Michael J. Christensen (M.A., Yale, Ph.D., Drew) is Director of the Shalom Initiative for Prophetic Leadership and Community Development, and Affiliate Associate Professor of Spirituality and Religious Studies at Drew University.  In this capacity, he serves as the National Director of Communities of Shalom—a grass-roots, interfaith, international, community development network of over 90 ‘shalom sites’, coordinated by Drew University Theological School in partnership with the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church.

Dr. Christensen’s Ph.D. dissertation and expertise is on “Apocalyptic Interpretations of the 1986 Chernobyl Disaster.”  He has published nine books and many articles on various topics of practical theology, spirituality and social justice, most recently Partakers of the Divine Nature: Deification in the Christian Traditions.

An ordained United Methodist minister in the California-Nevada Annual Conference, Dr. Christensen is married to Dr. Rebecca Laird.  They have two teenage daughters and live in Madison, New Jersey.