Presenter Biographies

Bruce Ellis Benson is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Wheaton College (IL). He is a co-founder of the Society for Continental Philosophy, of which he is currently the co secretary/treasurer, and also a member of the steering committee of the Theology and Continental Philosophy Group of the American Academy of Religion. His books include Graven Ideologies: Nietzsche, Derrida and Marion on Modern Idolatry and The Improvisation of Musical Dialogue: A Phenomenology of Music. He is co-editor of the forthcoming volumes: The Phenomenology of Prayer (Fordham University Press) and Hermeneutics at the Crossroads: Interpretation in Christian Perspective (Indiana University Press). Bruce Ellis Benson's presentation is entitled "Radical Democracy and Religious Particularity: Can American Evangelicalism Promote a Truly Radical Democracy?"

Peter Berger is Professor of Sociology and Theology at the College of Arts and Sciences and School of Theology of Boston University. Professor Berger received his B.A. from Wagner College and his M.A. and Ph.D. from New School for Social Research. He has also received honorary degrees from Loyola University, Wagner College, University of Notre Dame, University of Geneva (Switzerland), and University of Munich (Germany).

Professor Berger previously taught at the New School for Social Research, at Rutgers University, and at Boston College. He has written numerous books on sociological theory, the sociology of religion, and Third World development, which have been translated into dozens of foreign languages. Among his more recent books are Redeeming Laughter: The Comic Dimension of Human Experience (1997); Modernity, Pluralism and the Crisis of Meaning (with Thomas Luckmann, 1995); The Capitalist Revolution: Fifty Propositions About Prosperity, Equality and Liberty (1988); and The War Over the Family: Capturing the Middle Ground (with Brigitte Berger, 1983). In 1992, Professor Berger was awarded the Mannes Sperber Prize, presented by the Austrian government for significant contributions to culture. Since 1985, Professor Berger has been Director of the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs. The institute is a research center committed to systematic study of relationships between economic development and sociocultural change in different parts of the world. Peter Berger's presentation is entitled "After Modernity - More Modernity."

David Billings is assistant professor of philosophy at Calvin College. He has studied philosophy at Wheaton College (B.A.), Northern Illinois University (M.A.), and Loyola University Chicago (Ph.D.). He is interested in political philosophy, especially Critical Theory, and nineteenth century philosophy, especially Hegel and Marx. David resides in Grand Rapids, Michigan with his wife and two daughters, where he enjoys hiking, bicycling, and cross country skiing. David Billings' presentation is entitled "Horkheimer and the Prospect of Post-Secularism."

Matt Bonzo is an assistant professor of philosophy at Cornerstone University. He is completing his PhD at the Institute for Christian Studies/Free University of Amsterdam. As co-director of the Civitas Center at Cornerstone, he is responsible for planning a yearly conference and lecture series. With Michael Stevens, he is currently working on a book about the thought of Wendell Berry. His interests range from the ethical issues in postmodernity to rural development. Along with his family, he runs a community supported farm. Matt Bonzo's presentation is entitled "Just in Time: The Market's Contraction of Religion."

Steven Bouma-Prediger is the Jacobson Professor of Religion at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. A graduate of Hope College, his Ph.D. is in religious studies from the University of Chicago. His most recent book is For the Beauty of the Earth: A Christian Vision for Creation Care, which received an Award of Merit as one of the books of the year for 2001 by Christianity Today. He has won numerous teaching awards, including in 1999 being voted the recipient of the Hope Outstanding Professor-Educator Award. His wife, Celaine, is a marriage and family therapist and an ordained minister in the Reformed Church in America. They have three girls: Anna, Chara, and Sophia. Steven Bouma-Prediger's joint presentation with Brian J. Walsh is entitled "Globalization and Ecological Homelessness: A Socio-Cultural Analysis."

Luke Bretherton is Lecturer in Theology and Ministry at King’s College London. Prior to this he was Director of Studies at the South East Institute for Theological Education which prepares Anglican, Methodist and URC ordinands for ministry. He has a doctorate in moral theology and philosophy from King's College London. Before working with SEITE he was the Research Director of the St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace and a local community mediator. He has also worked with a variety of faith based NGOs, mission organisations, and churches in a wide range of cultural contexts both in the UK and abroad (notably, East Africa, Central and Eastern Europe and Russia). Luke Bretherton's presentation is entitled "Immigration, identity and the catholic nationhood of the church."

Mark Charlton is Professor of Political Science and Director of Grants and Research at Trinity Western University. He is editor of Crosscurrents: International Relations (Thomson Nelson) and Crosscurrents: Contemporary Political Issues (Thomson Nelson). In addition to his book The Making of Canadian Food Aid Policy (McGill-Queen’s), Professor Charlton has published numerous articles on international relations and global aid policy. Professor Charlton holds a Ph.D. from Laval University and an M.A. from the University of Western Ontario. He is also an oblate of Westminster Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Mission, British Columbia. Mark Charlton's presentation is entitled "The Monastery as a Liturgical Polity: Reconstituting Communities or Remembrance in an Era of Deliberate Forgetfulness."

Clayton Crockett is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Central Arkansas. He is the author of A Theology of the Sublime (Routledge, 2001), editor of Secular Theology: American Radical Theological Thought (Routledge, 2001), and Editor of the online Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory (www.jcrt.org). Clayton Crockett's presentation is entitled "Postsecular Spinoza: On the Potential for a Radical Political Theology."

Janel Curry is Dean for Research and Scholarship and Professor of Geography at Calvin College. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Curry’s has held numerous leadership positions in the area of rural geography including being chair of the board of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University and chair of the Rural Geography Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographer. Dr. Curry has publishes on the topic of community and natural resources in journals such as the Annals of the Association of American Geographers, The Geographic Review, Agriculture and Human Values, and Society and Natural Resources. Janel Curry's presentation is entitled "Globalization and the Problem of the Nature/Culture Boundary."

Christian Early is originally from Denmark. Christian teaches philosophy and theology at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. He received his PhD from the University of Wales and is currently working on developing a "pacifist epistemology" as well as exploring its implications for the difficult issues arising out of the recognition of religious diversity. He is married to Annmarie Early and together they have two sons, Lukas (3) and Joshua (1). Christian Early's presentation is entitled "The Power to Be Heard: Considering The Christian Case Against Liberal Democracy in the Modern Nation State."

Susan M. Felch is Professor of English at Calvin College. She has published articles on sixteenth-century British literature, religion and literature, Christian scholarship, and literary theory. Her books include The Collected Works of Anne Vaughan Lock (1999), Bakhtin and Religion: A Feeling for Faith (2001), Winter: A Spiritual Biography of the Season (2003) and Autumn: A Spiritual Biography of the Season (2004). Susan M. Felch's presentation is entitled "The Ethics of Purity."

Christopher Fox is a 2003 graduate of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Memphis. Contemporary continental philosophy, 19th century philosophy, and the post-modern intersection of religion, politics, and technology are his chief interests. His publications include "The Apotheosis of Apotheosis: Levinas's On Escape, Hegel's unhappy consciousness, and us" in Emmanuel Levinas and the 19th Century, forthcoming from Fordham University Press, and a co-translation of Jean Wahl's "Unhappy Consciousness in the Philosophy of Hegel" in Hegel and Contemporary Continental Philosophy, SUNY Press, 2004. Dr. Fox is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Newman University in Wichita, Kansas. Christopher Fox's presentation is entitled "Hearts, minds, and practices: religion's office in empire's secular ontology."

Doug Gay is a lecturer in Practical Theology at University of Glasgow. Previously he was Scottish minister of the United Reformed Church and their Millennium Scholar, while completing a PhD in Ecclesiology and Public Theology at New College, Edinburgh, Scotland. He also holds degrees in International Relations from the University of St Andrews and in theology from the University of Glasgow. He was minister of an inner-city church in the highly globalized setting of Hackney, East London for six years. Doug Gay's presentation is entitled "The (Global) Meaning of the (Holy) City – Questioning the Links Between Ecumenism and Civilization."

Peter Goodwin Heltzel is Assistant Professor of Theology at New York Theological Seminary. Research and teaching areas include Reformed liberation and evangelical theology, urban religion, and economic and environmental ethics. An ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), he is the chair of the New York City Metro Anti-Racism team and serves at La Hermosa Christian Church in East Harlem. He has also been active in ministries of social, economic and racial justice through Church World Service, the United Nations Association, the Seamen's Church Institute of New York and New Jersey, the Center for the Study of Science and Religion (Columbia University), and the Reformed Church in America. He is a graduate of Wheaton College (B.A.), Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and Boston University (Ph.D.). He edited a collection of essays (with Amos Yong) in honor of Robert C. Neville entitled Theology in Global Context (London & New York : T & T Clark International Press, 2004). His dissertation manuscript, The Triune Pantokrator: Jürgen Moltmann's Reinterpretation of Omnipotence in Light of Gregory of Nyssa's Trinitarian Theology, was a finalist for the 2004 Trinity Prize for first monographs in religious studies awarded by T & T Clark International Press. He currently editing a volume with Bruce Ellis Benson entitled Evangelicals and Empire. He lives in Harlem with his wife Sarah who is a Young Artist at Seattle Opera. Peter G. Heltzel's presentation is entitled "The Gift of Capital: Oikos and Charis in Marx, Milbank, Moltmann and West."

Mark Hijleh, Professor of Music at Houghton College, has spoken publicly on the subject of Christianity and music at Hertford College (Oxford University, UK), Baylor University, Duke University, and Northwestern College (IA). He is founder and president of the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers, and holds degrees in composition and conducting from the Peabody Conservatory, Ithaca College, and William Jewell College. In 2002, Hijleh won the NATS Vocal Composition Award, for his song cycle 'O Ignis Spiritus' on texts by Hildegard of Bingen. From 1995-2005, he was conductor of the Houghton Philharmonia Orchestra, and has also guest conducted the Rochester Philharmonic. Mark Hijleh's presentation is entitled "World Music and World Christianity: An Exciting Nexus."

Michael Horton is Professor of Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California, author of over a dozen books, including his most recent, Lord and Servant: A Covenant Christology (WJK). Michael Horton's presentation is entitled "The Time Between: Redefining the 'Secular' in Contemporary Debate."

Thomas Albert (Tal) Howard is associate professor of history at Gordon College in Wenham, MA. He is the founding director of the Jerusalem and Athens Forum, a great books honors program in the history of Christian thought and literature. He completed his MA (1992) and Ph.D. (1996) at the University of Virginia, concentrating in modern European intellectual history. He is the author of Religion and the Rise of Historicism (Cambridge, 2000) and Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University (Oxford, forthcoming). His articles and reviews have appeared in numerous journals, including the American Historical Review, Church History, Journal of the History of Ideas, History of Universities, The National Interest, Modern Age, and Books & Culture. In 2003-04, Professor Howard was a Senior Carey Fellow in the Erasmus Institute at the University of Notre Dame. Tal Howard's presentation is entitled "American Religion in the European Mind: From Georg W. Hegel to George W. Bush."

Cyril Okechukwu Imo was born in Umuahia in Abia State of Nigeria. He attended the University of Jos, Nigeria for his undergraduate studies and did his postgraduate studies at the Premier University of Nigeria, University of Ibadan where he got his PhD in the year 1989. He is currently a professor of sociology of religion and Ethics. He has been teaching courses in the areas of Sociology of religion, Religious studies, Ethics, philosophy and Dialogue, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He has been involved in the supervision of master’s dissertations and PhD theses. He has several publications locally and internationally to his credit and has visited different parts of the world to attend conferences and present highly scholarly papers and served as visiting lecturer. Cyril Okechukwu Imo's presentation is entitled "The Church and Secularity of the Nigerian State in the Era."

Peter J. Jankowski, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Psychology at Bethel University, St. Paul, Minnesota. His scholarship interests are in the areas of peace psychology, and the integration of theology and psychology, including spirituality in psychotherapy. In addition to his current interests he has published in the areas of clinical/ethical decision making, and qualitative research methodology. He is a Minnesota Licensed Professional Counselor, Minnesota Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Approved Supervisor. Peter Jankowski's presentation is entitled "A Theologically Informed Peace Psychology of Globalization."

Kristen Deede Johnson, Ph.D., is Associate Director of the CrossRoads Project, a program for the theological exploration of vocation, and Assistant Professor of Political Science at Hope College. She holds degrees from the University of Virginia and the University of St. Andrews. She has scholarly interests in the areas of theology, political theory, and culture. She is the author of Theology, Political Theory, and Pluralism: Beyond Tolerance and Difference, forthcoming from Cambridge University Press in the Studies in Christian Doctrine Series. Kristen Deede Johnson's presentation is entitled "Pluralization and Contingency: What Comes after Connolly?"

Ronald A. Kuipers is Assistant Professor of the Philosophy of Religion at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto. He recently completed a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada post-doctoral fellowship at The University of Toronto’s Department of Political Science. His research focuses on those areas where issues in the philosophy of religion intersect with contemporary social and political thought on matters of judgment, criticism, and secularization. He is the author of Critical Faith: Toward a Renewed Understanding of Religious Life and its Public Accountability, and has published numerous articles in journals and anthologies. Ronald A. Kuipers's presentation is entitled "Security and Secularity: A Renewed Role for Religion?"

Vincent Lloyd is completing his doctorate at the University of California - Berkeley. Having completed an undergraduate degree in religion from Princeton, and done graduate work at the University of Chicago Divinity School, he is now working on a dissertation concerning Gillian Rose, John Milbank, and the concepts of law and transcendence in post-secular philosophy. His articles have appeared in Social Text, Philosophia Africana, and New Blackfriars. Vincent Lloyd's presentation is entitled "Two Paradigms for Post-Secular Politics: Neotraditionalism, Pragmatic and Theological."

Eugene McCarraher is an assistant professor of humanities and history at Villanova University. He is the author of Christian Critics: Religion and the Impasse in Modern American Social Thought, published by Cornell University Press in 2000. He has also taught in the history or religion departments at Rutgers, the University of Delaware, and Princeton. His scholarly articles have appeared in Religion and American Culture, U.S. Catholic Historian, the Journal of the Historical Society, and Modern Theology. He is also a frequent contributor to Commonweal, Books and Culture, In These Times, the Cresset, the Chicago Tribune, and the Nation. He has recently been awarded a fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies for the 2005-2006 academic year, and will use it to complete a cultural history of corporate business, tentatively entitled The Enchantments of Mammon: Corporate Capitalism and the American Moral Imagination. Eugene McCarraher's presentation is entitled "We Have Never Been Secular: Capitalism and the Fates of Enchantment."

Paul Oslington is Senior Lecturer in Economics, University of New South Wales/ Australian Defence Force Academy, and visiting Fellow at St Marks National Theological Centre Canberra. He has held visiting fellowships at University of Oxford and Regent College Vancouver, and convenes (with Geoffrey Brennan and Stephen Pickard) the UNSW/ANU/St Marks Economics and Religion Group. He holds a PhD in economics at University of Sydney and Bachelor of Divinity from Melbourne College of Divinity. He has published widely on the economics of international trade, inequality and unemployment, as well as economics and religion. Recent projects have included economic modeling of divine action, a study of economic metaphors in the Christian Scriptures, and an edited volume Economics and Religion. Paul Oslington's presentation is entitled "Theology, Economics and Globalization."

John A. Rees is a PhD candidate in International Relations at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). His current research analyses the agency of religious ideas in the development ideology of the World Bank. John holds master’s degrees in International Relations, Early Christian and Jewish Studies, and an award-winning research master’s thesis in political theology. John currently tutors in comparative development at UNSW, having tutored in world politics and international political economy at UNSW and the University of Sydney. John is a former NSW Coordinator (1993-1997) for international aid and development organization TEAR Australia, and lecturer in theology (1999-2002) for the Sydney College of Divinity. John A. Rees's presentation is entitled "Ideology, Theology, and the World Bank: Developing a Framework for Analysis."

J. David Richardson was born in Canada, raised in the United States, and educated at McGill University (B.A.) and the University of Michigan (Ph.D.). Since Fall 1991 he has been Professor of Economics (and International Relations, from Fall 1997) at Syracuse University, where Economics is a department in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. In Fall 1999 he was named Gerald B. and Daphna Cramer Professor of Global Affairs. He is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts and a Senior Fellow at the Institute for International Economics, Washington, D.C. From 1970 to 1991 he was on the Economics faculty of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has also taught on a visiting basis at the University of Michigan, the University of Notre Dame, Wheaton College (Illinois), and the Foreign Service Institute of the U.S. Department of State. He specializes in empirical research on border policies under imperfect competition, on regional trade, and on trade and labor-market outcomes, with a focus on the United States. He has authored two books, co-edited nine books, and written numerous other monographs, book chapters, and papers for professional journals. He is an active Christian believer, and enjoys camping, riding (bikes and horses), and singing (tenor) in his leisure time. J. David Richardson's presentation is entitled "'Faith' as Mediator in Legitimizing Global Market Integration?"

Jeffrey W. Robbins is Assistant Professor of Religion and American Studies at Lebanon Valley College and the Associate Editor for the Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory. He is the author of two books of philosophical theology, Between Faith and Thought: An Essay on the Ontotheological Condition (2003) and In Search of a Non Dogmatic Theology (2004). In his current work he is exploring the possibilities for a radical political theology. Jeffrey W. Robbins's presentation is entitled "Beyond the Politics of Theological Despair."

Quentin J. Schultze is the Arthur H. DeKruyter Chair in Faith and Communication at Calvin College. His recent books include Christianity and the Mass Media in America: Toward a Democratic Accommodation (Michigan State University Press), and Communicating for Life (Baker). His presentation is entitled "Augustine's Pre-Modern Hermeneutic of God's Speech Agency as a Basis for Listening Responsibly to the Cultural Other."

Scott M. Thomas currently holds the William T. Spoelhof Chair in the Department of Political Science at Calvin College, and lectures in the Department of Economics and International Development in the University of Bath, England. He is the author of The Global Resurgence of Religion and the Transformation of International Relations (2005), The Diplomacy of Liberation (1995), and has published chapters in over ten books and in various journals, including Millennium, International Affairs, and the SAIS Review. Scott Thomas' presentation is entitled "The Global Resurgence of Religion and the Struggle for the Soul of the Twenty-first Century."

Elizabeth Vander Lei's presentation is entitled "Walls and Empires, Families and Villages: Mapping the Cognitive Metaphors for Global Religiosity."

Scott Waalkes is an Associate Professor of International Politics at Malone College, where he has taught since 1998. During the 2004-05 academic year, he was on sabbatical as a Fulbright Scholar in the Middle Eastern nation of Bahrain. Scott's B.A. is in Political Science from Calvin, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia. The author of several articles and numerous book reviews in international studies, he is currently writing a book on Christian responses to globalization. Scott and his wife, Michele, have 3 children, and they attend the Akron Christian Reformed Church in Akron, Ohio. Scott Waalkes's presentation is entitled "Living out a Christian Response to Globalization: Biblical Themes and Church Practices."

Iain Wallace was born in the UK and educated at the Universities of Oxford and Bristol. Iain Wallace has been on the faculty of the Department of Geography, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada since 1970. His background is in economic geography, and recent research has focused on processes of globalization, particularly the relationship between economic growth and the natural environment. His publications include A Geography of the Canadian Economy (Oxford University Press 2002) and The Global Economic System (Routledge 1990), and articles and book chapters on the global agri-food system, the Canadian mineral industry, and Canadian environmentalism. He is a member of the Anglican Church of Canada and has published papers addressing the relationship between geographical and social theory and biblical theology, most recently in Christian Scholars Review 2002. Iain Wallace's presentation is entitled "Space, Place and the Gospel: Theological Exploration in the Anthropocene Era."

Brian J. Walsh is a Christian Reformed campus minister at the University of Toronto. He also serves as the Adjunct Professor of Theology of Culture at Wycliffe College and as Visiting Fellow at St. Michael's College - both within the University of Toronto. His books include The Transforming Vision: Shaping a Christian Worldview (IVP 1984), Truth is Stranger Than it Used to Be: Biblical Faith in a Postmodern Age (IVP 1995) [both co-authored with J. Richard Middleton) and Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire (IVP 2004) [co-authored with Sylvia Keesmaat]. He has written numerous articles at the interface of theology, biblical studies and cultural analysis, and is currently working on a manuscript with Steve Bouma-Prediger addressing issues of home, homelessness and homecoming. Brian is committed to community, organic farming and sustainable living, and is convinced that the dynamics of globalization function to threaten such a way of life. Brian J. Walsh's joint presentation with Steven C. Bouma-Prediger is entitled "Globalization and Ecological Homelessness: A Socio-Cultural Analysis."

Graham Ward is Professor of Contextual Theology and Ethics at the University of Manchester. His previous books include Barth, Derrida and the Language of Theology (1995), Theology and Contemporary Critical Theory (1996), The Postmodern God (1997), The Blackwell Companion ot the Postmodern God (2001), True Religion (2002), Cultural Transformation and Religious Practice (2004) and Christ and Culture (2005). He is the former executive editor of Literature and Theology. Graham Ward's presentation is entitled "Remythologization: Religion and Democratic Imperialism."

Norman Wirzba chairs the philosophy department at Georgetown College, KY, teaching in the areas of the history of philosophy, environmental philosophy and ethics, and Christian theology. He is author of The Paradise of God: Renewing Religion in an Ecological Age and editor of The Essential Agrarian Reader: The Future of Culture, Community, and the Land, and (with Bruce Ellis Benson) The Phenomenology of Prayer. He is currently finishing a book called The Practice of Delight: Sabbath Light for Everyday. Norman Wirzba's presentation is entitled "Agrarianism Before and After Modernity: An Opening for Grace."

Ashley Woodiwiss currently serves as chair of the Politics & International Relations Department at Wheaton College. He earned his Ph.D. in Political Theory in 1989 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His areas of teaching expertise are in the sub-fields of Theory and American Government. His current research interests lie at the intersection of contemporary democratic theory, political theology, and postmodern philosophy. He is currently at work on two books: one, Neither Babylon nor Jerusalem, combines previously published work with new material to argue for an agonistic Augustinian understanding of Christian political theory and practice; while the other, Political Theory at World’s End, is a reader in contemporary political theory that maps out the “strange multiplicity” of theoretical perspectives that has followed the eclipse of Rawlsian liberalism. Ashley Woodiwiss's presentation is entitled "Waiting for St. Francis: A work of theological poetics."

Amos Yong is Associate Research Professor of Theology at Regent University School of Divinity in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Born and raised as a PK ("pastor's kid") to Assemblies of God ministers in West Malaysia, he moved with his parents to California when he was 10 years old. His graduate education includes degrees in theology, history, and religious studies from Western Evangelical Seminary and Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, and Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts. He has published four books - on theology of religions, theological method, pneumatological theology, and Pentecostal theology - and is presently pursuing research on theology and intellectual disability. He and his wife, Alma, currently reside with their three children - Aizaiah (15), Alyssa (12), and Annalisa (10) - in Chesapeake , Virginia . For publications, see www.regent.edu/acad/schdiv/faculty_staff/faculty/yong.cfm. Amos Yong's joint presentation with Samuel Zalanga is entitled "What Empire, Which Multitude? Pentecostalism & Social Liberation in North America & Sub-Saharan Africa."

Samuel Zalanga is Associate Professor of Sociology at Bethel University in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He was born and raised in Bauchi State, Northeastern Nigeria. He came to the United States in 1993 under the sponsorship of MacArthur Scholars' Fellowship Program on Peace and International Cooperation to pursue Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Minnesota. His broad area of specialization is Development Studies and Social Change. Some of his publications include: (With Erik Larson) "Indigenous Capitalists: The Development of Indigenous Investment Companies in Relation to Class, Ethnicity, and the State in Malaysia and Fiji" in Political Power and Social Theory Volume 16, 75-101, 2004; "Teaching and Learning Social Theory to Advance Social Transformation: Some Insights, Implications, and Practical Suggestions from Paulo Freire," in The Discourse of Sociological Practice, Volume 6 (2): 7-25. (Fall 2004); Forthcoming, "Islam and National Development: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Role of Religion in the Process of Economic Development and Cultural Change" in Geographies of Muslim Identities: Representations of Diaspora, Gender and Belonging, edited by Cara Aitchison, Peter Hopkins, and Mei-Po Kwan. Samuel Zalanga is giving a joint presentation with Amos Yong entitled "What Empire, Which Multitude? Pentecostalism & Social Liberation in North America & Sub-Saharan Africa."

Earl Zimmerman is an assistant professor of religion and theological ethics at Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Virginia. He is an ordained pastor in the Mennonite Church USA and serves on the pastoral team at Shalom Mennonite Congregation, Harrisonburg, Virginia. His Ph.D. dissertation at the Catholic University of America is “A Praxis of Peace: The ‘Politics of Jesus’ According to John Howard Yoder." He is the author of various articles on religion and social ethics. Formerly, he and his wife Ruth served on a mission assignment in the Philippines for eight years. Earl Zimmerman's presentation is entitled "Beyond Secular and Sacred: A New Vision for Christian Social Ethics."

Lambert Zuidervaart is Professor of Philosophy at the Institute for Christian Studies and a member of graduate faculties in philosophy and theology at the University of Toronto. Zuidervaart is currently conducting research into theories of truth and theories of globalization, with an emphasis on German philosophy from Kant through Habermas. He is the author of Artistic Truth: Aesthetics, Discourse, and Imaginative Disclosure (Cambridge UP) and Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory (MIT Press), coauthor of Dancing in the Dark: Youth, Popular Culture, and the Electronic Media (Eerdmans), and coeditor of The Arts, Community and Cultural Democracy (St. Martin’s Press), The Semblance of Subjectivity: Essays in Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory (MIT Press), and Pledges of Jubilee: Essays on the Arts and Culture (Eerdmans). Lambert Zuidervaart's presentation is entitled "Alienated Masterpiece: Globalization and Dialectic of Enlightenment."

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