Sandra M. Schneiders

Sandra Marie Schneiders, I.H.M., is an American biblical scholar and theologian. She is a member of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Monroe, Michigan, and a professor emerita of New Testament Studies and Christian Spirituality in the Jesuit School of Theology at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.

Sandra Schneiders was born in Chicago, the second of seven children. Her father, a professor of psychology, and her mother, a homemaker and academic secretary, fostered an environment that valued both intellectual work and faith.

After completing her first year of college at St. Joseph’s in Maryland, she entered the I.H.M. congregation in 1955, fulfilling what she describes as a lifelong certainty about her vocation. She continued her undergraduate studies at Marygrove College, majoring in sociology and social sciences. While already teaching, she completed her graduate studies at the University of Detroit. In 1968, her congregation sent her to Paris to complete her education with a Licentiate in Theology from the Institut Catholique.

Upon her return, she resumed her role at Marygrove College, this time as a professor of theology, before traveling to Rome to pursue a doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Gregorian University. Specializing in biblical studies, she developed a particular expertise in the Gospel of John and biblical hermeneutics. Her research interests also expanded to spirituality, with a focus on the history and theology of religious life.

With her theological training complete, Dr. Schneiders moved to Berkeley, California, where she has served since 1976 as a professor of New Testament Studies and Spirituality at the Jesuit School of Theology and the Graduate Theological Union. She has played a key role in advancing the study of Christian spirituality as an academic field.

In 2006, a volume of essays was published in her honor.^[6]

• Jesus Risen in Our Midst: Essays on the Resurrection of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel. Liturgical Press, 2013.
• Beyond Patching: Faith and Feminism in the Catholic Church. 2nd edition. Paulist Press, 2004.
• Written That You May Believe: Encountering Jesus in the Fourth Gospel. Revised and Expanded Edition. Crossroad, 2003.
• Selling All: Commitment, Consecrated Celibacy, and Community in Catholic Religious Life. Religious Life in a New Millennnium, vol. 2. Paulist Press, 2001.
• Finding the Treasure: Locating Catholic Religious Life in a New Ecclesial and Cultural Context. Religious Life in a New Millennium, vol. 1. Paulist Press, 2000.
• The Revelatory Text: Interpreting the New Testament as Sacred Scripture. 2nd edition. Liturgical Press, 1999.
• Women and the Word: The Gender of God in the New Testament and the Spirituality of Women. Paulist Press, 1986.

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