A spiritual director and professor of sociology and Christian spirituality, Susan S. Phillips earned a PhD in sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, and served as the Executive Director of New College Berkeley, an affiliate for the Graduate Theological Union, from 1994 to 2022.

In addition to teaching in a number of institutions within the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, and serving on its doctoral faculty, Susan has taught for many years for Fuller Theological Seminary, Regent College, and San Francisco Theological Seminary. Her books, like her teaching, explore the intersection of Christian spirituality and social science, and include the award-winning Crisis of Care: Affirming and Restoring Caring Practices in the Helping Profession (Georgetown University Press, 1995), Candlelight: Illuminating the Art of Spiritual Direction (Morehouse, 2008), and The Cultivated Life: From Ceaseless Striving to Receiving Joy (IVP, 2015). Susan loves listening to people as they pray and seek the Holy in spiritual direction, retreats, and everyday life.