Benedito de Queiroz Alcântara is a History professor at the Rede Pública Estadual [State Public Network]. As a member of Repam Brasil’s Rede Eclesial Pan-Amazônica [Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network], he serves as Repam representative in the Diocese of Macapá and as coordinator of the Eixo Justiça Socioambiental [Socio-Environmental Justice Axis] of Repam Brasil. He also coordinates the Projeto Guardiões Ambientais Ribeirinhos [Riverside Environmental Guardians Project], which trains youth from riverside communities located at the mouth of the Amazon between Pará and Amapá. In the Diocese, he additionally serves on the Comissão Justiça e Paz [Justice and Peace Commission] and on the Equipe de Formação Fé e Cidadania [Faith and Citizenship Training Team]. He was part of the Brazilian delegation to the 2023 Encuentro Continental Fraternidad Secular San Carlos de Foucauld América [Continental Meeting of the Secular Fraternity of Saint Charles De Foucauld] in Medellín, Colombia.

Yonar Brenes Masís is an assistant professor at the Ministry of Public Education of Costa Rica and host of the podcast El show de Yonar BM. He was a delegate from the youth Fraternities in Costa Rica to the 2023 Encuentro Continental Fraternidad Secular San Carlos de Foucauld América [Continental Meeting of the Secular Fraternity of Saint Charles De Foucauld] in Medellín, Colombia.

Father Federico Carrasquilla Muñoz is an Antioquian priest born in Itagüí, Colombia and assigned to the Archdiocese of Medellín. In 1958, he went to Rome to study theology at the Gregorian University and was ordained in 1959 in the chapel of St. John Lateran, Italy. He experienced up close the appointment of John XXIII as Pope and the events related to the Second Vatican Council. During his theological studies in Rome, he learned about the spirituality of Brother Charles de Foucauld, who left a deep impression on Fr. Carrasquilla for life. His philosophical work also draws from that of Karl Marx, whose method of analyzing reality Fr. Carrasquilla emulated. His book Escuchemos al corazón: Aportes para una antropología del pobre [Let Us Listen to the Poor: Contributions to an Anthropology of the Poor] (Indo American Press Service, 1997) takes cues from Marx, in addition to his reading of Jesus in the gospels. His other publications include essays in Volver a Jesús de Nazaret [Return to Jesus of Nazareth] (Boletín Horeb, 2011); Los escandalos de pedofilia en iglesia: Una lectura desde la fe [Pedophilia Scandals in the Church: A Reading from Faith] (San Pablo, 2014); and Escuchemos al corazón: Elementos de antropología de la afectividad [Let Us Listen to the Heart: Elements of an Anthropology of Affectivity], with Verónica Reyes Mercado (2022). Upon his return to Medellín in 1962, he began working as rector of Philosophy at the Conciliar Seminary. In 1967, he went to live and work in the parish La Divina Providencia, in the Popular neighborhood of Medellín, where there was a process of “invasion” underway by inhabitants who came from the different towns and regions of Antioquia due to the cycle of violence that the country was experiencing at the time. Alongside the community, he experienced the permanent tension brought on by police, precarious housing, and the subsequent cycles of violence due to the arrival of guerrilla groups such as the ELN and the M-19, and by the emergence of drug trafficking in the 70s and 80s. In 1984, the archbishop of Medellín transferred Fr. Carrasquilla to a parish in the municipality of Bello. He was later part of the Golconda group (“red priests”) and Sacerdotes para América Latina [Priests for Latin America] (SAL). Now octogenarian, he continues to produce scholarship, leading retreats and speaking before groups comprising lay people, educators, intellectuals, and at universities. –Hernán Ramírez

Hernán Darío Ramírez is the Coordinator of the Charles de Foucauld Secular Fraternity of Colombia and one of the main organizers of the Continental Meeting of the San Carlos de Foucauld Secular Fraternity America 2023 in Medellín, Colombia. He has published several writings related to this movement, including the profile “Testimonio de primavera eclesial [Testimony of ecclesial spring]: Federico Carrasquilla Muñoz” (Kairós Educativo) and the foreword to Volver a Jesús de Nazaret [Return to Jesus of Nazareth] (Boletín Horeb, 2011). After earning a degree in mechanical engineering and working in private industry for a few years, he was seduced by Latin American theological thought and made the leap to working with socially conscious efforts from a perspective of faith. He works to support popular organizations–urban and rural–as well as farming and indigenous communities. In the last nine years, he has worked through the Pepe Breu Foundation, an organization that defends the victims of the Colombian internal armed conflict. Foucauldian spirituality has served Ramírez as a source of inspiration and light, as a criterion for making decisions in his life.

Dr. Sergio M. González is an assistant professor of Latinx Studies in the Departments of History and Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at Marquette University. As a historian of twentieth-century U.S. immigration, labor, and religion, his scholarship focuses on the development of Latino communities in the U.S. Midwest. His first book Mexicans in Wisconsin (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2017) offers a concise introductory history of Mexican settlement and community formation across the state. His current project Strangers No Longer: Latino Belonging and Faith in 20th Century Wisconsin explores the relationship between Latino communities, religion, and social justice movements in twentieth-century Wisconsin. Dr. González has bridged his academic scholarship to broader audiences by serving as a founder of the Dane Sanctuary Coalition, as well as serving on the board of Voces de la Frontera, Wisconsin’s largest and most active membership-based immigrant justice organization.

Gabriel García Román is a multi-disciplinary artist and craftsman who examines and decodes the politics of identity through intricate and process-based work. Born in Zacatecas, Mexico and raised in Chicago’s northwest side, García Román received his BA from The City College of New York, where he studied Studio Art, and currently resides in New York City.

His art has been acquired by the International Center of Photography and has been shown at the Museum of Latin American Art (Long Beach, CA), Galería de la Raza (San Francisco, CA), Cathedral of St. John the Divine (New York, NY), the Center for Photography at Woodstock (Woodstock, NY), BRIC (Brooklyn, NY), and numerous other institutions and galleries. García Román was a 2018 recipient of the National Association of Latino Arts & Culture’s artist grant. In 2019, he was commissioned by the Leslie-Lohman Museum to bring his Queer Icons series into the streets, where 100 Queer Icons flags were marched down the World Pride route, for the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. In 2020, Garcia Roman was one of 10 artists in residence at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council for Workspace, their flagship residency program.

Dr. Nicolás Panotto graduated from the Superior Evangelical Institute of Theological Studies [Instituto Superior Evangélico de Estudios Teológicos (ISEDET), Argentina]; he holds a Masters in Social and Political Anthropology and a PhD in Social Sciences, both from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences [Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO), Argentina]. Dr. Panotto is an associate researcher of the Institute of International Studies (INTE) at Arturo Prat University in Chile and a professor at Comunidad Teológica de Chile. His research interests include contemporary theologies, faith and ideology, comparative religions, and systematic Theology. He also serves as director of Otros Cruces, an organization dedicated to inspiring dialogue, democracy and human rights through knowledge exchanges between faith and reality, religious communities and civil-society organizations, and between spiritual paths and political actors. In addition to Decolonizing Theological Knowledge in Latin America: Religion, Education and Theology with a Postcolonial Accent (Editorial JuanUno1, 2021), Dr. Panotto has authored several books and research articles in the field of religion and politics, public theology, and postcolonial theory/theology.

Crystal Cheatham (she/hers) received her MFA from Antioch University. She is an LGBTQ rights activist with a focus on religious liberty. Since 2011, Crystal has worked simultaneously as a ghostwriter and queer rights activist with groups such as Soulforce and the Attic Youth Center. As an entrepreneur, Crystal is the founder of two projects: Our Bible App and The IDentity Kit, both of which provide resources for marginalized communities of faith. An outspoken activist, she has written for The Huffington Post on the intersections of faith and sexual identity, a faith and spirituality column for the Philadelphia Gay News, sat on the steering committee of the HRC as the Faith & Spirituality chair, and partnered with Equality PA to influence clergy to support non-discrimination legislation. Crystal is the host of Lord Have Mercy, a podcast about God, sex and the Bible, and has been featured in TeenVogue, Autostraddle, and LGBTQNation. Contact her at Crystal@ourbibleapp.com.

Jasmin Figueroa (she/her) grew up in New York City, where she was influenced, in one way or another, by different religious and cultural traditions. Her Mennonite, Latinx evangélico, Catholic, and Jewish relatives, her years serving at a mid-sized charismatic church, and her time and internships in seminary instilled in her a deep appreciation for the roles that practical and pastoral theologies play in shaping communities. She is an HTI Scholar and a PhD student in Practical Theology at Boston University School of Theology, where she also serves as the Assistant Director of Contextual Education. Her current research interest focuses on the intersection of systematic oppression and religious trauma that QTPOC millennials of color face and the ways that they are subsequently reclaiming and renegotiating their spiritualities and communities in response.

Daniel Montañez is a PhD student at Boston University in the area of theology, ethics, and philosophy, and an adjunct instructor for the Latino and Global Ministries Program at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Montañez’ research focuses on centering the voices of immigrants as an authoritative locus for theological reflection. He seeks to construct a social ethic of migration that can respond to the humanitarian crisis facing migrants in our modern world. He is the founder and director of Mygration Christian Conference, an organization that seeks to explore God’s heart through the stories of migration in the Bible. He also serves as Director for the Church of God Migration Crisis Initiative, a ministry that seeks to provide church leaders with the biblical, pastoral, and ministerial preparation to positively and proactively respond to the crisis facing our immigrant communities in the United States. Montañez holds an STM from Boston University, an MDiv from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a BBA in Management from St. Mary’s University. Born in Visalia, CA to a Mexican mother and a Puerto Rican father, he is dedicated to serving his Latine community at the intersection of the Church, the academy, and the public square.

Rev. Dr. Willie James Jennings is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies at the Yale Divinity School. A Calvin College graduate, he holds an M.Div. from Fuller Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in religion and ethics from Duke. Rev. Dr. Jennings is widely recognized as a major figure in theological education across North America. Writing in the areas of liberation theologies, cultural identities, and anthropology, he has authored more than 40 scholarly essays and nearly two-dozen reviews, as well as essays on academic administration and blog posts for Religion Dispatches. He is the author of After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging (Eerdmans, 2020), which examines the problems of theological education within western education. His book The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race (Yale, 2010) won the American Academy of Religion Award of Excellence in the Study of Religion in the Constructive-Reflective category and the Grawemeyer Award in Religion, the largest prize for a theological work in North America. Englewood Review of Books called the work a “theological masterpiece.” His commentary on the Book of Acts, titled Acts: A Commentary, The Revolution of the Intimate (for the Belief Series, Westminster/John Knox), received the Reference Book of the Year Award from The Academy of Parish Clergy in 2018. He is now working on a major monograph provisionally entitled Unfolding the World: Recasting a Christian Doctrine of Creation, as well as a finishing a book of poetry, entitled The Time of Possession. Rev. Dr. Jennings is an ordained Baptist minister and has served as interim pastor for several North Carolina churches.

Dr. Teresa Delgado is Dean of St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and professor of theology and religious studies at St. John’s University, NY. She previously held teaching positions at Iona College, where she was Chair of the Religious Studies Department and Program Director of Peace and Justice Studies. Dr. Delgado mentors doctoral students of color to nurture their success in the academy, church, and world. A Senior Fellow of the Ford Foundation, she has served on the board of the Hispanic Theological Initiative, as a member of the mentoring consortium of the Forum for Theological Exploration, and the advisory committee of the Wabash Center for Teaching & Learning in Theology and Religion. Dr. Delgado served as President of the Board of WESPAC (Westchester People’s Action Coalition), a leading force of social justice activism in Westchester County, and currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Colgate University and The Ursuline School. Dr. Delgado holds PhD, MPhil, and MA degrees in Systematic Theology from Union Theological Seminary and a BA in Religion and Women's Studies from Colgate University. Her research interests and scholarship engage the experiences of marginalized peoples to articulate a constructive theological/ethical vision. She has published on topics ranging from diversity in higher education, transformational pedagogies, constructive theology and ethics, and justice for racial/ethnic/sexual minoritized persons. Dr. Delgado is the author of A Puerto Rican Decolonial Theology: Prophesy Freedom (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), and she is currently working on a manuscript in sexual ethics, titled “Loving Sex: Envisioning a Relevant Catholic Sexual Ethic.”

Dr. Chloe Sun was born in Beijing, China, raised in Hong Kong, and became a Christian while attending college in the US. Her PhD is from Fuller Theological Seminary. She is a Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at Logos Evangelical Seminary, El Monte, California, where she also serves as Acting Director of ThM and PhD Programs, and Academic Dean. Dr. Sun has published in both Chinese and English, and conducts Bible seminars internationally. Her recent publications include Attempt Great Things for God: Theological Education in Diaspora (Eerdmans, 2020) and Conspicuous in His Absence: Studies in the Song of Songs and Esther (IVP Academic, 2021). She is interested in promoting diversity in theological education because of her own context as a Chinese woman in the academy and her vision for a more inclusive future. You may visit Dr. Sun’s website at: chloesunphd.com

Rev. Dr. Sammy Alfaro is a pastor-scholar whose research interests focus on doing theology from and for the Pentecostal Latina/o church and community. He is an ordained bishop with the Church of God (Cleveland, TN) and founding pastor of Iglesia Nuevo Día (New Day Church), a Latina congregation in Phoenix, AZ. Rev. Dr. Alfaro is Professor of Theology at Grand Canyon Theological Seminary. His publications include Divino Compañero: Toward a Hispanic Pentecostal Christology (Pickwick Publications, 2010) and a co-edited work with Néstor Medina, Pentecostals and Charismatics in Latin America and Latino Communities (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015). Rev. Dr. Alfaro holds a BA in Pre-Seminary Studies from Patten University; he earned an MA in Biblical and Theological Studies and a PhD in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary.

Angie Cruz is a novelist and editor. Her novel Dominicana is the inaugural book pick for GMA book club and chosen as the 2019/2020 Wordup Uptown Reads. It was shortlisted for The Women’s Prize, longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction, The Aspen Words Literary Prize, a RUSA Notable book, and the winner of the ALA/YALSA Alex Award in fiction. Cruz is the author of two other novels, Soledad and Let It Rain Coffee, and is the recipient of numerous fellowships and residencies, including the Lighthouse Fellowship, Siena Art Institute, and the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Fellowship. She has published shorter works in The Paris Review, VQR, Callaloo, Gulf Coast, and other journals. She is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the award-winning literary journal Aster(ix). Cruz is an Associate professor at University of Pittsburgh, where she teaches in the MFA program and splits her time between Pittsburgh. New York, and Turin.

Stephen G. Adubato studied Spanish Literature and Religious Studies at Fordham University and went on to pursue graduate work in Moral Theology at Seton Hall. Since then, he has taught philosophy and theology at both the secondary and university levels. He is currently spending a year working as a Journalism Fellow for Compact Magazine through the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. He is a contributing writer for the National Catholic Reporter and has published with over forty other publications, including Newsweek, The New York Daily News, The Tablet, America: The Jesuit Review, Nylon, and The Hedgehog Review. He also hosts the Cracks in Postmodernity blog and podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @stephengadubato.

Rev. Dr. Ted A. Smith is the Almar H. Shatford Professor of Preaching and Ethics at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. He works at the intersections of practical and political theology. His first book, The New Measures: A Theological History of Democratic Practice (Cambridge University Press, 2007), tells a history of preaching that gives rise to eschatological visions of modern democracy. His second book, Weird John Brown: Divine Violence and the Limits of Ethics (Stanford University Press, 2014), works through memories of the raid on Harpers Ferry to show the limits of social ethics for thinking about violence. Rev. Dr. Smith has edited collections of essays on sexuality and ordination, contemporary issues in preaching, and economic inequality. He is currently editing a series of books on the meanings and purposes of theological education in a time of great change. Rev. Dr. Smith holds a BA from Duke University, an MA from Oxford University, and an MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary. At Emory, where he earned his PhD, he also teaches in the Graduate Division of Religion and is an affiliated faculty member with the Center for the Study of Law and Religion. Beyond Emory, Rev. Dr. Smith serves as a senior fellow with the University of Virginia’s project on Religion and Its Publics, the steering committee of the Political Theology Network, and a member of the editorial boards for Political Theology and Practical Matters. He recently completed two terms on the board of the Louisville Institute.

Lucila Crena is Assistant Professor in Christian Ethics and Public Theology at Wesley Theological Seminary; formerly, she served as Managing Director of the Theological Education between the Times project and Instructor in Theology, Ethics, and Culture at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. She has taught at innovative theological institutions like the Comunidad de Estudios Teológicos Interdisciplinarios (CETI, in San José, Costa Rica), Wesley Theological Seminary (Washington, D.C.), and Regent College (Vancouver, BC), where she was part of the founding faculty for Regent’s new MA in Theology, Leadership, and Society. Crena also served as the faculty liaison during the course redesign of CETI's MA program while the institution pursued accreditation in North America. She has been awarded fellowships from the Forum for Theological Exploration, the Louisville Institute, and Virginia Theological Seminary. Prior to pursuing theological education, Crena worked as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company, as well as for nonprofit organizations like ProInspire, the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network, and Year Up. She holds a BA from Emory University, is a graduate of Regent College (MATS), and is completing her doctoral studies at the University of Virginia.

Dr. Antonio (Tony) Alonso is currently Assistant Professor of Theology and Culture at Candler School of Theology at Emory University, where he also serves as the inaugural Director of Catholic Studies. Dr. Alonso works at the intersection of theology and culture, with a particular focus on worship and ritual practices. In 2019, he was awarded the Catherine Mowry LaCugna Award for new scholars for the best academic essay in the field of theology within the Roman Catholic tradition from the Catholic Theological Society of America for his essay "Listening for the Cry: Certeau Beyond Strategies and Tactics" (Modern Theology, 2017). Dr. Alonso's first book, Commodified Communion: Eucharist, Consumer Culture, and the Practice of Everyday Life (Fordham University Press, 2021), offers a theological account of contemporary consumerism and its relationship to the Eucharist. It was awarded the 2021 Hispanic Theological Initiative Book Prize, an award that recognizes the best book written by a junior Latinx scholar on theology or religion each year. His current research, funded by a Teacher-Scholar Vital Worship Grant from the Calvin Institute for Worship, focuses on the theological significance of the transformation of Catholic material culture in the wake of the Second Vatican Council's liturgical reforms. In addition to his scholarly work, Dr. Alonso is a Latin Grammy-nominated composer of sacred music. The author of over 200 published compositions and arrangements, he was commissioned to compose the responsorial psalm for the first Mass Pope Francis celebrated in the United States in 2015.

Hon. Dr. Sandra Leticia Salazar is a doctor who comes from humble beginnings and whose story is an example of what can be achieved through hard work and education. The daughter of a gardener and a domestic worker, Dr. Salazar was raised in a working-class family that instilled in her a commitment to faith, family, and community at an early age. she grew up attending the Apostolic Assembly church, a predominantly Latinx Pentecostal denomination in Culver City, CA. After graduating from the public school system, Dr. Salazar became the first in her family to attend college. She earned a BA in from Wellesley College, was a Research Fellow at the Mayo School of Health Sciences in Minnesota, and went on to attend Saint Louis University of Medicine, where she received a Doctorate in Medicine. Dr. Salazar completed her medical training in Los Angeles, where she currently works as a family physician, and is an active and dedicated member of her community. Her record of public service includes: serving on the medical advisory board of the California Community Foundation and volunteering with various community-based organizations, while also being a member of the local Kiwanis and the Norwalk Community Coalition. In 2011, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg appointed her to the State Bar Committee of Bar Examiners. Hon. Dr. Salazar was elected to represent Trustee Area 6 of the Cerritos Community College Board of Trustees and was sworn in on December 12, 2012; she was reelected in 2020.