Robert Imperato is professor of religion at Saint Leo University, Saint Leo, Florida. His other books are Portraits of Jesus: A Reading Guide (University Press of America, 2008), Early and Medieval Christian Spirituality (University Press of America, 2003), Christian Footings (University Press of America, 2000), and Merton and Walsh on the Person (Liturgical Publications, 1988). His first interests in religion were stimulated by yoga, which he practiced while studying for a Masters Degree in developmental psychology at Columbia University. His religious formation has roots in the seven years he spent as a non-professed monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani followed by formal study of theology at Fordham University, where he received an M.A. and Ph.D.