at many of the world’s major universities, and spoken widely to political and business conferences across the world. He lives with his wife Jenny in the Washington DC area.

Deborah Haarsma

Deborah Haarsma has served as the President of BioLogos since January 2013. Previously, she served as professor and chair in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Gifted in interpreting complex scientific topics for lay audiences, Dr. Haarsma often speaks to churches, colleges, and schools about the relationships between science and Christian faith. She is author (along with her husband Loren Haarsma) of Origins: Christian Perspectives on Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design (2011, 2007), a book presenting the agreements and disagreements of Christians regarding the history of life and the universe. She edited Delight in Creation: Scientists Share Their Work with the Church (2012) with Rev. Scott Hoezee, an anthology of essays by Christian biologists, astronomers, mathematicians, and other scientists. She and Hoezee directed The Ministry Theorem, a project of Calvin Theological Seminary and the Calvin College Science Division to provide pastors and ministry leaders with resources for engaging science in the life of the church. She also contributed to the Faraday Institute's Test of Faith (2010) film and curriculum, and to Keith Miller's Perspectives on an Evolving Creation.

Haarsma is an experienced research scientist, with several publications in the Astrophysical Journal and the Astronomical Journal on extragalactic astronomy and cosmology. She has studied very large galaxies (at the centers of galaxy clusters), very young galaxies (undergoing rapid star formation in the early universe), and gravitational lenses (where spacetime is curved by a massive object). Her work uses data from several major telescopes, including the Very Large Array radio telescope in New Mexico, the Southern Astrophysical Research optical and infrared telescope in Cerro Pachon, Chile, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory in orbit around the earth. Haarsma completed her doctoral work in astrophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and her undergraduate work in physics and music at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Ross Hastings

Ross Hastings teaches in the areas of the theology and spirituality of mission, pastoral theology and ethics. He has served as a pastor in Kingston, ON, Burnaby, BC, and Montreal, QC, and for eleven years as the senior pastor of Peace Portal Alliance Church in White Rock, BC. He has earned two PhDs, one in organo-metallic chemistry at Queen’s University (ON), and the other in theology at St. Andrew’s University, in his native Scotland. His theological dissertation is a comparative study of the Trinitarian theology of Jonathan Edwards and Karl Barth and is in the publication process. Ross lost his wife Sharon to cancer in 2008; he has two adult children. He enjoys sport, and especially rugby, cricket, soccer, and squash as well as music of varied genres.

Joel Heck

Dr. Joel Heck serves Concordia University, Austin, Texas, as Professor of Theology, having completed nine years at Concordia as Vice President of Academic Services. Previously he served as pastor of Zion Lutheran Church, Valley Park, Missouri, and Professor of Religion at Concordia University Wisconsin. He holds the Th.D. in Exegetical Theology from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and teaches various religion courses at Concordia, Austin including Old Testament, New Testament, Reformation, and C. S. Lewis. He is the author or editor of twelve books, most recently In the Beginning, God: Creation from God’s Perspective (Concordia Publishing House, 2011).

Dr. Heck spent the fall of 2004 on sabbatical in Oxford, working with Walter Hooper, former private secretary to C. S. Lewis, on Vol. III of Lewis’s Collected Letters. He and his wife Cheryl have three grown children.

Dan Heinze

Dan Heinze received a B. S. from Texas A&M University in 1970, an M. S. from MIT in 1973, and a Ph. D. in geophysics from Texas A&M in 1977.  He married Judith Leigh Spencer, the love of his life, in 1977, and they have three sons whom they homeschooled through high school.  Christ’s grace has subsequently added three magnificent daughters (wives of sons) and four grandchildren.  During postdoctoral studies on earthquake prediction at Carnegie Institute of Washington, D.C. in 1978, he and Judith incorporated Applied Geophysical Software, Inc. (AGS).  Dan started as CEO of AGS and carried out several other missions over its history including watering the plants and washing the dishes; exiting it in 2007 upon its sale to PGS.  Subsequently, he and Judith have enjoyed a mix of serving their family, science, a few vacations, and now working with some of the coolest people on earth to put on this series of symposia on the Christian faith and science.

Darci Hill

Dr Darci N. Hill is Professor of British Literature at Sam Houston State University. She received her PhD from Texas Woman’s University and specializes in classical rhetoric and the literature of the English Renaissance.

Hill’s publications focus generally on Renaissance literature, with particular emphasis on seventeenth-century poet George Herbert. She is also the editor of News from the Raven: Essays from Sam Houston State University on Medieval and Renaissance Thought (2014). She also speaks and writes on rhetoric, as well as the works of C. S. Lewis and the Oxford Inklings.

Walter Kaiser

Walter is the Colman M. Mockler distinguished Professor of Old Testament and President Emeritus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He earned his A.B. from Wheaton College, his B.D. from Wheaton Graduate School, and both his M.A. and Ph.D. in Mediterranean studies from Brandeis University.

Previous to his appointment at GCTS he was Academic Dean and Professor of Old Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School where he taught for more than twenty years. He is the author or editor of over 40 books. Walter and his wife, Marge, currently reside on a farm in Massachusetts. He travels and speaks extensively, his most recent trip being a teaching and ministry trip to Australia.

Peter Kreeft

Peter Kreeft is Professor of Philosophy at Boston College and has taught at numerous other institutions including Villanova University, Fordham University, St. Peter's College, Haverford College, and St. Joseph's College. Dr. Kreeft is a well-known author and lecturer on topics related to philosophy, ethics, theology, and culture.

He has authored over 35 books including: C.S. Lewis For the Third Millennium, The Shadowlands of C.S. Lewis, Back to Virtue: Traditional Moral Wisdom for Modern Moral Confusion, and The Refutation of Moral Relativism. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. from Fordham University and he pursued postgraduate studies at Yale University. He has been the recipient of a number of fellowships including the Yale-Sterling Fellowship, the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, the Danforth Asian Religions Fellowship, and the Newman Alumni Scholarship.

Kelly Monroe Kullberg

Kelly Monroe Kullberg is founder of the Veritas Forum and editor of the Boston Globe bestseller Finding God at Harvard: Spiritual Journeys of Thinking Christians. Since founding the first Veritas Forum at Harvard in 1992, she has traveled across the country helping start Veritas Forums in dozens of universities. For many years she also served as chaplain to the Harvard Graduate School Christian Fellowship.

She is now director of project development for the Veritas Forum and spokesperson for the new American Association of Evangelicals. She served as a missionary in seven countries and is a passionate advocate for advancing the Christian Gospel to go forward in every nation.

Tremper Longman

Dr. Tremper Longman III (B.A. Ohio Wesleyan University; M.Div. Westminster Theological Seminary; M.Phil. and Ph.D. Yale University) is the Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies at Westmont College.  He has written over 20 books including commentaries on Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Daniel, and Nahum.  In addition, he is one of the main translators of the popular New Living Translation and has served as a consultant on other popular translations of the Bible including the Message, the New Century Version, and the Holman Standard Bible. His most recent book (with physicist Richard Carlson) is Science, Creation, and the Bible. Tremper and Alice have three sons and two granddaughters.

Frederica Mathewes-Green

Raised in Charleston, South Carolina, Frederica Mathewes-Green received her B.A. in English from the University of South Carolina and her M.A. in Theological Studies from Virginia Episcopal Theological Seminary.

Considering herself a Hindu, in 1974 she married Gary Mathewes-Green and set off for a back-packing honeymoon in Europe. There she experienced a “totally undeserved miraculous conversion” that changed the course of her life. Returning to the United States, she and her husband both attended seminary, and her husband became an Episcopal priest. After spending fifteen years in the Episcopal Church, her husband fell in love with Orthodoxy and became a priest of the Eastern Orthodox Church. In 1993 the couple founded the Holy Cross Orthodox Church in Baltimore, Maryland. Mathewes-Green’s initial struggle with and eventual reception into the Orthodox Church became the catalyst for her widely acclaimed book, Facing East: A Pilgrim’s Journey into the Mystery of Orthodox (1997). She has authored several other books since then, including, At the Corner of East and Now: A Modern Life in Ancient Christian Orthodoxy (1999); The Illumined Heart: The Ancient Christian Path of Transformation (2001); Gender: Men, Women, Sex, Feminism (2002); The Jesus Prayer: The Ancient Desert Prayer that Tunes the Heart to God (2009); and Welcome to the Orthodox Church: An Introduction to Eastern Christianity (2015).

Her essays were selected for Best Christian Writing in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006, and Best Spiritual Writing in 1998 and 2007. She has published over 700 essays.

She has also appeared as a speaker over 500 times, at places like Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Wellesley, Cornell, Calvin, Baylor, and Westmont; at the Smithsonian Institute, the Aspen Institute, Washington National Cathedral, the Los Angeles Times Book Festival, the American Academy of Religion, the Veritas Forum, the Family Research Council, and the National Right to Life Committee.

Alister McGrath

Alister McGrath gained first class honours in chemistry from Oxford University in June 1975, and continued his studies there in molecular biophysics, receiving in December 1977 an Oxford D.Phil. for his research in the natural sciences.  In June 1978 he gained first class honours in Theology.  The interaction of Christian theology and the natural sciences has subsequently been a major theme of his research and is best seen in the three volumes of his Scientific Theology (2001-3). 

As a former atheist, McGrath is respectful yet critical of the movement. In recent years, he has been especially interested in the emergence of “scientific atheism”, and has researched the distinctive approach to atheist apologetics found in the writings of the Oxford zoologist and scientific populariser Richard Dawkins.

His main research interest at present is the area of thought traditionally known as “natural theology”, which is experiencing significant renewal and revitalization at the moment. He addressed this theme in detail in several recent lecture series and related books:  The Open Secret: A New Vision for Natural Theology;  A Fine Tuned Universe: The Quest for God in Science and Theology;  and the provisional title Darwinism and the Divine: Evolutionary Thought and Natural Theology.

Marjorie Mead

Marjorie Lamp Mead is Associate Director of the Marion E. Wade Center, and Managing Editor of SEVEN: An Anglo-American Literary Review, the annual journal published by the Wade Center on its seven authors: George MacDonald, G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Dorothy L. Sayers, Charles Williams and Owen Barfield. She has held various positions at the Wade Center since coming to work at the collection in 1977 soon after receiving her B.A. in English Literature from Wheaton College ('74), where she studied under Clyde S. Kilby. She speaks on the authors locally and around the country, as well as overseas, and maintains numerous connections with individuals and organizations.

Marjorie holds an M.A. in Biblical and Theological Studies from Wheaton College; her thesis topic was Making Sense of the Universe: Dorothy L. Sayers and the Way of the Intellect. Her published works include: A Reader’s Guide Through the Wardrobe (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2005) and A Reader’s Guide to Caspian (IVP, 2008) (both co-authored with Leland Ryken); C.S. Lewis: Letters to Children (New York: Macmillan, 1985) (co-edited with Lyle Dorsett; reissued by Simon & Schuster, 1995); and Brothers and Friends: The Diaries of Major Warren Hamilton Lewis (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1982) (co-edited with Clyde S. Kilby; reissued by Ballantine, 1988); as well as numerous articles, encyclopedia entries, and chapters of books regarding the Wade authors. 

Mrs. Mead lives with her husband Steve in Wheaton, Illinois. They have one son and one grandson.

Angus Menuge

Angus Menuge is professor and chair of philosophy at Concordia University Wisconsin and President of the Evangelical Philosophical Society.  Menuge is author or editor of many journal articles, book chapters and encyclopedia articles on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, human rights, and apologetics. 
He has broad interests in philosophical and theological anthropology, including the case for the soul and the case against various forms of materialism espoused inside and outside the church. 

He is editor of several books, including Reading God's World (Concordia Academic Press, 2004), Legitimizing Human Rights (Ashgate, 2013), Religious Liberty and the Law (Routledge, 2017), and, with J. P. Moreland and Jonathan Loose, The Blackwell Companion to Substance Dualism (Blackwell, 2018).  Menuge is the author of Agents Under Fire: Materialism and the Rationality of Science (Rowman and Littlefield, 2004), and currently working on a successor volume, Agents Unbound: The Powers of Rational Beings.

Stephen Meyer

Stephen C. Meyer received his Ph.D. in the philosophy of science from the University of Cambridge. A former geophysicist and college professor, he now directs Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. He has authored most recently the New York Times best seller Darwin’s Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design (HarperOne, 2013) as well asSignature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design (HarperOne, 2009), which was named a Book of the Year by the prestigious Times (of London) Literary Supplement in 2009.

Meyer’s other publications include ten chapter contributions to the 2015 collection of essays Debating Darwin’s Doubt as well as contributions to, and the editing of, the peer-reviewed volume Darwinism, Design and Public Education (Michigan State University Press, 2004) and the innovative textbook Explore Evolution (Hill House Publishers, 2007). He has published editorials in national newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The National Post (of Canada), The Daily Telegraph (of London) and The Los Angeles Times.

He has appeared on national television and radio programs such as The Jim Lehrer News Hour, NBC Nightly News, ABC Nightly News, CBS Sunday Morning, Nightline, Fox News Live, Paula Zahn Now (CNN), Good Morning America and the Tavis Smiley Show on PBS. In 2008, he appeared with Ben Stein in Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.  He is featured prominently in the science documentaries Icons of Evolution, Unlocking The Mystery of Life, and Darwin’s Dilemma, as well as two New York Times front-page stories and attention in other top national media.

Barbara Nicolosi

Barbara Nicolosi is the Executive Director of the Galileo Studio at Azusa Pacific University. She founded the Act One programs in Hollywood (www.actoneprogram.com) and is an adjunct professor of cinema at Azusa Pacific University and Pepperdine University. Barbara is the co-editor of the Baker Books release, Behind the Screen: Hollywood Insiders on Faith and Culture.

With an MA in Film from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, she has been a director of development, a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, and a consultant on many film and television projects. She wrote The Work, a full-length feature set during the Spanish Civil War, for IMMI Pictures of Beverly Hills. She writes a media column for the National Catholic Register, is on the executive committee of the City of the Angels Film Festival and the board of Catholics in Media. 

Eugene Peterson

Eugene Peterson was for many years James M. Houston Professor of Spiritual Theology at Regent College. He also served as founding pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland. He is probably most well known for The Message, his translation of the Bible in the language of today. His other works include The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction and Subversive Spirituality.

UPDATE: Beloved Eugene Peterson entered into the presence of his King on October 22, 2018. His impact on the world will be felt for the rest of time.

Fazale Rana

Fazale “Fuz” Rana discovered the fascinating world of cells while taking chemistry and biology courses for the premed program at West Virginia State College (now University). As a presidential scholar there, he earned an undergraduate degree in chemistry with highest honors. He completed a PhD in chemistry with an emphasis in biochemistry at Ohio University, where he twice won the Donald Clippinger Research Award. Postdoctoral studies took him to the Universities of Virginia and Georgia. Fuz then worked seven years as a senior scientist in product development for Procter & Gamble.

Research in biochemistry provided Fuz with the initial evidence that life must have been created. Although he recognized the work of a designer, he did not know the designer’s identity. An acquaintance’s challenge to read the Bible led him to believe that the God of the Bible is that Designer. Eventually, concern for the supposed incompatibility of science and Scripture led Fuz to Reasons To Believe (RTB). Since joining RTB as executive vice president of research and apologetics, Fuz has authored and coauthored the books Origins of Life, Who Was Adam? and, most recently, The Cell’s Design. Fuz lives in Southern California with his wife, Amy, and their three daughters.

John Mark Reynolds

Dr. John Mark Reynolds is the President of The Saint Constantine School. Dr. Reynolds is a Senior Fellow of Humanities at The King’s College in New York City, and a Fellow of the Center For Science and Culture at The Discovery Institute. He is the former provost of Houston Baptist University and was the founder and director of the Torrey Honors Institute, the Socratic, great books-centered honors program at Biola University. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Rochester, where he wrote his dissertation analyzing cosmology and psychology in Plato’s Timaeus. Dr. Reynolds is the author of numerous books, including When Athens Met Jerusalem: an Introduction to Classical and Christian Thought and is the editor of The Great Books Reader. He is a frequent blogger and lecturer on a wide range of topics including ancient philosophy, classical and home education, politics, faith, and virtue.

John Mark attends St. Paul Orthodox Church in Katy, Texas with his parents, brother, wife, and children. An avid technophile, the lights, speakers, and computers in his house can all be controlled by his phone, to both cool and disastrous effect. He loves Disneyland, Star Trek, and the Green Bay Packers. John Mark and his wife Hope have four homeschool-graduate children: L.D., Mary Kate, Ian and Jane.

Jerry Root

Dr. Jerry Root is an associate professor at Wheaton College where he teaches graduate courses in the MA in Evangelism and Leadership Program as well as courses in the undergraduate Christian Formation and Ministry Department. In addition, Jerry is a visiting professor at Biola University and Talbot Graduate School of Theology (La Mirada, Calif.). He is also the director of the Evangelism Initiative at Wheaton College and associate director of the Billy Graham Center Institute of Strategic Evangelism. He has pastored three different churches over twenty-three years. Nineteen of those years were invested in student ministry, and for four years he served as a senior pastor. While pastoring he taught courses in Philosophy and on C. S. Lewis for ten years at the College of Du Page in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.

Jerry has written C. S. Lewis and a Problem of Evil: an Investigation of a Pervasive Theme, co-authored The Sacrament of Evangelism, and also co-authored and co-edited The Soul of C. S. Lewis: A Meditative Journey through Twenty-six of His Best Loved Writings. He is co-editor, with Wayne Martindale, of the best-selling and award-winning The Quotable C. S. Lewis. Jerry has authored numerous articles and contributed many chapters to other books on topics related to C.S. Lewis. Jerry is also the consulting editor of the new Harper Collins C. S. Lewis Bible. He has lectured on C. S. Lewis at 52 college or university campuses and in 15 countries around the world. He has taught college and graduate courses on C. S. Lewis for 32 consecutive years.

Jerry and his wife, Claudia, have four married children, seven grandkids, and a Welsh Corgi; they live in Wheaton, Illinois. 

Hugh Ross

Hugh Ross launched his career at age seven when he went to the library to find out why stars are hot. Physics and astronomy captured his curiosity and never let go. At age seventeen he became the youngest person ever to serve as director of observations for Vancouver’s Royal Astronomical Society. With the help of a provincial scholarship and a National Research Council (NRC) of Canada fellowship, he completed his undergraduate degree in physics (University of British Columbia) and graduate degrees in astronomy (University of Toronto). The NRC also sent him to the United States for postdoctoral studies. At Caltech he researched quasi-stellar objects, or “quasars,” some of the most distant and ancient objects in the universe.

Not all of Hugh’s discoveries involved astrophysics. Prompted by curiosity, he studied the world’s religions and “holy books” and found only one book that proved scientifically and historically accurate: the Bible. Hugh started at religious “ground zero” and through scientific and historical reality-testing became convinced that the Bible is truly the Word of God! When he went on to describe for others his journey to faith in Jesus Christ, he was surprised to discover how many people believed or disbelieved without checking the evidence.

Hugh’s unshakable confidence that God’s revelations in Scripture and nature do not, will not, and cannot contradict became his unique message. Wholeheartedly encouraged by family and friends, communicating that message as broadly and clearly as possible became his mission. Thus, in 1986, he founded science-faith think tank Reasons To Believe (RTB). He and his colleagues at RTB keep tabs on the frontiers of research to share with scientists and nonscientists alike the thrilling news of what’s being discovered and how it connects with biblical theology. In this realm, he has written many books, including: The Fingerprint of God, The Creator and the Cosmos, Beyond the Cosmos, The Genesis Question, A Matter of Days, Creation as Science, Why the Universe Is the Way It Is, and More Than a Theory. Hugh lives in Southern California with his wife, Kathy, and two sons.

Luci Shaw

Luci Shaw was born in 1928 in London, England, and has lived in Canada, Australia and the U.S.A. A 1953 high honors graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois, she became co-founder and later president of Harold Shaw Publishers, and since 1988 has been a Writer in Residence at Regent College, Vancouver, Canada.

Shaw is a frequent retreat facilitator and leads writing workshops in church and university settings. She has lectured in North America and abroad on topics such as art and spirituality, the Christian imagination, poetry-writing, and journal-writing as an aid to artistic and spiritual growth.

A charter member of the Chrysostom Society of Writers, Shaw is author of eleven volumes of poetry including Sea Glass: New & Selected Poems (WordFarm, 2016), Thumbprint in the Clay: Divine Marks of Beauty, Order and Grace (InterVarsity Press, 2016), Polishing the Petoskey Stone (Shaw, 1990), Writing the River (Pinon Press, 1994/Regent Publishing, 1997), The Angles of Light (Waterbrook, 2000), and The Green Earth: Poems of Creation (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2002). Her most recent books are What the Light Was Like (Word Farm), Accompanied by Angels(Eerdmans), The Genesis of It All (Paraclete), and Breath for the Bones: Art, Imagination & Spirit (Nelson). Her poetic work and essays have been widely anthologized. Shaw has authored several non-fiction prose books, including Water My Soul: Cultivating the Interior Life (Zondervan) and The Crime of Living Cautiously (InterVarsity). She has also co-authored three books with Madeleine L’Engle, WinterSong (Regent), Friends for the Journey (Regent), and A Prayer Book for Spiritual Friends (Augsburg/Fortress).

Shaw is poetry editor and a contributing editor of Radix, as quarterly journal published in Berkeley, CA, that celebrates art, literature, music, psychology, science and the media, featuring original poetry, reviews and interviews. She is also poetry and fiction editor of Crux, an academic journal published quarterly by Regent College, Vancouver, Canada.

David Taylor

Born and raised in Guatemala City, David Taylor studied at the University of Texas (Plan II and International Relations), Georgetown University, the University of Würzburg and Regent College in Canada, where he received degrees in theology (MCS) and biblical studies (ThM). He earned his Th.D. at Duke Divinity School, under the joint supervision of Jeremy Begbie and Lester Ruth. He was a pastor at Hope Chapel in Austin, Texas, where over the course of twelve years, in a full-time and part-time capacity, he supervised an arts ministry and the adult education program in addition to serving on the preaching team.

In 2010 he edited the book For the Beauty of the Church: Casting a Vision for the Arts (Baker Books), drawing on the Transforming Culture Conference he co-planned with Hill Country Institute in 2008, which includes contributions from Eugene Peterson, Andy Crouch, Lauren Winner, Jeremy Begbie, Barbara Nicolosi, John Witvliet and Joshua Banner. He has written articles for Books & Culture, CIVA Seen, Christianity Today, Q, Comment magazine, The Living Church, The Christian Vision Project, The Christian Scholars Review and Calvin Theological Journal.

His artistic interests include playwriting, modern dance and film, and in recent years, science fiction literature. He and his wife, Phaedra (a gardener, cook and visual artist), currently live in Houston, Texas, where he serves as Assistant Professor of Theology and Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary as well as the director of Brehm Texas, an initiative in worship, theology and the arts. He is also ordained to the transitional diaconate in the Anglican Communion of North America.

Bruce Waltke

Bruce K. Waltke is a Reformed evangelical professor of Old Testament and Hebrew. He has held professorships in the Old Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary, Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando. Currently at Knox Theological Seminary, Waltke was born in 1930 in New Jersey to parents in the Mennonite Brethren tradition. He received an A.B. from Houghton College, a Th.M. and Th.D. from Dallas Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from Harvard University.

He has served as president of the Evangelical Theological Society and was on the translation committee of the New American Standard Bible[1] and the New International and Today's New International Version of the Bible. His books include "Intermediate Hebrew Grammar", "Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax", “Finding the Will of God", "Creation and Chaos", and commentaries on Proverbs (New International Commentary on the Old Testament, 2 vols.), Micah (Tyndale Commentary Series), and with C. J. Fredricks Genesis (Zondervan 2001, ISBN 978-0310224587), which was a winner of Christianity Today's Gold Medallion award.

He was co-editor for the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, and he was the Old Testament editor for the Expositor's Bible Commentary series, the New Geneva Study Bible, and the Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible. Most recently, he wrote "An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach". Waltke has travelled widely as a Bible expositor, as an Area Supervisor for excavations at Gezer, Israel, and as Director of field study trips to the Middle East and the Classical World. He is married and has three grown children.

John Walton

John Walton is Professor of Old Testament, Wheaton College and Graduate School since 2001. His education background includes Ph.D. 1981 Hebrew and Cognate Studies, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati, Ohio; M.A. 1975 Biblical Studies: Old Testament; Wheaton Graduate School; and A.B. 1974 Economics/Accounting, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA. He was formerly Professor of Old Testament, Moody Bible Institute, 1981-2001. His publications include: The Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Old Testament (General Editor); The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate; Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament; Genesis, NIV Application Commentary; and IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament (Co-authored with Victor Matthews and Mark Chavalas).

John Witvliet

John D. Witvliet is director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and professor of worship, theology, & congregational and ministry studies at Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary. His areas of interest include the history of Christian worship, worship practices in various denominations, biblical and systematic theology of worship, the role of music and the arts in worship, choral and congregational song and consulting with churches on worship renewal.

A graduate of Calvin College, Dr. Witvliet holds graduate degrees in theology from Calvin Theological Seminary, in music from the University of Illinois, and the Ph.D. in liturgical studies and theology from the University of Notre Dame.

He is the author of The Biblical Psalms in Christian Worship: A Brief Introduction and Guide to Resources (Eerdmans, 2007), Worship Seeking Understanding: Windows into Christian Practice (Baker Academic, 2003), co-author of Proclaiming the Christmas Gospel: Ancient Sermons and Hymns for Contemporary Christian Inspiration (Baker, 2004), and co-editor of The Worship Sourcebook (Faith Alive Christian Resources, Baker Books, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, 2004), and Worship in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Change and Continuity in Religious Practice (University of Notre Dame Press, 2004), and the children’s books At Your Baptism (Eerdmans, 2011) and At God’s Table/En La Mesa de Dios (Calvin Press, 2017).

For many years, he has been active on hymnal and congregational song projects, including Renew! Songs and Hymns for Blended Worship (Hope Publishing, 1995), Sing! A New Creation. (CRC Publications, 2001), Singing the New Testament (Faith Alive, 2008), Psalms for All Seasons:  A Complete Psalter for Worship (Faith Alive, 2012), Lift Up Your Hearts (Faith Alive, 2013), and a forthcoming bilingual Spanish-English hymnal, Santo, Santo, Santo/Holy, Holy, Holy (GIA).

His articles have appeared in Studia Liturgica, Worship, Reformed Worship, Reformed Liturgy and Music, Assembly, The Hymn, The Chorister, Congregations, The Choral Journal, The American Organist, Liturgical Ministry, Jahrbuch für Liturgik und Hymnologie, The Complete Library of Christian Worship, The Banner, and Books and Culture. He has also contributed to several dictionaries, including Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart; Westminster Dictionary of Liturgy and Music; Worship Music: A Concise Dictionary; Oxford Dictionary of Evangelical Theology, and Zondervan Dictionary of Christian Spirituality. He has given endowed lectures at  Yale Divinity School, Princeton Theological Seminary, Pepperdine University, and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

Many of his activities focus on helping churches to receive more deeply the gift of a profoundly Trinitarian vision for corporate worship, to engage with the Biblical Psalms as source of pastoral encouragement, to integrate theology and the worship arts more intentionally, to engage in inculturation in ways that both embrace but also challenge and transform the cultural dynamics in any given community, and to strengthen practices that engage all persons, regardless of ability or disability, physical or mental concerns, in ministry together.