Dr. Santiago Slabodsky holds the Kaufman Chair in Jewish Studies at Hofstra University-New York. He is co-director of the trilingual journal Horizontes Decoloniales/ Decolonial Horizons and convener of the Liberation Theology and Decolonial Thought program at the Center for Global Dialogue. He served as convener of the PhD program in Religion, Ethics and Society at Claremont School of Theology and as associate director of the Center for Race, Culture and Social Justice at Hofstra University. Dr. Slabodsky holds a BA from Universidad de Buenos Aires, an MA from Duke University, and a PhD from University of Toronto. His book Decolonial Judaism: Triumphal Failures of Barbaric Thinking (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) received the 2017 Frantz Fanon Outstanding book award by the Caribbean Philosophical Association.

Victoria Pérez Rivera is a PhD student at the University of Southern California and an adjunct Bible professor at Latin American Bible Institute College (LABI) College. She obtained her Associates degree from LABI College, Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Vanguard University, and her Master's Degree in Theological Studies from Duke University. Her areas of academic interest include reception history of Pauline literature, ancient Greco-Roman culture, race, ethnicity and gender. She teaches classes such as New Testament, Biblical Exegesis, and Gender Issues in the Church.

Dr. Francisco Lozada, Jr. is the Charles Fischer Catholic Professor of New Testament and Latinx Studies at the Brite Divinity School. He is also the Director of the Borderlands Institute and the Latinx Church Studies program at Brite. He holds a doctorate in New Testament and Early Christianity from Vanderbilt University. He is a past president of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States, a past steering committee member of the Bible, Indigenous Group of the American Academy of Religion (AAR), and past co-chair of the Latino/a and Latin American Biblical Interpretation Consultation (SBL). Besides serving in the past in several leadership capacities with the Society of Biblical Literature, he also serves on the board of directors for the Hispanic Summer Program and mentored several doctoral students with the Hispanic Theological Initiative (HTI). 

Dr. Lozada’s most recent publications (The Gospel of John: History, Community and Ideology, 2020; Toward a Latino/a Biblical Interpretation, 2017) concern cultural and ideological interpretation while exploring how the Bible is employed and deployed in ethnic/racial communities. As a teacher, he co-led immersion travel seminars to Guatemala to explore colonial/postcolonial issues and, most recently, to El Paso, TX and to Nogales, AZ to study life and society in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. In April 2019, Dr. Lozada received The Catherine Saylor Hill Faculty Excellence Award at Brite.  

Jon Rodríguez is currently pursuing a MDiv at Princeton Theological Seminary. In addition to his work with the Hispanic Theological Initiative, he is the Administrative Editor of the Princeton Theological Review. His research interests include the role of race and ethnicity in the Gospels and American religious history.

Dr. Matthew Pettway is Assistant Professor of Spanish at the University of South Alabama, where he teaches Afro-Latin American, Caribbean, and Spanish literatures, and is associated with the Africana Studies Program. A native of Detroit, MI, Dr. Pettway holds a PhD in Hispanic Cultural Studies and an MA in Spanish and Latin American Literatures from Michigan State University. His research examines race, slavery, and African ideas of spirit and cosmos in nineteenth-century black Cuban literature. Dr. Pettway has a keen interest in how Afro-Latin Americans who endured extreme trauma in the colonial era took hold of the aesthetic and spiritual tools available to them to conceive a poetics of emancipation. His research is part of a broader project of literary and historical recovery, akin to what Toni Morrison has termed “a kind of literary archaeology.” Dr. Pettway’s work has appeared in American Studies Journal, PALARA, The Zora Neale Hurston Forum, The Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro-Latin American Biography, the Cuban journal Del Caribe, and his article “The Altar, The Oath and the Body of Christ: Ritual Poetics and Cuban Racial Politics of 1844” is the inaugural chapter in Black Writing, Culture and the State in Latin America, edited by Jerome Branche (Vanderbilt University Press, 2015). Dr. Pettway’s first book, Cuban Literature in the Age of Black Insurrection: Manzano, Plácido and Afro-Latino Religion (2019), is part of the Caribbean Studies Series of the University Press of Mississippi.

Dr. Juan Hernández, Jr. is Professor of Biblical Studies at Bethel University. He holds an MDiv and a ThM from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a PhD from Emory University. His research centers on New Testament and early Christianity, with a special interest in New Testament Textual Criticism, especially the text of the Apocalypse and its reception history. Dr. Hernández's dissertation—Scribal Habits and Theological Influences in the Apocalypse: The Singular Readings of Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, and Ephraemi (Mohr Siebe, 2006)—was published by a major German publisher and won international awards. He also co-authored the first English translation of Josef Schmid’s Studies in the History of the Greek Text of the Apocalypse: The Ancient Stems (SBL Press, 2018), which until now has only been available in German.

Vinicius Marinho is a constitutional lawyer and a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His research engages religious, philosophical, and legal ideas about human dignity. His dissertation on human dignity in Brazil unites Latin American liberation theology, Jewish philosophy, and legal theory.

Dr. Gerardo Rodríguez-Galarza holds a PhD in Historical Theology from Saint Louis University. He was born in San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, and migrated to the Midwest as a teenager.

Rev. Dr. Oscar García-Johnson is Associate Professor of Theology and Latinx Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, where he is also Assistant Provost for the Center for the Study of Hispanic Church and Community (Centro Latino). He holds a BA from University of La Verne, and MA and PhD degrees from the Fuller Theological Seminary. Formerly, he served as a regional minister with the American Baptist Churches of Los Angeles for 11 years and planted four new churches in Southern California. An activist scholar, his research methodology interlaces de/postcolonial studies, indigenous theologies, and US Latino/Latin American studies into a critical hermeneutic he calls “Transoccidentalism”. His writings include Spirit Outside the Gate: Decolonial Pneumatologies of the American Global South (IVP Academic, 2019); Conversaciones Teológicas del Sur Global Americano (coedited, Puertas Abiertas/Wipf & Stock, 2016); Theology without Borders: Introduction to Global Conversations, co-authored with William Dyrness (Baker Academic, 2015); ¡Jesús, Hazme Como tú! 40 Maneras de Imitar a Cristo (Wipf & Stock, 2014); and The Mestizo/a Community of the Spirit: A Latino/a Postmodern Ecclesiology (Pickwick, 2009).

Dr. Annecy Baez, Professor at the Touro College Graduate School of Social Work, teaches clinical practice and human behavior, and was formerly on the faculty of the New York University School of Social Work. Dr. Baez holds a PhD from New York University, an MSW from Hunter School of Social Work, and a BA from Pace University. Her areas of expertise include college mental health, Latinx mental-health issues, depression/anxiety, suicide prevention, trauma, domestic violence, mindfulness, and spirituality in therapy and in the Latinx community.

Dr. Baez has been a clinical social worker for thirty years, providing individual, family, and group psychotherapy at various inpatient and outpatient settings, including the Jewish Board of Family and Children Services, Western Queens Consultation Center, and Columbia Presbyterian. She formerly served as director of a diagnostic residential trauma center in Westchester County and as director of the Counseling Center at Lehman College. She has received Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training and has a certificate in Expressive Arts Therapy. Her experience with trauma-informed contemplative practices in higher education aligns with her educational focus on social justice and cultural diversity, allowing for relevant exploration of social-work issues.

Also a poet and fiction writer, Dr. Baez is the author of My Daughter’s Eyes and Other Stories (Curbstone Books, 2007), winner of the Mármol Prize for Latina/o First Fiction. Her creative writing has appeared in various journals and anthologies, including Callaloo, Caudal, Vinyl Donuts (The National Book Foundation, 2000), Viajeros del rocío: 25 narradores dominicanos de la diáspora (Secretaría de Estado de Cultura, Editora Nacional, 2008), and Riverine: Anthology of Hudson Valley Writers (Codhill Press, 2010).

Dr. Elsie M. Miranda is Director of Accreditation and Institutional Evaluation for The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS). She taught at Barry University Department of Theology and Philosophy, where she served for 22 years, most recently as associate professor of practical theology and as director of ministerial formation. Dr. Miranda earned an MA in pastoral ministry from Boston College and a DMin in practical theology from Barry University. As a Cuban American and practical theologian, she has focused her research interests on the intersection of faith and how socio-culture and socio-political realities impact both human formation and efforts toward peace and justice at local and global levels. Dr. Miranda is the past president of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians in the United States (ACHTUS), for which she coordinated the first bilingual colloquium in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 2016. Currently, she serves on the Formation and Religious Education Committee for the V Encuentro—a national conference on Hispanic Ministry in the United States coordinated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Dr. Miranda is also an active member of the Catholic Theological Society of America and the Association of Practical Theology. Her scholarship includes contributions to the edited volumes Hispanic Ministry in the 21st Century: Urgent Matters (Convivium Press, 2016) and Hispanic Ministry in the 21st Century: Present and Future (Convivium Press, 2010) and as coeditor and contributor to Calling for Justice Throughout the World, Catholic Women Theologians on the HIV AIDS Pandemic (Continuum Press, 2009). In her research and teaching, she continues to explore contemporary theological issues in the church and the world.

Noemí Palomares, a fronteriza from Texas, earned a BA in Biblical Text from Abilene Christian University, where she has taught. She also holds an MAR in Hebrew Bible from Yale University’s Divinity School and is currently a PhD candidate in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament at Boston College. She will begin teaching at Pepperdine University in the fall of 2020.

Rev. Dr. Eric D. Barreto is the Frederick and Margaret L. Weyerhaeuser Associate Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary and an ordained Baptist minister. He holds a BA in religion from Oklahoma Baptist University, an MDiv from Princeton Seminary, and a PhD in New Testament from Emory University. Prior to coming to Princeton Seminary, he served as associate professor of New Testament at Luther Seminary, and taught as an adjunct professor at the Candler School of Theology and McAfee School of Theology. Dr. Barreto is the author of Ethnic Negotiations: The Function of Race and Ethnicity in Acts 16 (Mohr Siebeck, 2010), the co-author of Exploring the Bible (Fortress Press, 2016), and editor of Reading Theologically (Fortress Press, 2014). For more, go to ericbarreto.com and follow him on Twitter (@ericbarreto).

Dr. Joshua Bartholomew is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He earned a BS in Psychology with a minor in Theology from Fordham University, an MDiv in Systematic Theology from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, and a PhD in Religious and Theological Studies and Social Ethics from the joint program at The University of Denver and Iliff School of Theology. Dr. Bartholomew is also an Adjunct Professor in Religious and Theological Studies at Iliff School of Theology, an Affiliate Professor at Regis University, and a licensed minister from the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York. Dr. Bartholomew serves as minister in residence at Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury, MA. Dr. Bartholomew’s academic fields of concentration include Christian theological ethics, racial formation theory, and political economics. By recovering intellectual resources and economic social practices from The Black Panther Party as an economic model of racial justice, Dr. Bartholomew’s research deals with the relationship between economic justice and racial equality within the U.S. and its transnational range of influence.

Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre is a professor of Social Ethics and Latinx Studies at Iliff School of Theology, a scholar-activist, author, and an ordained Southern Baptist minister. The focus of his academic pursuit is social ethics within contemporary U.S. thought, specifically how religion affects race, class, and gender oppression. Since obtaining his doctoral in 1999, he has authored over a hundred articles and published thirty-three books (five of which won national awards). A Fulbright scholar, Dr. De La Torre has taught in Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, and Germany. Within his guild he served as the 2012 President of the Society of Christian Ethics. Within the academy, he is a past-director to the American Academy of Religion; served as the past chair of the Committee for Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Profession, past chair of the Ethics Program Section; authored the “AAR Career Guide;” served on the Program Committee, and presently serves on the editorial board of JAAR. Additionally, he is the co-founder and present executive director of the Society of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion and the founding editor of the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion. Dr. De La Torre has written numerous articles in popular media and has served on several civic organizations. Recently, he wrote the script to a documentary on immigration, Trails of Hope and Terror the Movie, which has screened in over 18 film festivals, winning over seven film awards.

The Rev. Dr. Loida I. Martell is the 18th Vice President of Academic Affairs/ Dean of Lexington Theological Seminary, where she also serves as Professor of Constructive Theology. Dr. Martell is a licensed doctor in veterinary medicine as well as an ordained minister in the American Baptist Churches/ USA. She is a bi-coastal Puerto Rican who has taught in various institutions of higher learning. She pastored in New York City for 15 years, creating bilingual programs for the churches she served. Dr. Martell pioneered the study of evángelica theology. In addition to various articles, she co-edited Teología en Conjunto: A Collaborative Hispanic Protestant Theology (1997), and co-authored Latina Evangélicas: A Theological Survey from the Margins (2013). Focusing on the impact of globalization has led her to write on wide-ranging subjects such as mass incarceration and immigration, climate change and emergent diseases, and racism. In addition to her membership in the American Academy of Religion, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the American Veterinary Medical Association, Dr. Martell represents the American Baptist Churches/USA on the National Council of Churches Convening Table for Theological Studies and Matters of Faith and Reason, serves on the NCC Racial Task Force, and served as President of La Comunidad of Hispanic Scholars of Religion (AAR/ SBL) from 2016–2019.

Elaine Penagos is a first-generation Latina from Cuban and Colombian heritage. She was born and raised in Miami, Florida and is currently completing a PhD in Religion at Emory University in Atlanta. Elaine’s work primarily explores narratives and storytelling, focusing on the patakís, the mythological stories of West African deities known as the Orisha.

A scholar with wide-ranging interests, César "CJ" Baldelomar is a doctoral candidate in Theology and Education at Boston College, where he is currently working on his dissertation and teaching in the International Studies and Theology departments. His research blends critical theory (especially postmodernism and poststructuralism) and decolonial thought, exploring how knowledge production (epistemology, theory, and scholarship) and consumption (teaching and learning) inform the formation of identities (ontologies). His work seeks to find different ways to imagine and talk about the self and about justice in an effort to envision possible sites of resistance. CJ is the author of several academic and popular articles and of the upcoming book, Fragmented Theological Imaginings (Convivium Press).

He holds two law degrees from St. Thomas University School of Law: a Master of Laws (LL.M) in Intercultural Human Rights and a Juris Doctor, with certificates in immigration law and international law. CJ also holds a Master of Theological Studies (MTS) in Religion, Ethics, and Politics from the Harvard Divinity School and a Master of Education (Ed.M) in Learning and Teaching from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is a former legal intern at the Southern Poverty Law Center and current Associate Member Representative of The Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States (ACHTUS). You can read more of CJ's work here or learn more about him here.

Dr. Jean-Pierre M. Ruiz is Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow in Theology and Religious Studies in St. John's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He holds STL and STD degrees in Biblical Studies, and an STB in Theology, all from Pontifical Gregorian University. A Past-President of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States (ACHTUS), Dr. Ruiz maintains an active program of research in biblical studies. His particular interests are in the prophetic and apocalyptic literature, and with a special focus on the relevance of the Bible to contemporary concerns regarding immigrants and refugees. This was the focus of his book, Readings from the Edges: The Bible and People on the Move (Orbis Books, 2011), the winner of a Catholic Press Association Award. A contributor to the New Oxford Annotated Bible and to the Anselm Academic Study Bible, he is widely recognized as an authority on the Apocalypse of John. Dr. Ruiz has served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology and as associate editor of the Catholic Biblical Quarterly. He is a consultant on teaching and learning with the Lilly Endowment-funded Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion. Dr. Ruiz serves on the Religion and Foreign Policy Working Group of the U.S. Department of State, and he was a participant in the nationally broadcast Bill Moyers series, Genesis: A Living Conversation.

Dr. M. Daniel Carroll Rodas is the Blanchard Professor of Old Testament at the Wheaton College Graduate School. He holds a ThM from Dallas Theological Seminary and a PhD from the University of Sheffield, both degrees in Old Testament. Dr. Carroll Rodas is half-Guatemalan (his mother was Guatemalan) and was raised bilingual and bicultural. In his youth he spent many summers in Guatemala and later taught many years at El Seminario Teológico Centroamericano in Guatemala City. He has taught Old Testament at Denver Seminary, where he founded a Spanish-language lay training program. At Wheaton, he hopes to model a commitment to connecting careful biblical scholarship with the mission of the church as it engages today’s complex realities. Dr. Carroll Rodas is the author of The Lord Roars: Recovering the Prophetic Voice for Today (Baker Publishing Group, 2022), The Bible and Borders: Hearing God's Word on Immigration (Brazos Press, 2020), and The Book of Amos (New International Commentary on the Old Testament) (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2020).