Elizabeth Drescher

Title

Adjunct Associate Professor

Department

Religious Studies

Institution

Santa Clara University

edrescher@scu.edu

Education

PhD, Religious Studies, Graduate Theological Union

Research Interests

Lived Religion Religion and Place Religion in American Life

View all research interests

Biography

Elizabeth Drescher, PhD is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Santa Clara University. She holds a Ph.D. in Christian Spirituality from the Graduate Theological Union and an MA in Systematic Theology from Duquesne University. Dr. Drescher teaches in the undergraduate program in religious studies and Director of the Living Religion Collaborative at Santa Clara University. Elizabeth has contributed to The Washington Post, The San Jose Mercury News, The San Francisco Chronicle, Salon, America, and Religion Dispatches, where her commentary on religion, culture, and social media is enjoyed by readers across the globe. Her writing has been highlighted by the Atlantic Wire, the Utne Reader, The Daily Beast, NPR, Radio Australia, and the BBC. She has been the recipient of a number of grants, fellowships, and other honors for her work in the study of religion in everyday life, including from the Social Science Research Council, the Templeton Foundation, the Louisville Institute, and the Wabash Center. She is the author of several books, including Choosing Our Religion: The Spiritual Lives of American Nones (Oxford, 2016) and dozens of academic and popular articles. She lives with her family in Northern California’s Silicon Valley.

Homepages

Contact Information

Not mentioned yet.

Research

Not mentioned yet.

Cloud List

Lived Religion Religion and Place Religion in American Life Religion and Spatial Justice Nonreligion Vernacular Religion Changing Role, Changing Roles Popular Culture United States Bright Ideas Wabash Center Christian Presence Louisville Institute Research Grants, Research Grant Silicon Valley American Academy Digital Media Young Catholics Growing Number National Public Radio Plenary Address National Association Religious Studies Christian Connections Keynote Address Pedagogical Training Professional Mentoring Public Scholarship Teaching Experience News Media Spiritual Lives Humanities Fellowship New Perspectives, New Perspective American News Prayer Practices Fewer People Andover Newton Changing Church Dalai Lama Lecture Series Religious Nones Social Science Research Council Social Media Digital Age Wall Street Ethical Practices Expanded Universe, Expanding Universe National Day Religion Religion Washington Post Young Adult Ministry Youth Ministry Digital Humanities National Endowment New Landscape Big Questions Future Faculty Angeles Times Associated Press Francisco Chronicle Great War Risky Business Stephanie Martin Higher Education Holistic Approach Teagle Foundation

List of Publications (55)

In 2022

Cultural, Theological, and Ethical Explorations, edited by Mark A. Lamport (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022).
Found on CV

In 2020

"Teaching with Digital Media," Panelist, Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, San Diego, CA (November 24, 2020).
Found on CV

In 2019

Click 2 Save: Reboot - The Digital Ministry Bible, Revised 2nd Edition, with Keith Anderson (Church Publishing, 2019)
Found on CV

"Engaging America's Nones: Cosmopolitan Spiritualities & Christian Connections," Keynote Address, 53rd General Chapter of the American-Cassinese Congregation, St. Anslem College, Manchester, NH (June 17, 2019).
Found on CV

"Spiritualizing the Secular: Making Ordinary Places Religion(ish) in Northern California," Bearings Magazine (April 2019).
Found on CV

"Cartographers of the Church," Illuminate: Bright Ideas from SCU Thought Leaders (February 26. 2019).
Found on CV

In 2018

"Understanding the Cosmopolitan Spiritualities of America's Nones," Going, Going Gone: The Dynamics of Disaffiliation among Young Catholics, Saint Mary's Press/CARA, Baltimore, MD (January 17, 2018)
Found on CV

"Care of the Unaffiliated Soul: Ministry with Unaffiliated Adults," Plenary Address, Chaplaincy for the 21st Century Conference, Association for College and University Religious Affairs and National Association of College and University Chaplains, Albuquerque, NM (February 26, 2018).
Found on CV

"Making Sense of the Nones: The practices of Meaning-Making, Self-Fulfillment and Self-Transcendence among the Religiously Unaffiliated," Conference of Major Superiors of Men, St. Louis (July 31, 2018).
Found on CV

In 2017

New York: Oxford University, 2016. Theological Studies, 78:4 (December 2017).
Found on CV

In 2016

Choosing Our Religion: The Spiritual Lives of America's Nones (Oxford University Press, 2016).
Found on CV

"Can Poke mon Go really help bring people to the pews?" America (September 19, 2016).
Found on CV

In 2015

"Nones in the News: Mass Media Explorations of the Religiously Unaffiliated," in The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the American News Media, edited by Diane Winston (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2015).
Found on CV

"Spiritual But Not Religious in the News Media," in The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the American News Media, edited by Diane Winston (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2015).
Found on CV

"Ministering Beyond the Numbers: Engaging America's Nones," Scott Lectures, Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth, (February 10, 2015).
Found on CV

"The Gospel According to Nones," America (June 15-18, 2015).
Found on CV

In 2014

"Praying Between the Lines: Prayer Practices of America's Nones," What Does Prayer Do? Lecture Series, LeMoyne University, Syracuse, NY (September 15, 2014).
Found on CV

"Nones Beyond the Numbers: Digitally-Integrated Ministry in a Changing Church," CommFest2014, New England Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Worchester, MA (January 25, 2014).
Found on CV

"New Habits for Nones: Practicing Digitally-Integrated Ministry in a Post-Christian World," Woodbury Leadership Workshop, Andover Newton Theological School, Newton Centre, MA (January 24, 2014).
Found on CV

"Is Army's New 'Humanist' Designation Just Semantic Hooey?," Religion Dispatches (April 24, 2014).
Found on CV

"His Holiness, Inc.: The Dalai Lama as Spiritual Mega-Brand," Religion Dispatches (February 26, 2014).
Found on CV

In 2013

"Believing Between the Lines: The Spiritual Lives of America's Nones," Paddock Lecture, General Theological Seminary, New York (November 6, 2013).
Found on CV

"The Roots of Digital Reformation: Premodern Tradition in Postmodern Practice," Paddock Lecture, General Theological Seminary, New York (November 7, 2013).
Found on CV

"No Center, No Circumference" Faith & Religion in an Expanding Universe," Paddock Lecture, General Theological Seminary, New York (November 7, 2013).
Found on CV

Association of Lutheran Church Musicians Biennial Conference, Valparaiso University (July 3, 2013).
Found on CV

"Nones Beyond the Numbers: Spiritual Stories in a Secular World" and "Youth and Young Adult Ministry in the Land Between Religions: Engaging the Nones We've Formed," Invited lectures at the Princeton Theological Seminary Forum on Youth Ministry, Princeton, NJ (April 23 and April 25, 2013).
Found on CV

"Being Good Without (Much) God: The Ethical Practices of the Religiously Unaffiliated." Invited lecture at the Religion, Politics & Globalization Program, University of California, Berkeley (March 13, 2013).
Found on CV

"The Internet Isn't Killing Religion-Religion Is," Salon (April 23, 2013).
Found on CV

"What Do the Religiously Unaffiliated Pray For," On Faith (May 2, 2013).
Found on CV

"What Nones Teach Us on the National Day of Prayer," Washington Post (May 2, 2013).
Found on CV

In 2012

Click 2 Save: The Digital Ministry Bible, with Keith Anderson (Church Publishing, 2012).
Found on CV

"Pixels Perpetual Shine: Mediating Illness, Dying, and Death in the Digital Age," CrossCurrents (July, 2012).
Found on CV

"On Shifting Sand: Ethics and Spiritual Care in Digital Ministry," Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Chicago, IL (November 19, 2012).
Found on CV

"Pope Benedict's Tweets: Will They Be Ministry, Marketing, or Something More?" San Jose Mercury News (December 11, 2012).
Found on CV

"Masculinity and Mass Violence," Religion Dispatches (August 19, 2012).
Found on CV

In 2011

Tweet If You Jesus: Practicing Church in the Digital Reformation (Church Publishing, 2011).
Found on CV

"Bishop, Priest, Protestor Arrested in Trinity Wall Street/Occupy Clash," Religion Dispatches (December 17, 2011).
Found on CV

"The Many, Not the Few: An Anthem for Occupy," Religion Dispatches (November 21, 2011).
Found on CV

"HWJT? (How Would Jesus Tweet): Reimagining Media as Social" (Explore, Fall 2011).
Found on CV

"Risky Business: The Pitfalls at the Corner of Church & Wall Street," Religion Dispatches (September 21, 2011).
Found on CV

"London Calling: 'Our Great War Is a Spiritual War'," Religion Dispatches (August 12, 2011).
Found on CV

"Social Media Rebooting Religion," San Francisco Chronicle (June 5, 2011).
Found on CV

"Facebook Doesn't Kill Churches, Churches Kill Churches," Religion Dispatches (March 16, 2011).
Found on CV

In 2010

Review of Nicholas Carr, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2010) and Clay Shirky, Cognitive Surplus (New York: Penguin Press, 2010), Journal of Technology, Theology & Religion (October 2010).
Found on CV

"Chilean Mine Rescue: Largest Global Spiritual Event Ever?" Religion Dispatches (October 14, 2010).
Found on CV

"Medieval Multitasking: Did We Ever Focus," Religion Dispatches (July 12, 2010).
Found on CV

"The New Landscape of the Religion Blogosphere," The Immanent Frame, Social Science Research Council (March 14, 2010).
Found on CV

Elizabeth Drescher "The Pope & Social Media: A Digital Counter-Reformation?" Religion Dispatches (February 18, 2010).
Found on CV

In 2009

Elizabeth Drescher "Re-Engineering the Teaching Machine: Big Questions from the Inside Out and the Outside In," Special issue of Religion and Education, vol. 36: 2 (September 2009).
Found on CV

"Spirituality in Higher Education: Toward a Holistic Approach to the Development of Future Faculty in Theology & Religion," Special issue of Religion and Education, vol. 36: 2 (September 2009).
Found on CV

Unspecified

"The Changing Role of Christianity in American Life," in Handbook of Contemporary Christianity in the United States: Historical, Religion in America (RSOC 51)
Found on CV

Religion & Popular Culture (RSOC 128)
Found on CV

History of Western Christian Spirituality (SPIR240)
Found on CV

Review of Lived Theology: New Perspectives on Method, Style, and Pedagogy. Eds. Charles Marsh, Peter Slade, and Sarah Azaransky.
Found on CV

"Spiritual Songs of Religious Nones: New Rhythms, Discordant Faith, Emerging Harmonies," Plenary Address.
Found on CV

Search Profiles

Colleagues

Andrea Pappas

Santa Clara University

Francisco Villarroya Alvarez

Santa Clara University

Lee Panich

Santa Clara University

View All Colleagues