Chrissy Stroop and Jessica Johnson

A prominent ex-evangelical writer, speaker, and advocate, Chrissy Stroop is (with Lauren O’Neal) coeditor of the essay anthology Empty the Pews: Stories of Leaving the Church. A senior correspondent for Religion Dispatches, her work has appeared in Dame Magazine, Foreign Policy, Playboy, Political Research Associates, and other outlets, including peer-reviewed academic journals. Holding a Ph.D. in modern Russian history from Stanford University, Stroop is a Senior Research Associate with the University of Innsbruck’s Postsecular Conflicts project. In 2019 Chrissy came out as a transgender woman and began her journey of medical transition. She resides in Portland, Oregon. | Jessica Johnson, once a Lecturer in Anthropology and Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Washington, is currently a Visiting Scholar of Religious Studies at William & Mary. Her book on the rise and fall of Mars Hill Church, Biblical Porn: Affect, Labor, and Pastor Mark Driscoll's Evangelical Empire, was published by Duke University Press in 2018.