Fred E. Woods earned his PhD in Middle East Studies: Hebrew Bible from the University of Utah and has been a professor of religious education at Brigham Young University since 1998. He held a prestigious BYU Richard L. Evans professorship of Religious Understanding from 2005-2010. Woods is a prolific author and has produced several documentaries highlighting the LDS influence on peoples of various faiths and cultures. Not being raised in the LDS tradition, Woods, now a Latter-day Saint, concentrates on community bridge building.