Mark M. Mattison
The founder of Luminescence, L.L.C., Mark is a writer, author, and independent scholar of early Christianity and Christian origins, with particular interests in the historical Jesus, Paul, extracanonical Gospels, feminist-liberationist theology, and mysticism.
He was the original founder of The Paul Page, a web site dedicated to trends in Pauline theology including the new perspective on Paul, Paul and Empire, and Paul within Judaism.
He also maintains the web sites gospels.net, which offers public domain translations of extracanonical Gospels, and nuhra.net, dedicated to the Odes of Solomon. An avid writer, Mark also enjoys writing fiction from time to time.
Rabbi David J. B. Krishef
David J. B. Krishef, author of Reflections on the Psalms, received ordination as Rabbi from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1994.
Since then, he has served as the rabbi of Congregation Ahavas Israel, a Conservative synagogue in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Rabbi Krishef is the creator and writer of “Ethics and Religion Talk,” a weekly column published by therapidian.org and also publishes at EmbodiedTorah.org.
He has taught Judaism courses at Kuyper college and Aquinas college, and both Beginning and Intermediate Biblical Hebrew at Grand Valley State University.
In addition, Rabbi Krishef is the author of a CHAI curriculum revision published by URJ Press, adapting the Reform curriculum for use in a Conservative or joint Reform/Conservative religious school; edited a section on Judaism for a World Religions textbook (published by Teacher Created Materials).
He also serves on the Bioethics committee of Corewell Health, and delivered an address on “The Beginnings of Life” at the DeVos Medical Ethics Colloquy, as well as participating in numerous Interfaith Panels.
Rabbi Krishef lives in Grand Rapids with his wife (Cantor) Marisa, and four children, Zachary, Solomon, Harrison and Sarah.
Shawna R. B. Atteberry
Shawna Atteberry writes at the intersection of theology, creativity, and the handmade life. She is a theologian, essayist, and fiction writer who has spent the last 30 years exploring what it means to bear the image of God. Her earlier work examined feminist theology and the voices too often missing from the church’s conversation. This led to her work as a Contributing Editor for The Divine Feminine Version New Testament. It also led to her first book, What You Didn’t Learn in Sunday School: Women Who Didn’t Shut Up and Sit Down.
She is currently writing her second nonfiction book, The Makers Makers, which makes the companion argument: if God is above all a Creator, and we are made in that image, then every human being is called to create. Her essays appear on her website ShawnaAtteberry.com and in her Substack publication, Creative Midlife Mayhem. She is also at work on a series of novels about ordinary makers who use their craft to resist evil in the world.
Shawna lives in Lincoln, NE with her husband, Tracy, and their Old English Bulldog, Luna. She teaches English as a Second Language at Southeast Community College, and is a lay preacher and teacher at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. In her free time she likes to cook, bake, read, and garden.
Anna J. Small Roseboro
Wife, mother, educator, and poet, Ann Roseboro, author of Cindy & Sandy Learn about Elephants, is known for her work with groups like the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the Conference on English Leadership, and the California Association of Teachers of English.
With 40 years of experience in public and private schools, she is a National Board Certified Teacher vetted by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards.
Ms. Roseboro has mentored the NCTE’s Early Career Educators of Color cohorts and currently mentors online and coaches new writers. She has tutored adult English Language Learners through the Literacy Center of West Michigan and has authored books in multiple genres: fiction, poetry, and textbooks for teachers.
The California Association of Teachers of English (2009) and the National Council of Teachers of English (2016) awarded Anna with their Distinguished Service Awards.
In 2021, the Michigan Council of Teachers of English honored her with their Teacher of Excellence Award.
Samuel Zinner
Samuel Zinner, Ph.D. (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2002) is a scholar of ancient and modern history, literatures and linguistics, and a Holocaust researcher. He contributed to German Scholars and Ethnic Cleansing 1920-1945 (Oxford/New York: Berghahn Books, 2004), which was awarded the American Library Association’s prestigious “Choice Outstanding Academic Book of the Year Award” for 2005. He has contributed articles to Holocaust and Genocide Studies (Oxford University Press), Religions/Adyan (Doha International Centre for Interfaith Dialogue), and other academic journals. His books and essays on ancient and modern history and literature have been published internationally in a variety of languages.
At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Zinner concentrated in modern and ancient languages and literatures, history, and Museum Studies, with a further emphasis on archival studies. He has worked on projects funded by major grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).