Jeff Conklin-Miller has served as a pastor in the United Methodist Church and is currently a Th.D. student in theology at the Duke University Divinity School.

Susannah Laramee Kidd is a graduate student in Comparative Literature and Religion at Emory University.

A PhD candidate in the American Religious Cultures course of study, Donna S. Mote is an ethnographer of religious cultures and practices. The focus of her dissertation project is the religious culture of Shingleroof Camp Meeting in Henry County, Georgia, and she is currently at work on a documentary film about Shingleroof. Much of Mote's work involves identifying and analyzing implicit practices of ancestor veneration in US contexts. She places such practices in conversation with more explicit ancestor-venerating practices in non-US religious cultures, such as that of Obon, the Buddhist Festival of the Dead, in Japan. Animating her work are a focus on the interplay of practices, memory, bodies, and place and an interest in new approaches to religious places and spaces.

Amy Levad is a doctoral candidate in the Ethics and Society course of study whose research explores religious efforts to reform criminal justice systems in the US. Her dissertation, entitled “The Moral Imagination of Restorative Justice,” places the intellectual history of virtue ethics in dialogue with ethnographic research in six restorative justice programs in Colorado. Levad's dissertation also explores how participation in restorative justice practices can change the ways communities imagine and respond to the ethical challenges that arise in the aftermath of crime. This work fits within Levad's larger projects of investigating the contributions of religious traditions to criminal justice theories and practices and the role of moral imagination in responding creatively to other social problems.

Ben Brazil is a freelance writer and graduate student in American Religious Cultures at Emory University. His work can be found at www.benbrazil.net.

Paul Dafydd Jones is Assistant Professor of Western Religious Thought at the University of Virginia. He is the author of The Humanity of Christ: Christology in Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics (T&T Clark, 2008).

Thomas G. Long is Bandy Professor of Preaching at the Candler School of Theology, Emory University. His most recent book is Preaching from Memory to Hope (Westminster John Knox Press, 2009).

Emily Mace is a graduate student in American Religion at Princeton University writing on the practices of religious liberalism.

Kristine Suna-Koro is is a minister in the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and doctoral candidate in the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University.

Angela Tarango is a visiting instructor of Religion and Comparative American Studies at Oberlin College and will be Assistant Professor of Religion at Trinity University starting fall 2009.

Lance Pape is an ordained minister who served churches in Alabama and New York before beginning his graduate studies in the Person, Community, and Religious Life course of study in the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University.

Harshita Mruthinti Kamath is a doctoral student at Emory University in the West and South Asian Religions course of study in the Graduate Division of Religion.

Arthi Devarajan is a doctoral candidate at Emory University in the West and South Asian Religions course of study in the Graduate Division of Religion.

Frank Rogers, Jr. is Associate Professor of Spiritual Formation and Narrative Pedagogy at the Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, California.

Michelle Voss Roberts is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee.

Josh Thomas is a doctoral candidate in the Person, Community and Religious Life course of study focusing on religious education with youth and young adults. His dissertation will draw on work with Kids4Peace, an organization that gathers Jewish, Christian, and Muslim youth from Jerusalem for intensive summer camps. Evaluating the impact of this program, Thomas will explore the theologies and religious practices required to support young people in efforts toward peace. He also studies religion and sexuality, developing practices of pastoral guidance to help LGBT young adults navigate the relationship between their faith and sexuality. An ordained Episcopal priest, Thomas works in campus ministry for the Diocese of New Hampshire.

Courtney Goto is a doctoral candidate in the Person, Community and Religious Life course of study of the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University. Her dissertation, entitled "Artistic Play: Seeking the God of the Unexpected," sets forth a practical theology of play through art, and explores issues of body, imagination, teaching and learning for adults through two case studies. In the first case, Goto investigates how participants of InterPlay, based in Oakland, California, are creating selves by engaging in improvisational theater, movement, and vocal music. In the second case, Goto compares the ways in which a Japanese-American congregation in Sacramento, California discovers connections between faith and culture through play, Japanese artifacts, and aesthetics. Performance theory and object-relations aesthetics serve as theoretical lenses.

Steven J. Gelberg is a fine art photographer in Richmond, California. He has published nine volumes of work.

Sandra F. Selby is associate pastor of Furnace Street Mission in Akron and adjunct instructor at Methodist Theological School in Ohio.

Heather Stoltz is a professional quilter and the Community Services Coordinator at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York City.

Elizabeth Shively is a doctoral candidate in New Testament in the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

G. William Barnard is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

Gretchen Wegner is an academic coach for high school students, an InterPlay leader and performer, and the inventor of MuseCubes.

Robyn Neville is a third-year Ph.D. student in Historical Studies in the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University. She is also an ordained Episcopal priest.

Samira Mehta is a doctoral candidate in the American Religious Cultures course of study. Her dissertation focuses on Christian-Jewish interfaith families in the late twentieth century United States, a project in which she explores the dynamics of familial religious practice and experience through the lens of cultural history. Mehta’s project translates conversations about pluralism in American religion to familial religious practices, and examines the cultural construction of Christian-Jewish interfaith families through a close examination of popular culture. The ethnographic portion of her dissertation involves interviewing families about their own religious practices, with particular analytic attention paid to areas of innovation. Her project also explores dynamics of community outreach to interfaith families.

John Senior is a doctoral candidate in the Ethics and Society course of study and a concentrator in the Initiative in Religious Practices and Practical Theology. His dissertation explores the construction of Christian identity and moral agency in and through forms of political activism. Senior’s interests also include the relationship between theological education in the seminary context and diverse practices of ministry.

Courtney T. Goto is a doctoral candidate in the Person, Community and Religious Life course of study of the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University. Her dissertation, entitled "Artistic Play: Seeking the God of the Unexpected," sets forth a practical theology of play through art, and explores issues of body, imagination, teaching and learning for adults through two case studies. In the first case, Goto investigates how participants of InterPlay, based in Oakland, California, are creating selves by engaging in improvisational theater, movement, and vocal music. In the second case, Goto compares the ways in which a Japanese-American congregation in Sacramento, California discovers connections between faith and culture through play, Japanese artifacts, and aesthetics. Performance theory and object-relations aesthetics serve as theoretical lenses.

Amy Levad is a doctoral candidate in the Ethics and Society course of study whose research explores religious efforts to reform criminal justice systems in the US. Her dissertation, entitled “The Moral Imagination of Restorative Justice,” places the intellectual history of virtue ethics in dialogue with ethnographic research in six restorative justice programs in Colorado. Levad’s dissertation also explores how participation in restorative justice practices can change the ways communities imagine and respond to the ethical challenges that arise in the aftermath of crime. This work fits within Levad’s larger projects of investigating the contributions of religious traditions to criminal justice theories and practices and the role of moral imagination in responding creatively to other social problems.

Letitia Campbell is a doctoral student in the Ethics and Society course of study of the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University. She is interested in the history of Christian social ethics, social and political theory, and the new rhetoric of empire. Before beginning doctoral studies, Campbell lived in New York City, where she was part of the program staff at Auburn Theological Seminary and taught at Manhattan College and Columbia University. She has worked as a newspaper reporter, and she brings experience in faith-based organizing and anti-racism facilitation to her scholarly work. She has also worked in youth, young adult, and campus ministry, and is a candidate for ordination in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

A PhD candidate in the American Religious Cultures course of study, Donna S. Mote is an ethnographer of religious cultures and practices. The focus of her dissertation project is the religious culture of Shingleroof Camp Meeting in Henry County, Georgia, and she is currently at work on a documentary film about Shingleroof. Much of Mote's work involves identifying and analyzing implicit practices of ancestor veneration in US contexts. She places such practices in conversation with more explicit ancestor-venerating practices in non-US religious cultures, such as that of Obon, the Buddhist Festival of the Dead, in Japan. Animating her work are a focus on the interplay of practices, memory, bodies, and place and an interest in new approaches to religious places and spaces.

Samira Mehta is a doctoral candidate in the American Religious Cultures course of study. Her dissertation focuses on Christian-Jewish interfaith families in the late twentieth century United States, a project in which she explores the dynamics of familial religious practice and experience through the lens of cultural history. Mehta's project translates conversations about pluralism in American religion to familial religious practices, and examines the cultural construction of Christian-Jewish interfaith families through a close examination of popular culture. The ethnographic portion of her dissertation involves interviewing families about their own religious practices, with particular analytic attention paid to areas of innovation. Her project also explores dynamics of community outreach to interfaith families.

John Senior is a doctoral candidate in the Ethics and Society course of study and a concentrator in the Initiative in Religious Practices and Practical Theology. His dissertation explores the construction of Christian identity and moral agency in and through forms of political activism. Senior's interests also include the relationship between theological education in the seminary context and diverse practices of ministry.

Lance Pape is an ordained minister who served churches in Alabama and New York before beginning his graduate work in Person, Community, and Religious Life at Emory University.

Bradley Daugherty is a graduate student in Religion at Vanderbilt University.

Barry Stephenson teaches in the Religion and Culture Department at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Leah Lewis is a doctoral student in the Person, Community, and Religious Life course of study of Emory University’s Graduate Division of Religion.

Howell Belser received her B.A. in English from Emory University in 2002 and her M.T.S from Pacific School of Religion in 2004. She has returned to Emory and is a doctoral student in the American Religious Cultures course of study of the Graduate Division of Religion. Her academic interests include lived religion, popular culture, gender/queer studies, utopian fiction, performance theory, social change movements, and pedagogy. Her current work explores the transformative potential of queer utopian science fiction and subversive queer performance art.

Brendan Ozawa-de Silva is a doctoral student in West and South Asian Religions in the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University. His studies focus on the scientific exploration of meditation and the emerging dialogue between cognitive neuroscience and Buddhist contemplative theory and practice. Three main aims direct his work. First, Ozawa-de Silva hopes to develop a greater understanding of mind/body interaction through the interdisciplinary and comparative study of contemplative practices. Second, he seeks to discover new clinical interventions, particularly for the treatment of mental illness. Finally, Ozawa-de Silva works to establish curricula that facilitate the cultivation of emotional and social intelligence.

David King is a doctoral student in the Historical Studies course of study of the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University. Trained as a scholar of American religions, he employs ethnographic and historical methods to explore the complexity of twentieth-century American evangelicalism, depicting its diverse practices and ideologies. King's current work examines the evolving understandings of mission and public policy within evangelical non-governmental organizations. As an ordained minister, King is also committed to researching and responding to issues of practice within local communities of faith. His recent work has followed the formation of a Hispanic storefront congregation, as well as the short-term missions program of a suburban megachurch.

Katy Shrout is a doctoral candidate in American religious history and culture. Her dissertation addresses the role of the sacred in the commercialization of white wedding practices, 1840-1970. Drawing upon books, diaries, advertisements, church materials, films, photographs and material artifacts, she investigates how the wedding has served as a site of sacred significance for women, depending upon and reshaping meanings derived from religious institutions and the marketplace. She is interested in what constitutes a religious practice in modernity, and how consumer culture has competed with, fed upon, and sustained American religion. Shrout also has a masters' in documentary film from Berkeley, and produced a documentary screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2002.

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