Matthew Fox is a prolific author of books dedicated to renewing the ancient tradition of Creation Spirituality, including Original Blessing, A Spirituality Named Compassion, and Christian Mystics. This earth-based mystical tradition is feminist, welcoming of the arts and artists, honors Indigenous wisdom, works with science, and is committed to interfaith approaches and eco, social, and gender justice.

Matthew’s effort to reawaken the West to its own mystical tradition has sparked awareness of Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Julian of Norwich, and the mysticism of Thomas Aquinas, as well as the wisdom tradition that nurtured Jesus. His work helps reconnect science and spirituality by honoring the sacredness of the cosmos and interacting with contemporary scientists who are also mystics. He believes that “by reinventing work, education, and worship, we can bring about a nonviolent revolution on our planet.”

Matthew received his doctorate summa cum laude in the History and Theology of Spiritualities from the Institut Catholique de Paris. A member of the Dominican Order for 34 years, he established an Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality that operated for seven years at Mundelein College in Chicago, and for 12 years at Holy Names University in Oakland.

He founded the University of Creation Spirituality in Oakland in 1996, and was president and professor until 2005, when he left to create a pilot project to reinvent the educational experience for inner-city teenagers.

Matthew is a recipient of many awards, including the Gandhi King Ikeda Award from Morehouse College, which is awarded for dedication to peace, unity, nonviolence, and justice. He also received the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award; other recipients have included the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, and Rosa Parks. He is currently a visiting scholar at the Academy for the Love of Learning in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Adam Bucko is an activist, karma yogi, spiritual director to many of New York's homeless youth and an advocate for a contemplative approach to social change. He grew up in Poland behind the Iron Curtain and spent his early years exploring the anarchist youth movement as a force for social and political change. At the age of 17, Adam immigrated to America where his desire to find his path towards a meaningful life led him to monasteries in the US and India. His life-defining experience took place in India, where on his way to a Himalayan hermitage he met a homeless child who lived on the streets of Delhi. This brief encounter led him to the “Ashram of the Poor” where he began his work with homeless youth. After returning to the US, he worked on the streets of various American cities with young people struggling against homelessness and prostitution. In 2004, Adam co-founded the Reciprocity Foundation, an award winning nonprofit that empowers homeless and at-risk youth to break the cycle of poverty. The Foundation offers programs that combine contemplative, therapeutic, and creative tools for personal transformation with business skills. Many of the graduates of the foundation have become Emmy nominated media professionals, designers, entrepreneurs and respected community leaders. In addition to his work with Reciprocity, he is a member of an intergenerational steering committee of The Contemplative Alliance, an organization that brings together contemplatives and spiritual activists across traditions to address social problems and world issues. Inspired by the spiritual legacy of Fr. Bede Griffiths, Adam recently founded HAB, an ecumenical "new monastic" fellowship for young people which offers formation in radical spirituality and sacred activism. The goals of this fellowship are to provide spiritual direction and contemplative mentoring, connect young people with elders and mentors, and build a movement of small communities of young people who dedicate their lives to a contemplative life and to inspired, transformative action in the world. Adam regularly collaborates with organizations and spiritual leaders from varying traditions on bringing contemplative approaches to social activism. Adam’s work has been featured by ABC News, CBS, NBC, The New York Times, New York Daily News, Ode Magazine, Yoga+ Magazine, and Sojourner Magazine. He is a 2007 Echoing Green Fellow as well as the recipient of The Fred Foundation and Global Youth Action Network Rediscover Your Heart Award for direct and inspirational action for personal and global change, and the Diane Dunn and Chorister Lund in Recognition for pioneering interspiritual work at the "frontiers of the paradigm". http://www.reciprocityfoundation.org http://www.adambucko.com