Fred E. Woods was a professor of Church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University when this was written. A native of Southern California, he converted to the LDS Church as a young adult. In 1991, he completed his PhD at the University of Utah in Middle East studies with an emphasis in Biblical Hebrew. He taught in the Church Educational System for twelve years and at Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) for five years before becoming a professor at BYU in 1998. He was a visiting professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis in 2001 and at BYU–Hawaii for three summer terms (from 2004 to 2006). He has been a research fellow for other institutions and was awarded the Richard L. Anderson research award in 2002. In 2005, he was appointed as a Richard L. Evans Chair of Religious Understanding. Fred and his wife, JoAnna, are the parents of five children.