The Rev. Dr. Michael Woolf (he/him) holds a Doctor of Theology (ThD) degree from Harvard Divinity School. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Tennessee - Knoxville with a BA in Religious Studies in 2011 and completed his Master of Divinity degree at Harvard Divinity School in 2014. Michael is also an ordained American Baptist Churches USA and Alliance of Baptists pastor currently serving as the Senior Minister at Lake Street Church of Evanston in Evanston, IL, a progressive congregation with a commitment to social justice and interfaith dialogue. He also serves as Co-Associate Regional Minister for White and Multicultural Churches with the American Baptist Churches of Metro Chicago region.
Michael's ministry has won numerous awards, including the Edwin T. Dahlberg Peace and Justice Award, the highest honor bestowed by the American Baptist Churches USA and American Baptist Home Mission Societies. First awarded to Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1964, the award honors outstanding work for peace and justice. Michael's first book, Sanctuary and Subjectivity: Thinking Theologically About Whiteness in Sanctuary Movements, is part of T&T Clark's Studies in Social Ethics, Ethnography and Theologies series. The book focuses on white supremacy within a progressive, interfaith social movement and includes an autoethnographic chapter from Michael's experience as a white pastor in the New Sanctuary Movement. In paying attention to the narratives of recipients of sanctuary, Michael proposes a reorientation of the discipline of practical theology using Judith Butler's theory of subjectivation.
He has served as the Editor-in-Chief of Cult/ure: The Graduate Journal of Harvard Divinity School and the Director of Publishing at the Journal of Inter-Religious Studies. His work has been published at the Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies, Glossolalia, and Cult/ure. He has also written for several popular publications, including Sojourners and The Christian Citizen. He is a contributor to Journeys, a lectionary commentary and adult Bible study published by Judson Press.
