Jeffrey J. Kripal is the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University. He is the author of several books, including Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion and The Serpent's Gift: Gnostic Reflections on the Study of Religion, both published by the University of Chicago Press.

"This is another in a series of outstanding and almost certainly controversial contributions to the academic study of religion by Kripal.... Kripal has one of the most distinctive, interesting voices in the humanities today and has promise to revitalize and extend the reach of religious studies." (Choice) "Kripal 'leans toward' the paranormal - he does not dismiss it as the fruit of deluded minds. He thinks there is some external reality being talked about, something real out there. In this regard, he is like the four mystics he writes about in Authors of the Impossible." (New York Times)"