Ben Spackman
Ben Spackman is a historian of religion, science, and scriptural interpretation. He graduated from BYU in Near Eastern Studies; he spent the next six years pursuing graduate work at the University of Chicago in Semitic Languages and Literature: Hebrew, Aramaic, Assyrian, Babylonian, and others. Ben ultimately received his PhD in American Religious History from Claremont, with the Reformation and History of Science as his secondary areas. His dissertation examined the roles of science, scripture, and expertise Latter-day Saint creation/evolution conflict.
Esther Hi'ilani Candari
Esther Hi’ilani Candari is primarily a figurative artist who explores concepts such as multiracial identity, gender and the female gaze in the context of religion, and the connections between ecology, culture, and sense of place. Much of her work draws upon her experiences growing up in Hawai’i in an Asian American mixed-race household. She has a BFA from BYU-H, an MFA from Liberty University, and has studied at the New York Academy of Art. In addition to her studio work, she manages programming for The Compass Gallery, serves as the art editor for Wayfare magazine, and serves on the Advisory Board for The Faith Matters Foundation. She lives in Utah County with her husband, two rescue dogs, and an ever-growing collection of houseplants.
Margaret Olsen Hemming
Margaret Olsen Hemming is the coauthor of The Book of Mormon for the Least of These, Vols. 1, 2 and 3. The former editor in chief of Exponent II, she is the art editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought.
She sits on the advisory board for the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts and curated the exhibit The Sacred Feminine in LDS Art & Theology for the Center Gallery last year.
She earned a master’s degree in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University. She and her husband Patrick are parents and foster parents in North Carolina.
Deidre Nicole Green
Prepared from the Foundation of the World: Book of Mormon Insights on the Atonement of Jesus Christ
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