DR. MAHMOUD AYOUB
Dr. Mahmoud Ayoub is Professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. He has a Ph.D. in the History of Religion from Harvard University, an M.A. in Religious Thought from University of Pennsylvania, and a B.A. in Philosophy from American University of Beirut. From 1988 to 2008, he was Professor and Director of Islamic Studies at Temple University, Philadelphia, Adjunct Professor at Hartford Seminary, Research Fellow at the Middle East Center, University of Pennsylvania, and the Tolson Visiting Professor at the Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley. In 1998, Dr. Ayoub helped plan and launch a graduate M.A.-level program in Muslim-Christian relations and comparative religion for the Centre for Christian-Muslim Studies, University of Balamand, Lebanon, and has been its visiting professor since 1999. Mahmoud Ayoub also taught at San Diego State University, the University of Toronto, and McGill University. Throughout his academic career, Dr. Mahmoud Ayoub has received distinguished awards and scholarships, both for his achievements and research. He was a recipient of the Kent Doctoral Fellowship and the Canada Council Fellowship. In 1994-5, he participated in the Fulbright Exchange of Scholars program for Malaysia. In 2000, he undertook a research project on Christian-Muslim relations in Egypt and Lebanon, also on a Fulbright scholarship. Mahmoud Ayoub has authored numerous books including, A Muslim View of Christianity (2007); Islam: Faith and History (2004); The Qur’an and Its Interpreters, vol. 1 (1984) & vol. 2 (1992), The Crisis of Muslim History (2003), and Redemptive Suffering in Islam (1978). He has published similar work in Arabic, e.g., Dirasat fi al-‘Alaqat al-Masihiyyah al-Islamiyyah (Studies in Christian-Muslim Relations). Additionally, his articles have appeared in books and journals such as The Muslim World, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Bulletin of the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies (Tokyo) and Islamochristiana (Rome), among many others. Mahmoud Ayoub’s authority in both the scholarship and comparative study of Islam and Muslim-Christian relations, as well as inter-religious dialogue, is evidenced by the international recognition he has received.
 

DR. CAROL BAKHOS
Dr. Carol Bakhos is Professor of Late Antique Judaism, Jewish Studies and the Study of Religion in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA. She holds a Masters degree in Theological Studies from Harvard (1992) and a PhD from the Jewish Theological Seminary (2000). Since 2012 she has served as Chair of the Study of Religion program and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion at UCLA. Her most recent monograph, The Family of Abraham: Jewish, Christian and Muslim Interpretations (Harvard University Press, 2014), was translated into Turkish (2015). Her other works include: Islam and Its Past: Jahiliyya, Late Antiquity and the Qur’an (Oxford University Press, 2017), Ishmael on the Border: Rabbinic Portrayals of the First Arab (SUNY, 2006), winner of a Koret Foundation Award, Judaism in its Hellenistic Context (Brill, 2004), Current Trends in the Study of Midrash (Brill, 2006), and the co-edited work, The Talmud in its Iranian Context (Mohr Siebeck, 2010). Bakhos is currently working on editing the second volume of the ten-volume Posen Jewish Anthology of Culture and Civilization (Yale University Press). She currently serves as co-editor of the premier journal in Jewish Studies, the AJS Review. Bakhos has served on the Board of the Association for Jewish Studies (AJS) for several years and from 2013-15 was the AJS Vice President for Outreach. Bakhos serves on several editorial boards of journals and is on the editorial board of the monograph series PEN (Poetry, Exegesis and Narrative): Studies in Jewish Literature and Art, published by Vandenhoeck & Reuprecht. Bakhos is currently a member of the Faculty Advisory Committees of the Center for Near Eastern Studies, the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, the Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies, and the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. In 2017 Bakhos was awarded an NEH summer institute grant for “Religions of Los Angeles: Teaching and Exploring Religious Diversity Through Civic Engagement."
 

MAHA ELGENAIDI
Maha Elgenaidi is the founder and executive director of Islamic Networks Group (ING), a non-profit organization with affiliates throughout the US pursuing peace and countering bigotry through education and interfaith engagement. Maha has authored numerous training handbooks on outreach for American Muslims as well as training seminars for public institutions on developing cultural competency with American Muslim communities. Maha received an M.A. in Religious Studies from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Economics from the American University in Cairo. She has taught classes on Islam in the Modern World at Santa Clara University, Stanford University, and the University of California at Santa Cruz, and has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Civil Rights Leadership Award from the California Association of Human Relations Organizations, the Citizen of the Year Award from the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, and the Dorothy Irene Height Community Award from the Silicon Valley Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

SISTER MARIANNE FARINA
Sister Marianne Farina, CSC, Ph.D. is a religious sister of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, Notre Dame. Professor of Philosophy and Theology at Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology (Berkeley, California), Sister Marianne teaches courses that focus on Social Ethics, Virtue, Sexual Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Islamic Philosophy, Human Rights, Peace-building, and Interreligious Dialogue. She also serves on the Core Doctoral Faculty at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) and the Center for Islamic Studies, GTU. Sister Marianne received her MA in Pastoral Theology from Santa Clara University and Ph.D. in Theological Ethics from Boston College. She served eleven years in Bangladesh as a teacher, pastoral assistant, and school supervisor, ministering with Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and tribal families and communities. With more than thirty years of experience in education and pastoral ministry, Sister Marianne has engaged in a wide variety of projects for social justice and interreligious collaboration. She offers community workshops in Asia, Africa, and North America on teacher trainings for religious education, cross-cultural communication, and methods of interfaith dialogue. Her recent writings include Virtue Theories of Thomas Aquinas and Hamid al-Ghazali; Challenges of Muslim-Christian Dialogue; Faith in Human Rights; Identity and Exclusion: Totalizing Texts in Interreligious Dialogue. Sister Marianne is the author of Sacred Conversations and the Evolution of Dialogue (Paulist Press).

RABBI REUVEN FIRESTONE
Reuven Firestone is Professor of Medieval Judaism and Islam at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, founder and co-director of the Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement at the University of Southern California, and senior fellow at the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture. An ordained rabbi (HUC 1982), he received a Ph.D. in Arabic and Islamic Studies from New York University (1988); an M.A. in Hebrew Literature and History from HUC-JIR (1980); and a B.A. in Sociology/Anthropology (Middle East Area Studies) from Antioch College (1974). From 1987–92, he taught Hebrew literature and directed the Hebrew and Arabic language programs at Boston University. He’s taught at Hebrew Union College since 1993. Firestone is the author of Introduction to Islam for Jews (2008); Children of Abraham: An Introduction to Judaism for Muslims (2000); Trialogue: Jews, Christians, Muslims in Dialogue with Leonard Swidler and Khalid Duran (2007); Who Are the Real Chosen People? The Meaning of Chosenness in Judaism, Christianity and Islam (2011); Journeys in Holy Lands: The Evolution of the Abraham-Ishmael Legends in Islamic Exegesis (1990); and Jihad: The Origin of Holy War in Islam (Oxford University Press, 1999). His articles appear in numerous journals, including The Journal of Semitic Studies, The Journal of Near Eastern Studies, The Journal of Religious Ethics, The Journal of the American Academy of Religion, The Journal of Jewish Studies, Jewish Quarterly Review, Judaism, Studia Islamica, The Muslim World, The Journal of Ecumenical Studies, The Encyclopedia of Islam, The Encyclopedia of the Qur’an, and The Encyclopedia of Religion. He has lived in Israel and Egypt, and traveled extensively in the Middle East. Firestone also served on the international "Voice of Peace" radio project and has been involved in a variety of committees and commissions exploring Jewish-Muslim and Jewish-Arab relations. His areas of expertise are Early Islam and its relationship with Jews and Judaism; Scriptural interpretation of the Bible and Qur'an; The phenomenon of holy war; Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; Jihad: its meaning, historical application, and influences on the Arab/Palestinian-Israeli conflict; Inter-religious Polemic.
 

DR. JAMES M. FREEMAN
Dr. James Freeman is Emeritus Professor of Cultural Anthropology at San Jose State University. He holds a doctorate from Harvard University and is a former Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. Dr. Freeman's rich academic career has advanced tikkun olam (repairing the world) with award-winning research on untouchability in India, and on Vietnamese refugees and immigrants in California. He is the author of numerous ethnographies including: Scarcity and Opportunity in an Indian Village; Untouchable: An Indian Life History, winner of the 1979 Choice Outstanding Academic Book; Hearts of Sorrow: Vietnamese-American Lives, winner of the 1990 American Book Award, Before Columbus Foundation, and the 1990 Outstanding Book Award, Association for Asian-American Studies; Changing Identities: Vietnamese Americans 1975-1995; and he co-authored Voices from the Camps: Vietnamese Children Seeking Asylum with Nguyen Dinh Huu. Dr. Freeman is also Co-founder and former Board Chair of both Friends of Hue Foundation and Aid to Children without Parents, charitable organizations providing assistance to children and families suffering from poverty in Vietnam.
 

DR. ADAM GREGERMAN
Dr. Adam Gregerman is Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies and Assistant Director of the Institute for Jewish-Catholic Relations at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA. He is a graduate of Amherst College (B.A.), Harvard Divinity School (M.T.S.), and Columbia University (Ph.D. in Religion), and has studied and taught at both Jewish and Christian seminaries. He researches the complex relationship between Judaism and Christianity from antiquity to the present, with a focus on biblical interpretation, religious polemics, and theodicy. His book Building on the Ruins of the Temple: Apologetics and Polemics in Early Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism was published by Mohr Siebeck in 2016. He is especially interested in contemporary Christian theologies of the land and state of Israel and has written a series of articles on this topic (published in Kirche und Israel, Israel Affairs, Modern Theology, Cross Currents, and Journal of Ecumenical Studies). He has been a Coolidge Scholar at the Association for Religion and Intellectual Life and a Fellow at the American Academy of Religion/Luce Foundation Seminars on Theologies of Religious Pluralism. Adam is involved in a variety of Jewish-Christian dialogue projects. An advisor to national Jewish organizations, he serves as academic consultant to the National Council of Synagogues and as Jewish Studies consultant to the Christian Scholars Group on Christian-Jewish Relations. He is also a member of the Committee on Ethics, Religion, and the Holocaust at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

DR. AARON HAHN TAPPER
Dr. Aaron Hahn Tapper is the Mae and Benjamin Swig Associate Professor in Jewish Studies, and the founding Director of the University of San Francisco Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice, the first academic program in the country formally linking these two fields. Prior to this appointment he served on the faculty of the Religious Studies Department at California State University, Northridge. Aaron also served as the Founder and Co-Executive Director of Abraham's Vision, a conflict transformation organization that explored group and individual identities through experiential and political educational programs that focus on the Jewish, Muslim, Israeli, and Palestinian communities. Aaron previously lived in the Middle East for five years—four years in Jerusalem and one year in Cairo—and has traveled extensively in Jordan, Morocco, Lebanon, and Syria. Aaron received a BA in Psychology from the Johns Hopkins University, a Master's degree from Harvard Divinity School, focusing on World Religions, and a PhD in Comparative Religions from the University of California, Santa Barbara. His doctoral dissertation, "From Gaza to the Golan: Religious Nonviolence, Power, and the Politics of Interpretation," explores the relationship between the socio-political context of Israel and Palestine, religious law, and power. His interdisciplinary research interests are comparative religions, the history of religions, the interplay between politics and religion, Judaism, Islam, nonviolence, and the relationship between power and religious authority. Aaron is also a Co-Executive Director and Co-Founder of Center for Transformative Education, and co-editor of Muslims and Jews in America: Commonalities, Contentions, and Complexities with Reza Aslan.

DR. SUSANNAH HESCHEL
Dr. Susannah Heschel is the Eli Black Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College. Her scholarship focuses on Jewish-Christian relations in Germany during the 19th and 20th centuries, the history of biblical scholarship, and the history of anti-Semitism. Her numerous publications include Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesus (University of Chicago Press), which won a National Jewish Book Award, and The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany (Princeton University Press). She has also taught at Southern Methodist University and Case Western Reserve University. Heschel has been a visiting professor at the Universities of Frankfurt and Cape Town as well as Princeton, and she is the recipient of numerous grants, including from the Ford Foundation, Carnegie Foundation, and a yearlong Rockefeller fellowship at the National Humanities Center. In 2011-12 she held a fellowship at the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin. She has received four honorary doctorates from universities in the United States, Canada, and Germany. Currently she is a Guggenheim Fellow and is writing a book on the history of European Jewish scholarship on Islam. In 2015 she was elected a member of the American Society for the Study of Religion. The author of over one hundred articles, she has also edited several books, including Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays of Abraham Joshua Heschel; Betrayal: German Churches and the Holocaust (with Robert P. Ericksen); Insider/Outsider: American Jews and Multiculturalism (with David Biale and Michael Galchinsky). She serves on the academic advisory council of the Center for Jewish Studies in Berlin and on the Board of Trustees of Trinity College. 

RABBI SHELDON LEWIS
Rabbi Sheldon Lewis studied at the University of Chicago and at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, where he received rabbinic ordination. He was a student of Prof. Abraham Joshua Heschel and was an active participant with him in the civil rights movement. Rabbi Lewis served as a chaplain in the U.S. Army, including a year in Vietnam where the experiences of war were seared into his consciousness. He has been active in human rights causes and in peacemaking internationally. He was especially engaged in the struggle for the liberation of Russian Jews. Along with an abiding interest in reconciliation efforts in the Middle East, he has been deeply involved in interfaith work to promote mutual respect and advance the common good. He is Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Kol Emeth in Palo Alto, California, which he served for thirty-three years. As former president of the Northern California Board of Rabbis, Rabbi Lewis has been committed to nurturing bonds of unity among various streams of Jewish expression. After 9/11, as a personal response, Rabbi Lewis began a search for peacemaking wisdom in Jewish sacred texts, an effort which culminated in the publication of his book, Torah of Reconciliation. Following the annual cycle of Torah readings, Torah of Reconciliation reveals a wealth of resources available in Judaism for the crucial task of peacemaking in the modern world by expanding thematic verses and passages through the lens of rabbinic commentary.

DR. BRIAN D. McLAREN
Brian McLaren is an author, speaker, pastor, and networker among innovative Christian leaders, thinkers, and activists. Brian is a frequent guest on television, radio, and news media programs, such as Larry King Live, Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, and Nightline. His work has also been covered in TIME Magazine (where he was listed as one of America's 25 most influential evangelicals), Christianity Today, Christian Century, The Washington Post, and many other print media. He is the author of A New Kind of Christian; More Ready Than You Realize; The Church of the Other Side; Adventures in Missing the Point (with Tony Campolo); and Finding Faith.His book A Generous Orthodoxy has been called a manifesto of the emerging church conversation. He dedicated The Secret Message of Jesus "to all who work for peace among nations, races, classes, religions, and individuals, because these people are part of something bigger and more important than we fully understand." His more recent books Everything Must Change and A New Kind of Christianity issue a call for radical hope amidst profound global dilemmas with communities based on justice, peace, equality and compassion. Brian is actively involved in Emergent Village, which aims to "join in the activity of God in the world... as God's dreams for our world come true." He is a former Board chair for Sojourners, an organization committed to articulating the biblical call to social justice, inspiring hope and building a movement to transform individuals, communities, the church, and the world. He is a founding member of Red Letter Christians, and has also served on the boards of Mars Hill Graduate School, and Off The Map.

DR. EJAZ NAQVI
Dr. Ejaz Naqvi studied medicine at University of Karachi, Pakistan, then completed his internship and residency at University of Southern California. Dr. Naqvi is the director of Graduate Medical Education for the Diablo Service Area of Kaiser-Permanente, and sub-chief of the Chronic Pain Program. He oversees the education of medical residents in the departments of surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, podiatry, and internal medicine; and serves as an associate clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Naqvi is the former president of the Islamic Center of Zahra in Pleasanton, California. He presently serves on the executive board of the Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County, and on the Board of Directors of Islamic Scholarship Fund, a non-profit organization providing academic scholarships to Muslim students in the United States. Dr. Naqvi describes himself as a "born-again Muslim." After reading a translation of the Qur'an as an adult and pondering its verses, he discovered that much of its teaching remains arcane. Subsequent study of the Qur'an and Bible revealed tremendous common ground, which he shares in his book, The Quran: With or Against the Bible? (2012). Dr. Naqvi is the host of radio talk show, "Frank Talk with Dr. Ejaz : The Forum for Civil Dialogue on Religion and Wellness", on Toginet Radio.