Elizabeth Drescher holds a PhD in Christian Spirituality from the Graduate Theological Union and an MA in Systematic Theology from Duquesne University. At Santa Clara, Drescher teaches in the undergraduate program in religious studies and the graduate program in pastoral ministry, and directs the Living Religion Collaborative (LRC). Her research and teaching centers on religion and spirituality in everyday life. She is also a consulting scholar at The BTS Center, a think-tank for 21st century ministry, where she edits the award-winning online magazine, Bearings, which explores challenges and opportunities in ministry within a changing religious landscape.

Dr. Drescher has contributed commentary on religion and contemporary culture to The Washington Post, The San Jose Mercury News, The San Francisco Chronicle, Salon, America, and Religion Dispatches. She is the author of several books, including Choosing Our Religion: The Spiritual Lives of American Nones (Oxford, 2016), which focuses on those people who are not affiliated with any religion. She has also been a recipient of a grant from the Wabash Center for Teaching & Learning in Theology & Religion and, with Prof. Jaime Wright, of a Santa Clara University Teaching & Technology Grant, which supported the development of a geo mapping platform on which undergraduates track their experiences in diverse religious and spiritual communities and sites.