William E. Deal is Severance Professor of the History of Religion in the Department of Religious Studies and Professor of Cognitive Science in the Department of Cognitive Science at Case Western Reserve University, and Associate Director for Digital Humanities at the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities. He is the author of Theory for Religious Studies (with Timothy K. Beal, 2005) and Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan (2006). Brian Ruppert is Associate Professor of Japanese Religions at the University of Illinois, where he is a faculty member in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and the Department of Religion. His publications include Jewel in the Ashes: Buddha Relics and Power in Early Medieval Japan (2000), "Buddhism in Japan" (Encyclopedia of Religion, 2nd ed., 2005), and "Buddhism and Law in Japan" (Buddhism and Law: An Introduction, 2014).