Speakers

Darin Davis is the director of the Institute for Faith and Learning at Baylor University and the Principal Investigator of the Soundings Project, which is funded by the Lilly Endowment's Called to Lives of Meaning and Purpose Initiative. Davis has helped launch and lead a number of initiatives designed to encourage administrators, faculty, staff, and students to explore how their Christian faith animates their work. His scholarly research focuses on the history of moral philosophy, virtue ethics, and higher education, and he is editor and contributor to Educating for Wisdom in the 21st Century. An ordained Baptist minister, Davis is pastor of Blue Ridge Baptist Church.

Colin Duriez is a prolific author, especially on the Inklings and fantasy literature. His many books include Tolkien and C. S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship, J.R.R. Tolkien: The Making of a Legend, C. S. Lewis: A Biography of Friendship, Bedeviled: Lewis, Tolkien and the Shadow of Evil, and The Oxford Inklings: Lewis, Tolkien and Their Circle. He is in demand internationally as a speaker on these subjects, and has appeared on the BBC, PBS, the extended box set of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings, Sony's Ringers movie, featuring J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, the Inklings and the worldwide Tolkien phenomenon. Currently Colin is writing a study of Dorothy L. Sayers.

For more than forty years, Nigel Goodwin has ministered internationally to Christians in the arts through Genesis Arts Trust, a ministry he originally established in London. Trained as an actor in the Royal Academy, Nigel lived and studied with Francis Schaeffer following his conversion. He has touched untold thousands through his unfathomable gift of love.

Malcolm Guite is a motorcycle riding, guitar playing, pipe smoking poet and singer-songwriter living in Cambridge. He serves as a priest of the Church of England, chaplain, teacher, and author. His books include What Do Christians Believe?, Faith Hope and Poetry, and Sounding the Seasons: 70 Sonnets for the Christian Year.

Rebecca Poe Hays is Assistant Professor of Christian Scriptures (Old Testament/Hebrew Bible) at the George W. Truett Theological Seminary of Baylor University. She is the co-editor of C. S. Lewis Remembered and The Good, the True, and the Beautiful, as well as the author of a number of scholarly and popular pieces dealing with matters such as the Psalms, Hebrew poetry, trauma and resilience, and metaphor. She has served in churches and Christian non-profits in Tennessee, Alabama, and Texas.

Originally from Waco TX, Taylor and his wife Enid moved to Edinburgh in 2017 where Taylor is a PhD candidate in Systematic Theology at New College, University of Edinburgh. Taylor's primary academic interest is in post-Enlightenment theology and philosophy, and his current research focus is on twentieth century Swiss theologian Emil Brunner. Apart from his studies, Taylor is a passionate supporter of local congregations, the Texas Rangers baseball club, and the Scottish National Rugby team.

Don King is finishing work on the first biography of Major Warren H. Lewis. King is one of the most prolific scholars of C. S. Lewis and those closest to him. He has written a number of books about Lewis, Joy Davidman, and Ruth Pitter, including C. S. Lewis, Poet: The Legacy of His Poetic Impulse, Hunting the Unicorn: A Critical Biography of Ruth Pitter, Plain to the Inward Eye: Essays on C. S. Lewis, The Letters of Ruth Pitter: Silent Music, The Collected Poems of C. S. Lewis: A Critical Edition, A Naked Tree: Joy Davidman's Love Sonnets to C. S. Lewis and Other Poems, Yet One More Spring: A Critical Study of Joy Davidman, and Sudden Heaven: The Collected Poems of Ruth Pitter, A Critical Edition. King edited the Christian Scholar's Review for many years and teaches literature at Montreat College.

Gisela H. Kreglinger is a writer, theologian, and public speaker. Holding a degree in historical theology from the University of St. Andrews, Kreglinger's work focuses on Christian spirituality and engaging theology with culture and the arts. She is the author of Storied Revelations: Parables, Imagination and George MacDonald's Christian Fiction and The Spirituality of Wine, and her book The Mysterious Gift of Wine Uncorked is forthcoming this year. Having grown up on a family winery in Germany, Kreglinger now leads weeklong wine pilgrimages that explore the spirituality of wine.

C. Ben Mitchell holds the Graves Chair of Moral Philosophy at Union University. He also serves as the editor of Ethics & Medicine: An International Journal of Bioethics and of Renewing Minds: A Journal of Faith, Learning, and Culture. He is the co-author of Biotechnology and the Human Good, Ethics and Moral Reasoning: A Student's Guide, and Does God Need Our Help?: Cloning, Assisted Suicide, & Other Challenges.

Hal Poe has just finished a biography of the young Jack Lewis to be published by Crossway as Becoming C. S. Lewis: A Biography of Young Jack Lewis. He is the author of nineteen books that deal with how the gospel intersect culture; including C. S. Lewis Remembered and The Inklings of Oxford. He won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 2009 and was named a fellow of the American Scientific Affiliation for his books on science and the Christian faith. Poe serves as Charles Colson Professor of Faith and Culture at Union University.

Dr. Sharon Jebb Smith is a freelance writer and lecturer on the Christian spiritual life. Of the many voices who can lead and guide us from the last two thousand years, she has found C. S. Lewis to be one of the most enduringly and inspiringly helpful writers of more recent times. Sharon is from Lewis's hometown of Belfast, but lives in Scotland.

Paul Wadell has just retired from a long tenure as Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at St. Norbert College. His main areas of interest are Christian ethics and the theology of the church. For many years, Wadell has been a leading voice in conversations and scholarly considerations of friendship and its role in the Christian life. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including Becoming Friends: Worship, Justice, and the Practice of Christian Friendship and The Moral of the Story: Learning from Literature about Human and Divine Love.

Cindy Zudys comes from a long family tradition of storytellers and has been telling stories herself all her life. She believes that even in the twenty-first century with its high dependence on technology, we are unavoidably connected to the Earth, the natural world, and our corporate past. This is reflected in her stories. Many of her tales evoke an affinity with writers who have a strong feeling for places, such as J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and William and Dorothy Wordsworth.

Samuel Still currently serves as the Music and Worship Associate at the First Baptist Church, Waco, Texas. He is also currently a second-year Master of Divinity candidate at Baylor University's George W. Truett Theological Seminary, where he concentrates in theology. Samuel is an avid reader, thinker, an aspiring songwriter, an ever-improving guitarist and pianist, and is passionate about the ways in which various artistic media intersect with Christian theology and the work of the Church.