Education
B.A. University of Toledo
M.Div. Trinity Lutheran Seminary
Th.M. Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
Ph.D. University of Birmingham, England
Arabic language study at the American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt
Biography
Michael Shelley is the director of the Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice and associate director for advanced studies at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Ordained in 1979, he is a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
From 1979-2003, he and his wife, Joanne, served as ELCA missionaries in Cairo, Egypt. There Shelley’s principal work was in congregational ministry and theological education. He served as the pastor of the Heliopolis Community Church (1979-1982) and St. Andrew’s United Church of Cairo (1988-1998), and as director of graduate studies and professor of church history at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo (1998-2003), which is the official seminary of the Evangelical Synod of the Nile, the Presbyterian Church of Egypt. Shelley taught courses in the fields of Christian-Muslim relations and the history of Middle Eastern Christianity. For twelve years (1991-2003), he was also on the teaching staff of the Dar Comboni Center for Arabic and Islamic Studies, an institute established by the Comboni Order to train Catholic religious for work in the Muslim world. Shelley has also taught at the Centre for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham, England, and Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Areas of Expertise
Topics that Dr. Shelley is available to address at
adult forums and other congregational events
Islam
Christian-Muslim relations
Global Mission
Middle Eastern Christianity
Titled Presentations
Toward Understanding Islam
Keeping the Faith: Being Christian in the Islamic Middle East
Profile
Michael Shelley came to the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in the fall of 2003 as a visiting scholar. He now serves as director of the Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice and associate director for advanced studies. With a Ph.D. in Islam and Christian-Muslim relations, and having lived for many years in Egypt, he has a deep passion for fostering and promoting understanding and constructive relations between Christians and Muslims, a task to which he has devoted more than twenty-five years of his career. He lives in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago with his wife Joanne, who is a music teacher.
Published Works
In addition to a number of essays in church publications in Egypt and book reviews for academic journals, Michael Shelley has published the following articles:
“Al-Ghazali’s Benign Influence on Temple Gairdner.” In A Faithful Presence: essays for Kenneth Cragg, ed. David Thomas and Claire Amos. London: Melisende, 2003, 201-218.
“Temple Gairdner of Cairo Revisited.” Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 10 (October 1999): 261-278.
His doctoral dissertation, “The Life and Thought of W. H. T. Gairdner, 1873-1928: A Critical Evaluation of a Scholar-Missionary to Islam” (University of Birmingham, England, 1988), is available through the British Library.
This webpage was last modified on Feb. 25, 2008
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