James F. Walsh Jr. holds a law degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He is also a graduate of the Institute of Lay Theology at the University of San Francisco, where he received a Master's Degree in Applied Theology. For fifteen years he worked full-time for the Catholic Church at parishes in San Diego, California, and Memphis, Tennessee, in the field of evangelization. In 1987 he received the Paulist Fathers' National Award for his work in this field.
Dr. Richard Shriver holds three degrees from Vanderbilt University, the Master's and Doctoral degrees from the Divinity School of Vanderbilt. An ordained United Methodist minister, he has served churches in Tennessee, Wisconsin, and England. He is an author and a professor, having held the Thomas A. Shriver Chair in Philosophy and Religion at Cumberland University. As adjunct professor, he founded and taught in the Religious Studies program at Volunteer State College.