Brad R. Braxton is President and Professor of Public Theology at Chicago Theological Seminary. He is the Founding Senior Pastor of The Open Church, a culturally inclusive congregation in Baltimore, MD. He formerly served as the Director of the Center for the Study of African American Religious Life at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC. He is the author of three books: The Tyranny of Resolution: 1 Corinthians 7:17-24; No Longer Slaves: Galatians and African American Experience; and Preaching Paul.

Anthony B. Pinn is the Director of Research for the Institute for Humanist Studies in Washington, DC. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the inaugural Director of the Center for African and African American Studies at Rice University. Additionally, Pinn is the founding Director of the Center for Engaged Research and Collaborative Learning (CERCL) also at Rice University. He is the author/editor of over 35 books, including Noise and Spirit: Rap Music's Religious and Spiritual Sensibilities; Introducing African American Religion; The End of God-Talk: An African American Humanist Theology; and the novel, The New Disciples. Pinn is the Agnes Cullen Arnold Distinguished Professor of Humanities and Professor of Religion at Rice University.