Joy Bostic Joy R. Bostic, PhD (she/her) is an associate professor in Religious and Africana Studies. She is also an associate dean, a university marshal, a novice djembe player, ordained minister, world traveler, and auntie to six nieces and six nephews. As a Co-Principal Investigator for the Humanities in Learning Leadership Series (HILLS) funded by…
João B. Chaves João B. Chaves, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of the History of Religion in the Américas. João is the author of several peer-reviewed articles and four books, including Migrational Religion: Context and Creativity in the Latinx Diaspora (Baylor University Press, 2021) and The Global Mission of the Jim Crow South (Mercer University Press, 2022).…
Brook Wilensky-Lanford Brook Wilensky-Lanford is a writer, editor, and teacher dedicated to helping people tell better stories about religion. She is author of the narrative history Paradise Lust: Searching for the Garden of Eden (Grove Press, 2011), a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice; former editor of the twenty-year-old literary magazine Killing the Buddha; and co-editor of a “Nonfiction Religion” special…
Brook Wilensky-Lanford Brook Wilensky-Lanford is a writer, editor, and teacher dedicated to helping people tell better stories about religion. She is author of the narrative history Paradise Lust: Searching for the Garden of Eden (Grove Press, 2011), a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice; former editor of the twenty-year-old literary magazine Killing the Buddha; and co-editor of a “Nonfiction Religion” special…
Nikhil Mandalaparthy I have reported from India’s most famous Sufi shrines, marched with 350 religious leaders protesting an oil pipeline in northern Minnesota, traveled across India interviewing dozens of Hindu religious leaders about rising Islamophobia and religious violence, and evaluated the impact of one of Pakistan’s largest welfare programs. As a community organizer, journalist, researcher,…
Damien Pascal Domenack Damien Pascal Domenack, (he/him) is a chaplain, Santero priest, and a candidate for ordination in the Unitarian Universalist tradition whose ministry centers Queer, Transgender, Black, and Brown immigrant communities of which he is a part. Damien is a longtime hospitality professional, prison abolitionist, and founding member of AUdre Lorde Project’s TransJustice. He…
S. Brent Rodríguez-Plate Born in the year of the Fire Horse, Professor Rodríguez-Plate has traveled the world seeking ways that people practice and/or fight against religious traditions, whether ancient or modern. Convinced that religion has less to do with beliefs than with bodies, Rodríguez-Plate queries the ways people connect with physical objects through sense perception:…
Jonah Boyarin Jonah Boyarin (he/they) is a political-cultural writer, educator, and community organizer. Their writing has appeared in Jewish Currents, In geveb, and elsewhere. In 2020, Jonah was named one of New York City’s “36 Under 36” by The Jewish Week. Jonah always roots for the underdog, except when it comes to his beloved NY…
João B. Chaves João B. Chaves, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of the History of Religion in the Américas. João is the author of several peer-reviewed articles and four books, including Migrational Religion: Context and Creativity in the Latinx Diaspora (Baylor University Press, 2021) and The Global Mission of the Jim Crow South (Mercer University Press, 2022).…
Pamela D. Winfield Pamela D. Winfield is Professor of Buddhist Studies at Elon University, NC. Her award-winning book Icons and Iconoclasm in Japanese Buddhism and her co-edited volume (with Steven Heine) entitled Zen and Material Culture were both published by Oxford University Press. She has edited several themed issues of CrossCurrents Journal and published extensively…