John Smelcer, Ph.D., is the author of over fifty books, many translated and published worldwide. His bestselling book of mythology, The Raven and the Totem, includes a foreword by Joseph Campbell (The Power of Myth). With Russian Orthodox Archbishop Benjamin, John contributed to the revised map of global Christianity in the 10th edition of Living Religions (Mary Pat Fisher, Ed.). With the Dalai Lama, John co-authored a poem on compassion. He is currently writing a book about how war corrupts and unhinges conscience. Dr. Smelcer's education includes postdoctoral studies at Cambridge, Oxford, and Harvard, where he studied Buddhism, Islam and Sufism, Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity, including the historical Jesus of Nazareth.