Prof. Dr. Martin Wallraff is a church historian whose research focuses on the history of ecclesiastical historiography, the history of liturgy, ecumenism and intercultural theology, and in particular the ancient history of the church, to which he wrote numerous monographs, anthologies, annotated editions and essays. Particular emphasis is placed on Greek church historians and the theology of early Christianity.
In 2000, Wallraff was one of the winners of the Gerhard Hess Prize and was awarded the Hanns Lilje Prize. 2016 Wallraff received from the European Research Council (ERC) as part of its ERC grant a ``Proof of Concept Grant`` (PoC) and is `` paratexts the Bible. Analysis and edition of the Greek textual tradition (ParaTexBib) ``to develop an online program that visualizes the structure of medieval manuscripts and thus facilitates their historical understanding.``
“Most of my research revolves around discourses of time, astronomy/astrology, and calendars in medieval and early modern Europe, with a heavy focus on unpublished sources in medieval Latin manuscripts. Apart from a series of critical editions of texts dating from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, my current main project consists in a large-scale history of calendar improvement and lunisolar astronomy in the Latin Middle Ages. I also hope to expand this research into producing follow-up monographs on medieval observational astronomy and the history of historical chronology.” Jews and Christians in Medieval Europe is also an area of research for Dr. Nothaft.
Ronald Hutton (born 1953) is an English historian who specializes in Early Modern Britain, British folklore, pre-Christian religion and contemporary Paganism. He is a professor in the subject at the University of Bristol. Hutton has written fourteen books and has appeared on British television and radio. He held a fellowship at Magdalen College, Oxford and is a Commissioner of English Heritage.
Gerry Bowler received his Ph.D. in History from King’s College, London, and presently teaches at the University of Manitoba. He is the author of Santa Claus: A Biography and The World Encyclopedia of Christmas, Christmas in the Crosshairs: Two Thousand Years of Denouncing and Defending the World’s Most Celebrated Holiday, The World’s Greatest Christmas Stories and the co-author of Europe in the Sixteenth Century. Dr. Bowler was the founding director of the Centre for the Study of Christianity and Contemporary Culture at Calgary’s Nazarene University College.
expert in Mithras and early christianity
Al Ridenour is the author of The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas: Roots and Rebirth of the Folkloric Devil. He holds BA's in German and English literature, has worked as an author, journalist, animator, and artist, and has been a fixture in the West Coast underground art community since the mid-1990s.
His Krampus research has taken him to the Austrian Alps and Munich, and brought him in contact with cultural anthropologists working in Salzburg and Vienna as well as dozens of members of contemporary European Krampus groups. In 2013, Ridenour co-founded Krampus Los Angeles, an organization that's made the city ground zero for American Krampusmania.
Ridenour has translated and produced the only English-language version of 19th-century Krampus play, written articles, and lectured on the topic at the international Goethe-Institut and elsewhere, and exhibited his Krampus suits at the University of Southern California's Doheny Museum.
Maria Kvilhaug is an historian of religions. She holds a Masters degree in Old Norse mythology and initiation rituals and has written and researched extensively about ancient Yule practices. Maria is the author of “The Seed of Yggdrasill -- Deciphering the Hidden Messages in Old Norse Myths”, a non-fiction study of Edda lore and the meanings of metaphors in Old Norse poetry. Her Masters dissertation was the later published work “The Maiden with the Mead – A Goddess of Initiation in Old Norse Myths?”
A specialist in Ancient Rome, Drake focuses his research on the 4th century, with particular emphasis on questions of historiography and the realignment of interests and identities that followed from Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity. He is the author of “Constantine and the Bishops: The Politics of Intolerance” (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002) and, with Joe Leedom of Hollins University, “Laws, Gods and Heroes: Thematic Readings in Early Western History” (Kendall Hunt, 1994).
Daniels is the author of over two hundred scholarly articles and reviews, and ten books, including, The Fragmentation of New England: Economic, Political, and Social Divisions in the Eighteenth Century (1986); Puritans at Play: Leisure and Recreation in Colonial New England (1995 and 2005 editions); Living with Stalin’s Ghost: A Fulbright Memoir of Moscow and the New Russia (2005); and New England Nation: The Country the Puritans Built (2012).
From 1980 to 2004, Daniels held SSHRC research grants. In 1993 he was a Fulbright Fellow and in 2005, he was a Distinguished Fulbright Chair. While working at the University of Winnipeg, Daniels served as Editor of the Canadian Review of American Studies, President of the Canadian Association of American Studies, Associate Editor of American National Biography, Book Review Editor of the Urban History Review, and Contributing Editor of the Journal of American History.
Angie Mosteller is the author of Christmas, Celebrating the Christian History of Classic Symbols, Songs and Stories and the founder of Celebrating Holidays, an educational company dedicated to teaching the Christian roots of American holidays.
Mosteller received her M.A. degree in theology from BIOLA University, and is currently completing on a Ph.D. in theology at Gateway Seminary
Upon graduating from seminary, he was offered an opportunity to become the founding Dean of Distance Education at Knox Theological Seminary in Fort Lauderdale, FL. While serving at Knox, he continued to pursue advanced studies in theology and ministry. It was during this time that he felt called to pursue an Anglican ministry. He was ordained as an Anglican minister in 2011 and is currently a resident minister in the Convocation of Anglicans in North America.
The University of West Florida, BA, BA – Psychology and Organizational Communication
Webster University, MBA – Marketing and Finance
Knox Theological Seminary, MA – Christianity and Culture
Reformed Theological Seminary, Graduate Certificate – Theological Studies
Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, ThM – Pastoral Ministry
Knox Theological Seminary, DMin – Dissertation Title: Gospel Identity: A Tri-Perspective Psychographic Model
Dr. Mark L. Mirabello, author and a professor of history at Shawnee State University in the USA, has served as a visiting professor of history at Nizhny Novgorod University in Russia.
Mirabello's area of expertise is the ``outlaw`` history on the ``frontiers and margins`` of human civilization. He lectures on Ancient History, Early Christianity and Gnosticism, Alternative Religions and Cults, Secret Societies, Terrorism and Crime, ``Banned Books,`` Afterlife Concepts in World History, Fascist Europe and Nazi Germany, Myths and Legends, Intellectual History, and other subjects.