CONTRIBUTORS

RICHARD N. OSTLING is well aware of the pitfalls of reporting on people's faith, having kept TIME readers abreast of developments in religion for more than two decades. "Given the deep passions it stirs, it's a newsmagazine's most treacherous field," says Ostling, who has written or reported 38 TIME cover stories on religious topics and won most of the major religious journalism honors (including the prestigious Templeton Award). Nothing stirs up passions like Bible scholarship, he adds, which makes this week's cover story about Jesus particularly tricky--and timely. "Ignorance among younger Americans is so sweeping," says Ostling, "that our culture is in danger of losing its grasp of the one book in human history that any truly educated person must know intimately."

ELIZABETH GLEICK thought she had had enough of the O.J. Simpson case after writing two cover stories and half a dozen shorter pieces about the most chewed-over trial in recent history. So she was pleasantly surprised when she read the new books by prosecutor Christopher Darden and defense attorney Robert Shapiro. "Both were amazingly interesting," says the TIME senior writer, who reviews the latest crop of O.J. titles in this week's issue. "Their behind-the-scenes stories were full of tales of blood and private anguish." Gleick, who describes herself as a devoted Court TV watcher, interviewed Shapiro in New York City last week. "He was just what you would expect," she says. "Charming, chatty--and evasive."

PAT DAWSON arrived in the little town of Jordan, Montana, to cover the confrontation between the FBI and the Freemen only to find that news crews and law officers had taken all the hotel rooms. "So I flopped my sleeping bag in an old school bus in the barn on my cousin John Cooley's ranch," says Dawson, a native Montanan who has reported from the West for TIME for 15 years. He notes that the state has a "colorful and maybe not always noble history of vigilante movements." And although Dawson was surprised by "the accumulated anger and tunnel vision" of some of the Freemen's followers, the situation did not seem to him to be particularly dangerous. "They have guns," he says. "So do I. Who doesn't around here?"

BELINDA LUSCOMBE, who usually writes about celebrities for TIME's People page, this week takes on a less well-publicized type of artist--the architect. "Stars get covered in the media all the time, so they're sick of it," says Luscombe. "Architects are very eager to talk to the press. On the other hand, they're used to expressing themselves in buildings, so sometimes you need a translator." Luscombe comes equipped with two; her husband Jeremy Edmiston and her brother Guy are architects. "There's a lot of excitement among young architects about Rem Koolhaas," says Luscombe of her subject. "He always seems to be ahead of the curve. And, of course, he has the world's coolest name."