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Our three speakers were chosen not just because they are highly
respected in their fields, but because they have an obvious passion for
the subject and an ability to infect the viewer with that positive
energy. Learn more about each speaker below:
Dr. Allen Dwight Callahan
 The
Reverend Doctor Allen Dwight Callahan, an ordained Baptist minister is a
native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Professor Callahan received his
B.A. in Religion from Princeton University and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in
the study of Religion at Harvard University in the area of New Testament
Studies and Early Christian History.Associate
In addition to taught New Testament theaology at Harvard Divinity School
Professor Callahan has taught theology at Boston College and the language
and literature of the New Testament at Holy Cross College, Andover-Newton
Theological School, and Harvard University, where he is a member of the New
Testament Department faculty at the Divinity School.
An extremely powerful and charismatic speaker, Dr. Callahan was most
recently seen on Frontline's four part series which appeared on PBS; From
Jesus to Christ - The First Christians. His most recently published work is
titled Embassy of Onesimus.
Father Richard Rohr
 Father Richard Rohr is a Franciscan of the New Mexico Province. He was the founder of the New Jerusalem Community in Cincinnati, Ohio and the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After thirteen years as pastor of New Jerusalem and eight years as animator of the Center in Albuquerque, he handed them both over to lay leadership and direction.
Richard now lives in a Franciscan community in New Mexico and divides his public time between local work and preaching and teaching around the world. He considers the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus to be his primary call, and uses many different platforms to communicate that message. Scripture studies, action and contemplation, community building, peace and justice themes, men's spirituality, the enneagram, and eco-spirituality are all themes that he makes use of for the sake of the full Gospel.
Father Rohr is probably best know for his extremely popular audio and video tapes, which are distributed by St. Anthony Messenger Press, Credence Cassettes, and through the Center's newsletter, Radical Grace. Articles by Father Rohr have appeared in numerous publications and much of his writing has been translated into other languages. He considers himself a "pseudo-author", however, because most of his books are edited forms of his tapes. Among these titles are The Great Themes of Scripture, Simplicity, The Wild Man's Journey, Near Occasions of Grace, Jesus Plan for a New World, and Quest for the Grail. He is also a contributing editor for Sojourners magazine.
Richard was born in Topeka, Kansas in 1943. He entered the Franciscan Order in 1961 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1970. He received his Master's degree in Theology from the University of Dayton and did further studies in Scripture at the University of Notre Dame and the University of Sand Francisco.
His latest books are Job and the Mystery of Suffering and Everything Belongs, both put out by Crossroad Publishers. He is now working on a book on male initiation.
Huston Smith
 Huston Smith is Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion and Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, Syracuse University. Prior to that appointment he taught at Washington University in St. Louis, and was for fifteen years Professor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His most recent teaching has been as Visiting Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
Born of missionary parents in Soochow, Dr. Smith lived in China until he was seventeen. His youth there provided an appropriate background for his subsequent interest in comparative philosophies and religions.
Interest in education beyond the classroom led Professor Smith to produce three series for the Public Broadcasting System while it was still National Educational Television: "The Religions of Man," "The Search for America," and (with Arthur Compton) "Science of Human Responsibility." His films on Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism and Sufism have all wan awards at international film festivals. His phonograph record, "The Music of Tibet," which embodies his discovery of the capacity of certal lamas to sing multiphonically, was acclaimed by The Journal of Ethnomusicology as "an important landmark in the study of extra-European musics, and in fact of music itself."
Holder of eleven honorary degrees, Professor Smith was one of six professors in 1964 to receive the national E. Harris Harbison Award for Distinguished Teaching and was featured guest that year on the opening and closing programs of ABS's "Meet the Professor" series. In 1961 he was invited as the first Charles Strong Lecturer on World Religions to the Universities of Australia. Twice he has been appointed Distinguished Visiting Lecturer to the United Chapters of Phi Bet Kappa, and I 1964 he was Annual Lecturer to the John Dewey Society. In 1996 Bill Moyers devoted a 5-part PBS Special, "The Wisdom of Faith with Huston Smith," to his life and work. The following year it was nominated for an Emmy Award.
Author of over seventy articles in professional and popular journals, his book The World's Religions (formerly The Religions of Man) has been for a third of a century the most widely-used textbook for courses in world religions and has sold over two million copies. His other books are The Purposes of Higher Education, The Search for America, Condemned to Meaning, Forgotten Truth, Beyond the Post Modern Mind, The Illustrated World's Religions, Essays of World Religion, One Nation Under God: The Triumph of the Native American Church, and (with David Griffin) Primordial Truth and Postmodern Theology.
Dr. Smith is the father of three daughters. His wife, Dr. E. Kendra Smith, is a psychologist. They live in Berkeley, California.
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