Cliff Edwards is Professor of Religion in the School of World Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. His education spans East and West. With a PhD in biblical studies and world religions from Northwestern University, he has studied in France, Switzerland, Israel, and a Zen monastery in Japan, and has been a Coolidge Fellow in New York and a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University. Among his books are Van Gogh and God, The Shoes of Van Gogh, and Mystery of the Night Cafe, as well as a biblical commentary and two books on haiku.