Dr. Alejandro Nava is a Professor of Religious Studies and Classics at the University of Arizona (UA). He received his MA and PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Chicago. His first teaching position was at Seattle University, before joining the faculty at UA, where he teaches courses that include 'Love and World Religions,' 'The Question of God,' 'Religion and Culture in the Southwest,' 'Rap, Culture, and God' and 'Religion in Latin America.' Dr. Nava is the author of The Mystical and Prophetic Thought of Simone Weil and Gustavo Gutiérrez: Reflections on the Mystery and Hiddenness of God (SUNY Press, 2001); Wonder and Exile in the New World (Penn State University Press, 2013); In Search of Soul: Hip-Hop, Literature and Religion (University of California Press, 2017); and Street Scriptures: Between God and Hip-Hop (University of Chicago Press, 2022).

Dr. Luis G. Pedraja is President of Quinsigamond Community College (QCC). He was born in Cuba, and throughout his career, has focused on Latino perspectives, and has published many books and articles exploring how understanding language and culture can promote intercultural dialogue and tolerance. He holds a BA from Stetson University and a PhD in Philosophy and Religion from the University of Virginia. He has been on faculty at the University of Puget Sound and Southern Methodist University, where he also served as a division chair and faculty senator. Additionally, he served as Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean at the Memphis Theological Seminary and as Vice President for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. He also led the first program to grant American accreditation to foreign universities and has provided guidance to universities in South America, Asia, and Europe on achieving American higher education standards. Additionally, he has served as Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Antioch University in Los Angeles and Interim Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs for Peralta Community College District in California. Dr. Pedraja serves on multiple boards in the region, the state, and the nation, including: United Way, Latino Education Institute, Masshire Central Region Workforce Board, Worcester Regional Research Bureau, and Co-Chair of the Mayoral Commission for Latino Advancement and Education. He was recently appointed to represent the Massachusetts community colleges in the Governor’s newly formed Healthcare Collaborative and serves on the American Association of Community Colleges’ (AACC) Commission on Institutional Infrastructure & Technology. Dr. Pedraja lives in Worcester with his wife and daughter.

Dr. Theresa L. Torres, a second-generation Mexican American, is Associate Professor of Sociology and Race, Ethnic and Gender Studies (REGS) in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC). Her areas of expertise are Latinx Studies (in the United States, particularly Kansas City), Gender Studies, Immigration Studies, Ethnic Studies, Religious Studies, and Anthropology. Using ethnographic field studies, her current research is on the impact of religion and spirituality in the lives of Latina Leaders and the role of Latinas in religious and civic organizations. She holds a BA in Secondary Education from Benedictine College; an MA in Pastoral Studies in Mexican American Culture and Theology from Boston College; and a PhD in Religious Studies, Theology, and cognate in Anthropology and Latino Studies from Catholic University. Dr. Torres is the author of The Paradox of Latina Religious Leadership in the Catholic Church: Las Guadalupanas of Kansas City (Palgrave MacMillan, 2013), a book on Latina spirituality and resilience based on interviews of Latina leaders. 

Dr. Theresa A. Yugar is a Peruvian American scholar in religion whose scholarly focus is on women, ecology, and climate change on a global level. She is a graduate of Harvard University with a master’s degree in Feminist Theology and has a PhD from Claremont Graduate University in the field of Women Studies in Religion. Her research interests include creating counter narratives in course curriculum, reclaiming the native indigenous cosmology within a Buen Vivir ecological framework, reimagining Andean colonial frameworks, and reflecting on 17th century Novohispaña Latina woman Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz in a contemporary U.S. context. 

Dr. Yugar is the Chief Editor for the book, Valuing Lives, Healing Earth: Religion, Gender, and Life on Earth (Peeters, Belgium, 2021), which focuses on women who embody commitments to healing the earth rendered vulnerable by problematic social systems in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. She is also the author of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Feminist Reconstruction of Biography and Text (Wipf and Stock, 2014). She is the scriptwriter for the TED-Ed Lessons Worth Sharing "History’s Worst Nun," which has been viewed nine million times since its publication in November 2019. Dr. Yugar has also been recognized by The Peruvian Consulate, in Lima, with a diploma for organizing the Santo Niño de la Mascaipacha (Holy Child of Cuzco) cultural event at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral, in Los Angeles, which reclaims the “ancestral cult of the Peruvian Andes.”

The grandson of agricultural workers and day laborers, Danny Ballon-Garst was born and raised in San Diego, California, along the San Ysidro/Tijuana border, where his dad pastored an Apostolic church. As a scholar, Ballon-Garst is interested in studying the relationship between religion and social change, and he pursues his research questions primarily through a historical lens. In his doctoral studies, Ballon-Garst is conducting a historical study of black and brown queer Pentecostals and Evangelicals in the United States in the twentieth century, drawing connections from these historical movements and actors to current queer religious movements, including queer transnational religious movements in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. Prior to pursuing a career in academia, he practiced law at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and at a corporate law firm in Los Angeles. Ballon-Garst holds BA and JD degrees from the University of Southern California, and an MTS from Harvard Divinity School.

Rebecca Rhodes Blackburn is a PhD student in Biblical Hermeneutics at Chicago Theological Seminary. Her research centers contemporary hermeneutical strategies in biblical studies, including womanist, queer, mujerista, and feminist approaches. Blackburn cultivates tools for self-critical engagement of the biblical text in historically centered Christian communities. In addition to her research, she is involved in various projects related to interreligious dialogue and cooperation. She currently serves as a fellow for the Tri-Faith Initiative’s inaugural Emerging Clergy Seminar. Before her PhD work, Blackburn worked in higher education, promoting student success and community thriving. She has experience teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Blackburn holds a Bachelor’s in social work and a Master’s in spiritual formation and leadership; these degrees work together to keep her attuned to strategies that support the material, social, and spiritual conditions of the communities to which she belongs. Blackburn is a member of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and is Program Operations Manager at Interfaith America. Outside of her studies, she enjoys exploring Chicago on foot and getting lost in good stories.

Rev. Dr. José Francisco Morales Torres is Associate Professor of Comparative Theology & Philosophy at Chicago Theological Seminary. As a historical and comparative theologian, he places historical voices into conversation with historically marginalized voices, within and beyond the Christian tradition, offering radical re-articulations of the affirmations of faith for today’s realities. His research interests include: comparative and contextual approaches to historical theology; the development of Christian doctrines; Jewish-Muslim-Christian encounters in medieval philosophy and theology; liberation theologies; and the history of Latin American and Caribbean philosophy. Thoroughly interdisciplinary in his approach, Rev. Dr. Morales weaves together comparative theology, history of thought, and philosophy (especially existentialism and phenomenology). His most recent book is Wonder as a New Starting Point for Theological Anthropology: Opened by the World (Lexington Books, 2023), which proposes a new theological anthropology informed by the experience of wonder. Rev. Dr. Morales is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). His ministry experience is broad, including congregational pastorate, advocacy, community organizing, wider denominational leadership, and education. He holds a BA from Judson University, an MDiv from McCormick Theological Seminary, and a PhD from the Claremont School of Theology. Rev. Dr. Morales is married to Rev. Daphne M. Gascot Arias, also an ordained Disciples of Christ minister, who is currently working on her PhD in Hebrew Bible. They share life and laughs with their daughters Daphne Magnolia and Yael Marie.

Dr. Dominick S. Hernández is Associate Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. He teaches on an array of topics, including biblical wisdom, ancient Near Eastern literature, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Previously, he taught at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (where he directed the seminary’s Online Hispanic Program), Moody Bible Institute, and Israel College of the Bible. Dr. Hernández holds a BS in Kinesiology from West Chester University of Pennsylvania; an MA in Physical Education from the Teachers College at Columbia University, where he focused on curriculum and teaching in the biobehavioral sciences; an MDiv focused on Old Testament/Hebrew Bible from Princeton Theological Seminary; and a PhD in Hebrew Bible at Bar-Ilan University (Ramat Gan, Israel), where he was trained in Semitic Philology. He also received ministerial training at the Calvary Chapel School of Ministry in Costa Mesa, CA. During this time, he was ordained at Calvary Chapel Voyage in Fountain Valley, CA and served as the congregation’s youth pastor. Dr. Hernández is the author of Proverbs: Pathways to Wisdom (Abingdon, 2020), Illustrated Job in Hebrew (GlossaHouse, 2020), Engaging the Old Testament: How to Read Biblical Narrative, Poetry, and Prophecy Well (Baker, 2023), as well as forthcoming commentaries on Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (Cascade) and Song of Songs (Eerdmans). He is committed to the church, having served in English, Spanish, and Hebrew-language ministries in the United States and abroad. Learn more about Dr. Hernández at: domshernandez.com.

Dr. Jeff Ming Liou is the National Director of Theological Formation for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA. He is also an adjunct assistant professor of Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA, where he received his PhD in Theology and Culture.  Dr. Liou has written papers and contributed book chapters on race and justice, Asian American Christianity, theological ethics, and political theology. He is the co-author (with Robert Chao Romero) of Christianity and Critical Race Theory: A Faithful and Constructive Conversation (Baker Academic, 2023). Ordained in the Christian Reformed Church of North America, Dr. Liou has served as a campus minister, pastor, and university chaplain. 

Dr. Robert Chao Romero is an attorney, ordained minister, and faith-rooted community organizer. He is also associate professor in the UCLA departments of Chicana/o, Central American, and Asian American Studies in Los Angeles, California and as director of the Brown Church Initiative at Fuller Theological Seminary. Dr. Romero earned his PhD from UCLA in Latin American history and his Juris Doctor from UC Berkeley. His research explores the little-known history of Asian-Latinos, as well as the role of Christianity in social justice movements in Latin America and among U.S. Latinas/os. Dr. Romero is the author of several books, including The Chinese in Mexico, 1882-1940 (The University of Arizona Press, 2012); Brown Church: Five Centuries of Latina/o Social Justice, Theology, and Identity (IVP Academic, 2020); and co-author of Christianity and Critical Race Theory: A Faithful and Constructive Conversation (Baker Academic, 2023). The Chinese in Mexico received the Latina/o Studies book award from the Latin American Studies Association, and Brown Church received the InterVarsity Press Readers’ Choice Award for best academic title. 

The Rev. Francisco J. García is a PhD candidate in Theological Studies, Ethics and Action at Vanderbilt University in the Graduate Department of Religion, and a Graduate Research Fellow at the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice at Vanderbilt Divinity School.

A Chicano from Los Angeles, born to Mexican immigrant parents, he also serves as an Assistant Chaplain at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Chapel in Nashville, Tennessee. Informed by his work in community, faith, and labor organizing, The Rev. García’s doctoral project entails developing theologies/ecclesiologies of organizing—rooted in Latinx, Christian, and interfaith liberation traditions—reimagining the church as a social movement that challenges the pressing structural injustices of our time and constructs alternatives.

Luz E. Herrera is a Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Experiential Education at Texas A&M School of Law. As dean, Herrera promotes entrepreneurial efforts to address the access to civil justice gap. Before entering academia, Herrera ran her own practice and founded Community Lawyers, Inc., a non-profit organization that encourages access to affordable legal services and develops innovative opportunities for legal professionals in underserved communities. These experiences have influenced her scholarship, which promotes legal “low bono” service-delivery models and post-graduate support programs for lawyers starting their own law firms. Herrera currently serves as a special advisor for the American Bar Association’s Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities. Prior to her current position, Herrera was the Assistant Dean for Clinical Education, Experiential Learning and Public Service at UCLA School of Law. She has also taught as a visiting clinical professor at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, as an assistant professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, as a visiting professor at Chapman University School of Law, and as a Senior Clinical Fellow at Harvard Law School. In her various academic positions, Herrera encouraged innovation and promoted access to justice through experiential learning. Her honors include an Academic Leadership Award from the Hispanic National Bar Foundation and Notre Dame Law School’s Graciela Olivarez Award. Herrera holds an AB in Political Science from Stanford University and a JD from Harvard Law School, where she served on the Editorial Board of the Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.

Dr. María Carrión holds a joint appointment in Religion and Comparative Literature at Emory University, where she has organized several conferences, including "Spain Before Spain. Encounters Between Muslims, Jews, and Christians (1500-1700).” She formerly held a Visiting Professorship at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras (UPRRP), where she also served as Dean of Graduate Studies at the School of Humanities. Dr. Carríon specializes in the cultural and religious production of Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries, with a particular focus on questions of drama, law, and architecture. She has also published articles and translations on the literature and culture of the Hispanic Caribbean. Her work analyzes religious and cultural matters in the many worlds of latinidad, ranging from Andalusi gardens and religious branding, to devotion and the sacred. Dr. Carrión has presented her work in the US, Spain, South America, Romania, and the former Yugoslavia, and her essays have been published in the US, Spain, France, and South America. Her books include Subject Stages. Marriage, Theatre, and the Law in Early Modern Spain (Toronto University Press, 2010) and Arquitectura y cuerpo en la figura autorial de Teresa de Jesús [Architecture and Body in the Authorial Figure of Teresa de Jesús] (Anthropos, 1994). She is currently working on a digital monograph exploring correspondences of nature and belief in 16th-century European dried gardens. Dr. Carrión holds a BA from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez; two MA degrees from University of Tennessee, Knoxville and one from Yale University, where she also earned an MPhil and a PhD.

Dr. Jose L. Saldivar, Jr. is a first-generation college graduate who holds BA (Chicana/o Studies) and MEd (Social Sciences of Education) degrees from Stanford University, and a PhD (Cultural Studies in Education) from The University of Texas at Austin. He is an educational consultant and coach, specializing in college, career, and life readiness coaching, and faculty development. Dr. Saldivar, a Rio Grande Valley native, is a full-time faculty member at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He is the founder of CREO (College and Career Readiness and Educational Opportunity Consultants), which provides college, career, and life readiness consulting services to a variety of clients, including K-12 institutions, higher education, community organizations, and private companies. As part of CREO’s initiatives, Dr. Saldivar hosts The Way to College Podcast.

Fr. Lorenzo Lebrija is the chief innovation officer of Virginia Theological Seminary and the executive director of TryTank Research Institute, which focuses on advancing theological research to meet the evolving needs of the church in the modern world.  Before launching TryTank, Fr. Lorenzo was the Chief Development Officer for the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. He also served as the Pastor on behalf of the Bishop at St. John's Episcopal Church in San Bernardino, CA, and as priest associate at St. Athanasius Episcopal Church at the Cathedral Center of St. Paul in Los Angeles.  

Before entering seminary, Fr. Lorenzo was president and CEO of Seraphic Fire & Firebird Chamber Orchestra, Miami's professional choral and orchestral ensemble. He was also the Miami Program Director for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation responsible for the Knight Arts Challenge, and was General Manager for RadioActiva Hispanic Radio and Editor/Director of Operations for Miami's Community Newspapers. 

Fr. Lorenzo holds an MDiv from the General Theological Seminary in New York City and is currently finishing the doctoral program at Virginia Theological Seminary. He also has an MBA and a B.A. from Florida International University, has completed the full training at the Fundraising School at Indiana University, is a Certified Foresight Practitioner from the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, CA, has a certificate in Design Thinking from IDEO in Palo Alto, CA, and is a graduate of Rice University's Executive Education Program. He is the author of How to Try: Design Thinking and Church Innovation (Church Publishing Incorporated, 2021).

Dr. Ahida (Calderón) Pilarski is Professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible at Saint Anselm College (NH). Her research focuses on the intersection of culture and gender in biblical interpretation, especially in Latina and Mujerista Biblical Hermeneutics. Her scholarly service to empower Latine (and Latina) communities includes, among others, being a member of the Editorial Board of the Wisdom Commentary Series (WCS), a member of the Steering Committee of HTI (Hispanic Theological Initiative), a member of the Committee for Underrepresented Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Profession at SBL (Society of Biblical Literature), a member of the Advisory Committee of Raíces Latinas at Boston University School of Theology, and the honor of having taught so far three courses at the HSP (Hispanic Summer Program). In June of 2022, she was elected Vice President of ACHTUS (Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States).

She holds a BA in Theology from the Facultad de Teología Pontificia y Civil de Lima (Perú); an MA in Old Testament from Catholic Theological Union; a ThM in Old and New Testaments from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago; an MLA from The University of Chicago; and a PhD in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.

Dr. Pilarski has published many papers on the prophets, lamentations, migration, Latine and Latin American biblical hermeneutics, decolonial thinking and the Global South, and feminist critical inquiry. She has edited or co-edited Daughters of Wisdom: Women and Leadership in the Global Church (Wipf and Stock, 2023); 2 Kings [Wisdom Commentary Series] (Liturgical Press, 2019); Judges [Wisdom Commentary Series] (Liturgical Press, 2018); By Bread Alone: Reading the Bible through the Eyes of the Hungry (Fortress Press, 2014), and Pentateuco: Introducción al Antiguo Testamento/La Biblia Hebrea en Perspectiva Latinoamericana (Editorial Verbo Divino, 2014).

Dr. Nely Galán is a self-made media and real-estate entrepreneur. She was born in Santa Clara, Cuba and raised in Teaneck, New Jersey. Dr. Galán became the first Latina President of Entertainment for a U.S. television network—Telemundo—and an Emmy Award-winning producer of over 700 television shows in English and Spanish, including the hit reality series The Swan for 20th Century Fox, produced through her multimedia company Galan Entertainment. The company has created more than 700 television shows in English and in Spanish, helping to launch over 10 television channels around the world for companies like HBO, ESPN, FOX, MGM, and Sony. She holds a master’s and a doctorate in Clinical Psychology, with a focus on the psychology of money in multicultural communities.

Dr. Galán’s New York Times-bestselling book SELF MADE: Becoming Empowered, Self-Reliant, and Rich in Every Way (Spiegel & Grau, 2016; published in English, Spanish, and Mandarin) is an entrepreneurship-for-women manifesto that coined the phrase “Don’t buy shoes; buy buildings.” Her digital platform Becoming Self Made offers financial literacy content, including webinars and stories of self-made women of color. Money Maker/Mi mundo rico with Nely Galán (Money News Network), which targets listeners who have traditionally been denied a seat at the table, is the only business and entrepreneurship podcast for a mainstream audience with episodes in English and in Spanish. Dr. Galán is the founder of the 501c3 nonprofit The Adelante Movement, a national motivational tour and digital platform that unites and empowers Latinas socially, economically, and politically. Currently, Dr. Galán serves on the Aspen Institute’s Latinos and Society Advisory Board; formerly, she served as a board member of the Smithsonian Institute and of The Hispanic Scholarship Fund. She is the mom of Lukas Rodríguez and is based in Miami Beach, Florida.

Dr. Vincent L. Wimbush is an internationally recognized scholar of religion, intellectual leader, and academic gadfly, with more than thirty years of advanced graduate-level teaching and research experience. He is author/editor of more than twelve books, including White Men’s Magic: Scripturalization as Slavery; MisReading America: Scriptures and Difference (Oxford University Press, 2012), Theorizing Scriptures; and African Americans and the Bible (Rutgers University Press, 2008), and scores of articles and essays. He is founding director of The Institute for Signifying Scriptures (ISS), an international scholarly organization, and is conceptualizer and director of several collaborative trans-disciplinary research projects, including a documentary film Finding God in the City of Angels (2010), on the ethnography of scriptures. Recipient of numerous awards and research grants, he is past president of the Society of Biblical Literature. Dr. Wimbush’s general teaching and research interests focus on the trans-disciplinary and comparative study of “scriptures” as sharp wedge for critical research and theorizing in the politics of language, social formation, consciousness, and orientation. His particular area of expertise turns around the uses of scriptures in the historical and contemporary circum-Black Atlantic as window onto the larger comparative phenomena and dynamics of scripturalizing and scripturalization.

Jonathan Hamilton-Diabo is Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream in Theology, June Callwood Professor in Social Justice, Special Advisor on Indigenous Issues, and convenor of the Indigenous Advisory Circle at Emmanuel College of Victoria University in the University of Toronto. His work focuses on the history and impacts of Residential Schools, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Calls to Actions; Indigenous interactions with Christianity and the Church; and building community relationships. As well, he is interested exploring the impacts of educational systems and teaching methods on individuals and communities.  His teaching focuses on the use of personal stories, experiences and worldviews to make connections. 

Previously, Hamilton-Diabo served as Director of the Office of Indigenous Initiatives (Provost’s Office and Human Resources & Equity) at the University of Toronto.  He has also taught at the Waterloo Lutheran Seminary (now the Martin Luther University College) at Wilfred Laurier University.  Prior to entering post-secondary education, he was an ESL (English as a Second Language) Instructor with LINC (Language Instruction to Newcomers to Canada) and coordinated a Basic Skills and Career Program for adults at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto. 

Hamilton-Diabo is Mohawk from Kahnawake, a First Nations community outside of Montreal.  He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Concordia University; a Bachelor of Education from York University; and a Master of Theological Studies from Emmanuel College at Victoria University in the University of Toronto. He is the co-author (with Tom Reynolds) of the essay "Two Ears, One Mouth: Theological Education Towards Respect," published in A Quest for Respect: The Church and Indigenous Spirituality (Mennonite Church Canada, 2017).

Reyna Grande holds a BA in Creative Writing and Film & Video from the University of California, Santa Cruz, as well as an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University. She is the author of the bestselling memoir The Distance Between Us (Atria, 2012) and the sequel, A Dream Called Home (Atria, 2018). Her other works include the novels Across a Hundred Mountains (Atria, 2006), Dancing with Butterflies (Washington Square Press, 2009), and The Distance Between Us Young Readers’ Edition (Aladdin, 2016). Her books have been adopted as the common-read selection by schools, colleges, and cities across the country. Her two most recent books are A Ballad of Love and Glory (Atria, 2022), a novel set during the Mexican-American War, and an anthology by and about undocumented Americans titled Somewhere We Are Human: Authentic Voices on Migration, Survival and New Beginnings (HarperVia, 2022). Grande has received an American Book Award, the El Premio Aztlán Literary Award, and a Latino Spirit Award. In 2012, she was a finalist for the prestigious National Book Critics Circle Awards, and in 2015, she was honored with a Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature. The young readers’ version of The Distance Between Us received a 2017 Honor Book Award for the Américas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature, a 2016 Eureka! Honor Awards from the California Reading Association, and a 2017 International Literacy Association Children’s Book Award. Writing about immigration, family separation, language trauma, the price of the American Dream, and her writing journey, Grande has written for many publications, including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News, CNN, “The Lily” at The Washington Post, and Buzzfeed. In March of 2020, she appeared as a guest on Oprah’s Book Club television program.