The senior and associate editors of Touchstone frequently speak at conferences, retreats, services, and special events. Their availability is limited and the details differ from editor to editor. On this page you can learn more about each of their backgrounds, writing histories, and speaking interests, as well as how to best reach them.

James Hitchcock is Professor of History at St. Louis University and a senior editor of Touchstone. Dr. Hitchcock earned his undergraduate degree at St. Louis University and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton University. His books include The Recovery of the Sacred, What is Secular Humanism,
Catholicism and Modernity, and Years of Crisis: Collected Essays, 1970-1983. He is widely published in both scholarly and popular journals, and he is a past president of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars.

His recent Touchstone articles include "The Rise & Decline of Christendom in the West" (July August 2001) and "The Essence and Power of Evil" (November 2001), one of his many Touchstone editorials. He lives with his wife, the editor and writer, Helen Hull Hitchcock, in Saint Louis, Missouri. They have four daughters.

Phone: 314-863-1654 / Fax: 314-863-5858

James M. Kushiner is publisher of Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity, and executive director of The Fellowship of St. James. He is co-editor of Signs of Intelligence: Understanding Intelligent Design (Brazos Press, 2001), and editor of Creed & Culture: A Touchstone Reader (ISI Books, March 2003).

His recent articles for Touchstone include "A Pilgrim’s View (on September 11 from Another Country)" and "Praying with Jesus (on Jabez & the Lord’s Prayer)." A public talk given in January 2002 to mark his tenth anniversary as Touchstone’s editor, "A View from Fingal’s Cave: Reflections of a Modern Pilgrim," captured his spiritual pilgrimage to Iona, Scotland, during the September 2001 terrorist attacks.

Other talks and topics include: "The Road to Piety: An Encounter With Russell Kirk"; "Killing Time With Prayer: What Busy Laymen Need to Know About Daily Prayer" (talks for a retreat); "Once For All Delivered: Developing an Appreciation for Tradition"; "The Heavens Declare: The Limits of Science & the Recovery of Faith."

Mr. Kushiner lives with his wife and three of their six children in Chicago, where they attend All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church.

Phone: 773-481-1090 / 4125 W. Newport Avenue Chicago, IL 60641

David Mills is editor of Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity. He is the author of Knowing the Real Jesus (Charis Books/Servant Publications) and the editor of a series of books featuring essays by leading literary scholars on prominent English Christians of the Twentieth Century, the first of which is The Pilgrim's Guide: C. S. Lewis and the Art of Witness (Eerdmans). He is working on volumes about J. R. R. Tolkien and G. K. Chesterton.

Recent Touchstone articles include: "Getting Jesus Right: How Sincerity Seduces the Sincere," "The Writer of Our Story: Divine Providence in The Lord of the Rings," and "Necessary Doctrine: Why Dogma is Needed and Why Substitutes Fail." His writing has also appeared in The Anglican Digest, New Covenant, Our Sunday Visitor, New Directions, Chronicles, and other magazines. He is available for lectures, retreats, and interviews. He can speak on Chesterton, Tolkien, and C. S. Lewis, as well as evangelism and apologetics.

He and his wife and their four children live outside Pittsburgh. They are members of the Catholic church.

E-mail: davidmills@touchstonemag.com

Associate Editor Kevin Offner is on the staff of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. He earned a B.A. at the University of Illinois and a Master's degree from Regent College, where he studied under J. I. Packer. He has served on the InterVarsity staff since 1985, with stints at Brown (four years), Harvard and MIT (five years), Oxford (one year), and the past five years in Washington, D.C. at Georgetown, George Washington, Catholic University, and the University of Maryland. He is currently studying the early Church Fathers at Catholic University.

He has written for Re:Generation Quarterly, Critique, Student Leadership Journal, First Things, and Touchstone. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife Amy. They are members of the Presbyterian Church in America.

He is available to speak on the following topics: "How Should Evangelicals Think About Roman Catholics?", "Dating, Courtship or Something Else?: Thoughts on How Singles Should Best Prepare For Marriage," and "Contemporary American Evangelicalism: Strengths and Weaknesses."

Phone: 202-546-3326

A senior editor of Touchstone, Leon J. Podles holds a Ph.D. in Old English and Old Icelandic from the University of Virginia and earned his B.A. at Providence College. He worked in national security for many years before retiring. He is the author of The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity (Spence) and is at work on a new book, Sinning Priests, Weak Bishops, and the Future of the Roman Catholic Church (Spence).

He has published many articles on the role of men and women in the church and on the renewal of Christian culture in a wide range of magazines, including America, Crisis, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, The American Spectator, The Antioch Review, and Touchstone, where he has recently begun a regular column, "The Matter at Hand."

His recent Touchstone articles include: "The Reticence of God (on Signs and Revelation)", "Missing Fathers of the Church," and "The Heroes of Middle Earth: J. R. R. Tolkien & the Marks of Christian Heroism."

He is married to Mary Elizabeth Smith Podles, a graduate of Wellesley and Columbia, and a former curator of Renaissance and Baroque Art. With his wife he has homeschooled his six children, the oldest of whom graduated from McGill University; the second oldest is attending Wellesley College. He is an assistant Scoutmaster, a trustee of the Baltimore Opera, and a member of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars.

He is available for talks and interviews on the following topics: Men , Women, and Christianity; The Lack of Men in the Church; Christianity and Heroism; Celibacy and Christianity; Homeschooling; Christianity and Fantasy; J. R. R. Tolkien; and Religious Literacy.

He resides in Baltimore, Maryland, and Naples, Florida.

E-mail: leepodles@cs.com

Patrick Henry Reardon is pastor of All Saints' Orthodox Church in Chicago, Illinois, and a senior editor of Touchstone. Father Reardon was educated at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY), St. Anselm's College (Rome), The Pontifical Biblical Institute (Rome), the University of Liverpool (England), and St. Tikhon's Orthodox Seminary (South Canaan, PA).

Author of Christ in the Psalms (Ben Lomond, CA: Conciliar Press, 2000) and more than 500 articles, editorials, and reviews, published in Books and Culture, Touchstone, The Scottish Journal of Theology, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, Pro Ecclesia, St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly, and other journals on three continents over the past forty years, Father Reardon is available for retreats, homilies, lectures, and Bible studies all year round, but never on Sundays. Recent talks include, "The Bible and the Liturgy," "Communion and Division," and "Thou Art the Everlasting Son of the Father."

Fr. Reardon is the author of our web-exclusive feature, Daily Reflections, which contains brief commentaries on the church's lectionary readings.

Phone: 773-777-0749

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